The Law Union of British Columbia (the “LUBC”) believes in the deconstruction of the police. To that end, we call upon the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act (the “Special Committee”) to take such steps that are necessary to reduce and eventually eliminate the role that the police play in attending to complex social issues, particularly where there is no risk to the health or safety of any individual.

Specifically, the LUBC fully endorses the Submissions of Pivot Legal Society, which call for the Special Committee to reform the Police Act in the following ways:

1. Ensure access to police accountability;
2. Invest in access to justice;
3. Address the broad harms of criminalization;
4. Eradicate prohibitionist policing; and,
5. Enable communities to defund the police.

The Law Union of British Columbia (the “Law Union”) wishes to not only acknowledge these realities in this moment of heightened clarity and grief, but to also recognize our role as a participant in the systemic racism that oppresses Black and Indigenous peoples. The Law Union is aware of the  disproportionate harms experienced by Black and Indigenous communities both in “B.C.” and across “Canada” at the hands of police and the prison system, and will strive to use its position and resources to combat this systemic racism.

The Law Union of BC supports the residents of Oppenheimer Park and condemns the actions of the City of Vancouver in attempting to remove them. We oppose the displacement of the Oppenheimer Park campers, who are already facing the most serious effects of the housing crisis. Oppenheimer Tent City, like other tent cities, allows residents to create community and stability where they may otherwise be trapped in uncertain shelter-hopping or living on the streets alone. As members of the legal community, we stand with Oppenheimer Park tent city residents and their allies in the fight for the right to housing and to freedom from displacement and harassment.

Lots of exciting events happening around May 2019...

The Law Union of British Columbia stands in solidarity with the Unist’ot’en House Group and the Gitdumden Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in defence of their traditional territories from colonial encroachment, in the form of Coastal Gaslink’s proposed natural gas pipeline. We call upon Coastal Gaslink and the Canadian and BC governments to recognize and respect the sovereignty of the Wet’suwet’en people and to cease plans to construct a natural gas pipeline on their territory.

The Unist’ot’en and Gitdumden have not given free, prior, and informed consent for the use of their lands for the construction of a pipeline. By continuing with the project despite the lack of consent, Coastal Gaslink is operating in violation of both Canadian and international law. The Canadian government, by providing not only tacit but explicit support – through, among other things, the deployment of police forces to compel compliance with court orders – is also in violation of its own domestic and international legal obligations. The BC government, by granting the company approval to build without consent on unceded territory, is violating its own promise to respect Indigenous rights and contradicting its rhetoric of reconciliation.

Read on for news and events from January 2019

On November 17th, 2018 the Law Union of BC membership convened to elect a new steering committee and set priorities for the new year. The 2018-19 Law Union of BC steering committee members are:

• Michelle Silongan
• Stefanie Ratjen
• Haran Aruliah
• Joey Doyle
• Hasan Alam
• Claire Kanigan
• Randall Cohn
• Julian Tennent-Riddell
• Irina Ceric