A People's Tribunal is being formed by several advocacy groups looking for more police oversight, particularly around the killing of Indigenous and Black people.
鈥淔or too long, Indigenous people and racialized communities have been overpoliced, under-protected, and disproportionately subject to overlapping systems of state violence, highlighting serious systemic issues rooted in colonial oppression," said Latoya Farrell, policy staff counsel at BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA).
"The effect has been a coordinated effort to destroy communities, erase culture, and suppress collective resistance. Today, the BCCLA stands in solidarity with families, grassroots activists, and other civil society organizations, as the people take back their power and shine a light on the systemic failures of Canada鈥檚 government, law enforcement, and the legal system as a whole.鈥�
Several groups are involved in the tribunal, including #JusticeForJared, Defund604, Pivot Legal Society, UBC Social Justice Centre, Care Not Cops, the BCCLA, and P.O.W.E.R (Police Oversight with Evidence and Research).
"The People's Tribunal fills a community need created by the settler colonial and racist abandonment of both the provincial and federal governments," said a joint statement from #JusticeForJared, Defund604 and P.O.W.E.R to the Campbell River Mirror. "Clear requests have been made by Indigenous and Black surviving family members of police killings 鈥� requests that were later endorsed by the Assembly of First Nations and several others 鈥� that a meaningful inquiry bring accountability and justice to the communities of Indigenous, Black, Afro-Indigenous and other racialized people impacted by an onslaught of police killings and otherwise violent law enforcement practices that lead to premature death."
The People's Tribunal says they will seek justice by bringing the truth to light and creating networks for impacted people in the shorter term for care and solidarity.
An event in Vancouver on March 15 was at capacity and well-received, The People's Tribunal told the Mirror.
"The People鈥檚 Tribunal would love to host an event in Campbell River and intend to go wherever we are called, but we do not have a specific plan for this yet. If local community members, including impacted families, want to get in touch, they can fill out the contact form at JusticeForJared.org or email power@vandu.org. We know the issue is pervasive beyond the case of Jared 鈥淛ay鈥� Lowndes."
Laura Holland, the mother of Lowndes, is one of the people spearheading the tribunal.
Her son, Lowndes, an Indigenous man was killed in 2021 by Campbell River RCMP officers. Police opened fire on Lowndes at the Williow Point Tim Hortons' parking lot. In 2022, B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office (IIO) recommended charges against three officers involved in the shooting, stating, "reasonable grounds exist to believe that three officers may have committed offences to various uses of force."
The IIO referred the case to the B.C. Crown Counsel for consideration in October 2023, however, the BC Prosecution concluded the case on April 23, 2024, saying the evidence available did not meet its charge assessment standard.
The three police officers were never publicly identified.
"For nearly four years I have sounded the alarm on Jared鈥檚 story, and also met so many other families carrying this incomprehensible burden - burying our loved ones, whose lives were stolen from us by the police. In the years since my son鈥檚 death, I have looked to the mainstream justice system and police oversight bodies for answers and found zero accountability," said Holland. The BC Prosecution Service chose not to lay charges against the officers identified, and these officers remain cloaked by anonymity. After finding no real solutions in the colonial (in)justice system, I am now looking to my community, to uphold justice through a People鈥檚 Tribunal into police killings and other acts of violence targeting Indigenous peoples.鈥�
Tracking (In)justice, a living data set that tracks Canadian police-involved deaths and deaths in custody, says 804 people have died where force was used since 2000. 51 of those were since January 2024. A further 2,131 have died while in custody, 41 since January 2024.
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