Vancouver, B.C. – The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has assisted Michael Hubbard’s two daughters in finding a lawyer and releasing photos and a statement today.
“It must be devastating to know that your father died due to a case of mistaken identity,” said David Eby, acting Executive Director of the BCCLA. “We are honoured to be able to assist Mr. Hubbard’s daughters in their grief to get the message out about who their father was.”
Michael Hubbard was homeless at the time that he was shot by a Vancouver Police officer. He had a black bag with him. Five blocks away, a police report had been made that a black bag had been stolen from a car. The Abbotsford Police publicly announced that Mr. Hubbard had no connection to that break in after the BCCLA released information obtained from the family and the Vancouver Police. The family’s lawyer, Paul Nigol, is filing a wrongful death suit.
“We still have concerns about the handling of this investigation,” says Eby. “The withholding of the information that cleared Mr. Hubbard in this break-in is just the beginning of our concerns that the full story is not coming out and may never come out.”
Eby said that the Vancouver Police Department had advised him that the Abbotsford Police were conducting the Hubbard shooting investigation, but that the BCCLA had recently discovered that Abbotsford is only supervising VPD officers who are conducting the investigation. He said the fact that VPD officers are conducting this investigation is especially concerning given the recent negative findings of the Frank Paul Inquiry about VPD police involved death investigations.
The BCCLA continues to echo the recommendations of the Frank Paul Inquiry that a civilian body be responsible for professional conduct and criminal investigations in police-involved deaths. Currently in B.C., and in proposed amendments to the Police Act, civilians only supervise police investigations of the police.
Read the statement of Michael Vann Hubbard’s daughters here.
MEDIA CONTACT:
David Eby, Acting Executive Director, (778) 865-7997
