Statement
March 15, 2023

UBCIC Calls for Urgent Police Reform to End Violence, Death, and Oppression on International Day Against Police Brutality

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – March 15, 2023) On International Day Against Police Brutality, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) calls for all justice actors and police authorities to acknowledge the tremendous historical and ongoing harm of police brutality that disproportionately targets Indigenous people and people of colour, rooted in colonial violence. Police and RCMP alike must uphold human rights, urgently implement the Calls for Justice, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, provide mandatory anti-racism training for all police agents to end racial bias and hate, and reconfigure lofty police budgets to prioritize de-escalation and trauma-informed, culturally safe services, so people in distress are met with compassion and support instead of violence, death and further oppression and dispossession. UBCIC firmly stands with all victims and families who have been harmed or lost loved ones to police brutality, and remembers Jared Lowndes, Chantel Moore, Chris Amyotte, Julian Jones, Dale Culver and more.

Honour Their Names, an art exhibit and organizing space opens today, March 15, at Gallery Gachet. See here for further details.

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Media inquiries:

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President, 250-490-5314
Chief Don Tom, Vice-President, 604-290-6083
Chief Marilyn Slett, 250-957-7721

UBCIC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

For more information please visit www.ubcic.bc.ca

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