By Canadian Press

African descent advisory group feels lied to over police return to Vancouver schools

Jun 16, 2023 | 1:44 PM

VANCOUVER — Members of the African descent advisory committee for the Vancouver Police Department say they feel they were lied to over the process to reinstate a program that deploys armed officers to public schools.

Parker Johnson said he and the other committee members had “unanimously and unreservedly” determined they did not want police returning to schools this fall, and they were surprised to learn Thursday that a decision had already been made.

Johnson was among those who walked out of a Vancouver Police Board meeting, where board member Rachel Roy resigned over the handling of the re-introduction of the contentious program that had been scrapped by the previous school board in 2021.

Newly elected school trustees voted five-to-four last November to bring back a “reimagined” program, while the police board voted to approve the department’s budget, which included an allocation for the school liaison officer program.

Video from the previous police board meeting in April shows vice-chair Faye Wightman agreeing with Roy that the board had not yet approved the re-introduction of school liaison officers and there would be further discussion.

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However, Wightman corrected her earlier remarks on Thursday, saying she made an error in suggesting that a vote on the program would take place in June because the board already voted when it approved the budget last November.

Johnson said the advisory committee sees the situation as a “fiasco.”

“You wasted our time asking us to come to a meeting, which you already made your decision on, and so, it seems like a bold-faced lie,” he said before leaving the room. 

Mayor Ken Sim, who chairs the police board, told Johnson that he hadn’t lost his voice and there are avenues by which he could provide comments.

Sim’s ABC Vancouver party, which holds a majority on both the school board and city council, campaigned on a promise to return officers to schools.

Sadie Kuehn, co-chair of the African descent advisory committee, told the board that it was “insulting” to have committee members giving up their time, energy and expertise when a “judgment call” on the program had already been made.

Roy said Thursday that the board had “stifled debate” on the program.

“You’ve lied to the African descent advisory committee. I feel lied to,” she told the board members before announcing she would resign after the meeting.

“We didn’t have a vote on this as a policy matter,” she said. 

“We didn’t consider what we as a board were going to do if our advisory committee said, ‘No, this is not the way forward in terms of addressing structural racism.'”

Speaking to media after the meeting, Wightman agreed the police board could have rejected the program’s return, but said it was effectively approved with the budget.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2023.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press