Should B.C. make school police liaison programs mandatory?

Poll: Police in schools

Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Then-NDP candidate for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Lisa Beare, speaks during a campaign event in Maple Ridge October 2024. Beare is now B.C.'s education minister.

British Columbia's human rights commissioner says the provincial government has effectively made police liaison programs mandatory in schools with its firing of the Greater Victoria school board, while failing to provide a factual basis for the decision.

Kasari Govender says in a letter to Education Minister Lisa Beare and Public Safety Minister Gary Begg that failure to fund research into the matter is contrary to the government's human rights obligations "and undermines its stated values to combat racism."

The letter dated Monday comes after Beare fired the entire elected board of School District No. 61 last Thursday over its refusal to allow police in schools except in emergencies.

The commissioner says there are "significant gaps" in evidence supporting school police liaison officers and there is not enough research to say definitively whether police presence in schools keeps young people safe and thriving.

Govender says it is "past time" for funding of research into police in schools, and that an evidence-based policy is more effective and likely to avoid bias.

The former board of the school district said its ban on police was based on reports that some students and teachers — particularly those who are Indigenous or people of colour — did not feel safe with officers in schools.

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