The committee met at 11:14 a.m.

Election of Chair and Deputy Chair

S. Sourial (Clerk Assistant, Committees and Interparliamentary Relations): Good morning, Members. I’ll call this committee to order.

As it is the first meeting of the Special Committee to Review the Police Complaint Process, our first order of business is the election of the Chair. Are there any nominations?

R. Singh: I nominate Garry Begg.

S. Sourial (Clerk Assistant): Thank you, Rachna.

Garry, do you accept the nomination?

G. Begg: I do.

S. Sourial (Clerk Assistant): Any further nominations? Any further nominations? And a third time, any further nominations?

Seeing none, all those in favour?

Motion approved.

[G. Begg in the chair.]

S. Sourial (Clerk Assistant): Congratulations, Mr. Chair.

[11:15 a.m.]

G. Begg (Chair): Thank you.

Good morning, everyone. You all have had, I hope, a chance to review the material that was provided for you. We have lots of items to go through, but the first thing is the election of a Deputy.

A. Olsen: I’ll move that Mike Morris be elected as Deputy Chair.

G. Begg (Chair): Mike, you’re all right with that?

M. Morris: I accept that.

G. Begg (Chair): Any other nominations?

All those in favour?

Rachna?

R. Singh: You want a yes or no?

G. Begg (Chair): We’re voting on the Deputy Chair, and the nominee is Mike Morris, Rachna. How do you vote?

R. Singh: Aye.

Motion approved.

G. Begg (Chair): Thank you, and thank you, Mike.

A. Olsen: Congratulations, Mr. Deputy.

Committee Terms of Reference
and Draft Workplan

S. Sourial (Clerk Assistant): Good morning again, Members. I thought I’d just review the package of information that you have received. You should have in your packages a background. It’s a history of the police complaint process in B.C., which I’ll go through with members shortly. You should have a draft workplan. My suggestion for that is that we discuss that in camera, as it does involve discussion about a possible RFP process. And you should have a copy of the 2013 committee’s report on the audit of selected police complaints.

In the backgrounder, you’ll see from the history…. You may know that the independent Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner was established in 1997. That followed some concerns in the 1990s regarding policing. A commission of inquiry was set up, and it was led by Justice Wally Oppal. Out of his 1994 report, one of the recommendations was the establishment of an independent office for the police complaint commission. The Police Act was amended in 1997, and the first Police Complaint Commissioner was appointed in 1998.

The first Special Committee to Review the Police Complaint Process was appointed in 2001. That committee made 42 recommendations to improve the police complaint process. There were still, at the time, public concerns regarding policing. So the ministry of police services and Solicitor General appointed Josiah Wood to undertake a review.

[11:20 a.m.]

His report, I think in 2004, led to several legislative changes, adding different agencies under the oversight of the Police Complaint Commissioner, but he also called for an audit of the police complaint process within three years of any amendments to the act.

The Police Act was amended in 2010. The second Special Committee to Review the Police Complaint Process was appointed in 2012, and they engaged the Office of the Auditor General to undertake an audit of randomly selected police complaints.

Out of that audit, there were two recommendations that came out. One was around the six-month time frame. The audit found that over half of the police complaint processes were not completed within the six-month time frame, so the recommendation was to address those challenges.

The other recommendation was around training, training of police…. They said there was no training to detachment staff, so it was to provide training to detachment staff so that individuals making a complaint were not harassed, coerced or intimidated.

The Auditor also recommended that a more comprehensive audit be undertaken the next time that the audit was performed. The Police Act requires a special committee to undertake an audit every six years. The last audit was completed in March 2013, which is why this committee was struck.

You may know that the Police Complaint Commissioner, Stan Lowe, retired January 31, and the Special Committee to Appoint a Police Complaint Commissioner appointed Clayton Pecknold as acting until the assembly ratifies the committee’s recommendation that he be appointed Police Complaint Commissioner.

Any questions on the history or the background?

I will hand it over to the Chair.

G. Begg (Chair): We’ll go in camera for this portion of the discussion, please.

A. Olsen: So moved.

Motion approved.

The committee continued in camera from 11:22 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.

[G. Begg in the chair.]

G. Begg (Chair): We are back.

A. Olsen: I’ll move “that the Committee issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to appoint an Auditor to undertake a performance audit of the Police Complaint Process; and further, that the Chair and Deputy Chair oversee the RFP process on behalf of the Committee.”

Motion approved.

Other Business

G. Begg (Chair): Any other business arising out of anything that has been said or concerns that you have? If you have any complaints, make them to Mike. If you have any compliments, I’ll take them.

This is very exciting work, and I’m glad that you all are a part of it. It should be a very informative process, and we have the ability collectively to make some substantive changes, if required.

Thank you for your attendance today. I look forward to working with you as we go through this process.

A. Olsen: If I may, it’s just in looking at…. The former Chair of this process was my former MLA, Murray Coell. So it’s good to have Saanich North and the Islands back on this process.

I think this is something that we can be quite proud of, just in the sense that we have a good process and we are continuing to make sure that it’s an improved one on behalf of British Columbians. So I look forward to being a part of it.

G. Begg (Chair): Thank you.

Anyone else?

I’ll entertain a motion to adjourn.

M. Morris (Deputy Chair): Motion to adjourn.

Motion approved.

The committee adjourned at 11:57 a.m.