xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) territories / Vancouver, BC – The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and Pivot Legal Society are criticizing the Vancouver Police Board’s handling of a joint complaint regarding the Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) surveillance of people expressing support for Palestinian human rights.

One year ago, BCCLA and Pivot filed a complaint alleging that the VPD’s surveillance practices violated its own procedures and policies, and effectively, were discriminatory and infringed on free expression rights. Despite objections from civil society groups and caution from the Police Complaint Commissioner of BC to ensure impartiality, the Vancouver Police Board appointed retired VPD Deputy Chief Constable Robert Rolls as the “external” investigator. 

The resulting report uncritically adopted the VPD’s position, delegated research and analysis back to the VPD, ignored key aspects of the complaint, and failed to address how the overt and disproportionate surveillance impedes people’s right to free expression. Notably, the report concluded that pro-Palestinian protests are policed differently than other human rights demonstrations, further demonstrating the systemic racism embedded in BC’s policing and oversight mechanisms. 

Data from the report indicated that Criminal Code violations were recorded at less than 5% of Palestine solidarity demonstrations in 2024, resulting in no convictions. Despite this, over 68% of all surveillance drone deployments for protests and events in that same year targeted Palestine solidarity demonstrations. The report contradicts its own findings by ultimately exaggerating the ostensible criminality of the Palestine solidarity community as a justification for this differential policing, a narrative that draws upon and feeds into anti-Palestinian racism. 

BCCLA, Pivot and West Coast LEAF have called on the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) to review the Police Board’s decision to adopt the report and close the complaint. To date, no response has been received.

Aislin Jackson, BCCLA Policy Staff Counsel, says: 

“The Vancouver Police Board’s handling of this service and policy complaint – from their appointment of an evidently biased investigator to their decision to adopt his deeply deficient report – creates the appearance, but not the reality, of effective police oversight.”  

Humera Jabir, West Coast LEAF Staff Lawyer, says:

“The over-policing and surveillance of Charter-protected protests for Palestinian rights raises serious concerns about systemic discrimination. The Vancouver Police Board’s choice of an investigator with no expertise in anti-Palestinian racism or cultural safety undermined fairness and accountability. We join the call for an independent review led by someone with real knowledge of anti-Palestinian racism, human rights, and the realities faced by racialized and marginalized communities.”

Simone Akyianu, Staff Lawyer at Pivot Legal Society, says:

“At minimum, an effective policing complaint system requires independence, impartiality, clear legal protections and opportunities for civilian involvement in developing a meaningful process for redress of policing harms. The Police Board’s quashing of this mass surveillance complaint furthers the VPD’s pattern of policing, surveilling and repressing people exercising constitutionally-protected rights to political expression and non-discrimination. Further, the Police Board’s handling of this service and policy complaint, not only rationalizes the suppression of Palestinian protestors’ rights, it demonizes marginalized communities that are reeling from a profound and grueling genocide in Gaza, and extends the historical and ongoing targeting of groups for no legitimate reason other than policing political expression in support of Palestinian human rights as a proxy for race, ethnicity and religion. We vehemently condemn the anti-Palestinian racism that this surveillance engenders.”