Police’s ‘mandate of secrecy & confidentiality’
Transparency experts weigh in. Potent new drug. Migrant worker class action. Cops' false testimonies.
Last week, we reported that Vancouver Police incorrectly told us that no emails went to senior cops about DULF ahead of VPD's raid on the controversial compassion club.
Today, we have a full conversation with transparency experts about this and other cases of police and public bodies not providing full information — and the way this can fuel public mistrust.
“You start wondering whether there was mal intent or just incompetence.”
– Jason Woywada, BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)
They discuss research findings that police forces tend to have “instinctive orientations towards secrecy and information control” and a culture of “willful disregard for clarity, transparency, and the public's right to know.”
The interview also covers:
- How some communications evade FOI searches
- Institutions’ lack of training and resources around information access
- How AI could change the FOI process
- The Christy Clark government's “triple-delete” scandal
- Whether more penalties could improve transparency in BC
We're currently working on more stories about police transparency and the DULF case. Please support our reporting if you can.
De Facto in the news(letters)
Cam & Dustin spoke with HG Watson, for her newsletter Plucky, about our co-op model and where it fits in the landscape of Canadian media.
H.G. Watson
Ex Facto
News we're reading about the subjects we cover.
Potent animal tranquilizer increasingly found in Victoria, and BC, drug supply
Medetomidine can cause hours-long sedation, even after Narcan has been used to reverse an accompanying opiate and get a person breathing again. This new effect is forcing local ERs to “relearn how to respond,” Jill Wiwcharuk of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy told CHEK.
The BCCDC issued a BC-wide alert about the drug in January, connecting it to the rise in non-fatal overdoses this past winter. It has become common in recent Substance UVic drug-checking reports and is much more potent than xylazine, which surged in 2022.
Medetomidine was also reported this spring in Vancouver, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Winnipeg, and New York.
BC to spend $149M renovating 2 facilities for involuntary treatment
The 132 beds in Prince George and Surrey would add to about 2,000 in BC already, and David Eby said at last week's announcement that sites are being explored for the Island and Okanagan. Vancouver’s mayor criticized Eby for not adding beds in Vancouver.
In BC, coercive care:
- takes up most new money in the 2026 budget for intensive and specialized mental health and addictions treatment, despite a shortage of voluntary beds
- has massively expanded, to the highest rate in Canada
- often lacks oversight and legal safeguards
- has many examples of harms and rights violations
Research indicates involuntary treatment in general has many ethical concerns and a lack of evidence of effectiveness relative to voluntary care.
Migrant workers win BC class action over paying to get jobs that didn’t materialize
Around 880 workers paid up to $8,000 each to 3 Surrey-based recruitment companies promising convenience store work across Western Canada. But Mac’s was dishonest with the 125-odd workers who made it over, the judge found, and often failed to provide the agreed-upon jobs.
One lead plaintiff ended up in homeless shelters for months after being detained by Border Services in a raid on a bottle depot. He was promised a cashier job, but then sent instead to a farm and the depot. [Business in Vancouver]
Powell River council votes against deciding which parks allow sheltering
Amid pressure to respond to current encampments, councillors felt the city needed a longer process to devise updates to the 1976 and 1999 park rules (which predate a landmark 2008 ruling on park sheltering rights). [Peak]
VPD changes sex work enforcement guidelines without consultation
Local organizations are criticizing the removal of some procedures for responding when a worker reports a crime, and background passages on Canadian law, colonization, and DTES history. They want an end to police's conflation of trafficking and sex work, and less investment in the reportedly “largely ineffective” Sex Work Liaison Officer role.
Crystal Laderas
Ontario’s system to report police who lie in court may be missing cases
Crown prosecutors flagged 28 cases, over a decade, of officers being “deliberately untruthful,” per docs obtained by CTV’s Jon Woodward. But a Western University study tallied another 11 times Toronto and Peel region police “lied or provided false testimony.” [CTV]
More news
- Wildfire-affected First Nations decry lack of communication from Ontario — a contrast to the government attention the region’s mineral resources get. [Ricochet]
- Canada's defence attaché in Kyiv met with far-right Azov Brigade's fundraising arm, docs show. [The Maple]
- Ontario fights to not reveal ministers whose vehicles were caught speeding, arguing it would expose personal “travel habits.” [Global]
- Over 20 women, mainly international students, seek legal support after alleged voyeurism at Delta FedEx facility. [PressProgress]
- Edmonton police oversight board used security to remove civilian speakers who linked chief's Israel trip to local police practices. [The Orchard]
- Surveillance videos show cop drove into scooter riders in Whitby, leading to assault conviction for officer and tossed charge for rider. [CP24]
Happening this week
- Closing arguments conclude in the DULF constitutional challenge trial.
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