The BCCLA/ECPJS coalition formed to assist the Mass Casualty Commission (Commission) in exploring the causes, context and circumstances giving rise to the mass casualty, and to ensure
that in making recommendations to help prevent similar incidents in the future, the Commission does not inadvertently cause further harm to marginalized people and communities.

The record before the Commission reveals a catastrophic policing failure, on April 18-19, 2020 and long before, that contributed to the mass casualty. This failure did not result from any one
officer’s action or inaction, but rather, from a series of individual and systemic errors and oversights, some taking place long before the night in question.

These errors resulted from inadequate police oversight and accountability, democratic deficits in policing, failure to develop alternatives to policing, and reliance on a reactive and myopic approach to public safety.