A committee appointed to reform British Columbia's Police Act recommends moving to a provincial police service to achieve a new vision of policing and community safety.
The special committee, comprising members of the legislature from all three parties, was established to consider reforms for independent oversight, training, funding, service delivery and other issues that would modernize law enforcement in the province.
The report tabled Thursday in the legislature says the committee was appointed amid widespread awareness of systemic racism in policing, a demand for more accountability and questions about police responses to mental health and addictions issues.
"Our report outlines a vision for policing and community safety that is rooted in decolonization, anti-racism, community and accountability," committee chairman Doug Routley, a member of the NDP government, said in the legislature.
"To achieve this vision, there will need to be major changes to the structure and delivery of police services, including provincial and regional policing, oversight, accountability for policing and community safety that is rooted in decolonization, anti-racism, community and accountability," he said.
Some of the report's 11 recommendations can be implemented quickly but others will take "many years and successive parliaments," said Routley.
"Our recommendations aim to provide police officers with the tools and support they need to ensure British Columbians have equitable access to high-quality police and community safety services in every community across the province," he said.
He said an integral component of this will be addressing systemic racism in policing and the lack of trust between people, communities and the police.
Liberal Dan Davies, the committee's deputy chairman, told the legislature that over the past year and a half, it has heard hundreds of witness statements from police agencies, social service providers, municipalities and members of the public, including those from "diverse and marginalized populations."
"The recommendations in this report are bold, very bold," said Davies.
