Civil liberties, First Nations groups launch complaint on discriminatory Vancouver Police stops

THE Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) on Thursday filed a complaint with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner calling for an immediate investigation of the significant racial disparity revealed in Vancouver Police Department’s practice of “street checks” or police stops, often referred to as carding. Street checks are the practice of stopping a person outside of an investigation, questioning them and obtaining their identifying information, and often recording their personal information. The complaint is based on a release of data under a Freedom of Information request posted on the Vancouver Police Department’s website, and first reported by the Globe and Mail, that reveals that Indigenous and Black people are significantly over-represented in the numbers of street checks conducted by the VPD over the past decade.
The VPD data on the number of street checks conducted between 2008 and 2017 shows that over that period, the VPD conducted 97,281 street checks. Of that total, approximately 15% of all street checks (14,536) were of Indigenous people, despite this population making up approximately 2% of the population of Vancouver over that time period. In 2017, Indigenous people accounted for over 16% of all street checks, despite making up only 2% of the population of Vancouver. Between 2008 and 2017, approximately 4% (4,365) of all street checks were of Black people, despite this population making up less than 1% of the population of Vancouver over that time period. In 2017, Black people accounted for 5% of all checks (315), despite making up only 1% of the population of Vancouver.
In his 2015-16 Annual Report, the Police Complaint Commissioner recommended that the Vancouver Police Board reconsider any policies or procedures relating to the practice of street checks “in light of an increasing trend in complaint allegations involving the police practice of conducting street checks.” While a draft policy has been in development, the VPD has not adopted a final street checks policy, according to the BCCLA.
The UBCIC and BCCLA complaint asks the Police Complaints Commissioner to investigate and to take any and all actions necessary to address this matter, including engaging in research on the practice of street checks in all municipal police forces under the Commissioner’s oversight jurisdiction.