BC Civil Liberties Association
306-268 Keefer St V6A 1X5 Vancouver, BC, Canada

"We cannot forget that the first community that Canada labelled as a threat were Indigenous communities, and land defenders continue to be labelled and perceived as a threat to the state.... In the long run, we are only going to end up harming the very communities that have been the targets of groups such as the Proud Boys." BCCLA board member Hasan Alam explains why designating the Proud Boys a terrorist group does more to harm racialized communities than it does to stop violent white supremacy. #cdnpoli

Years after his name was cleared in a lower court, Dr. Hassan Diab is facing a French Court of Appeal ruling ordering him to stand trial on baseless accusations of terrorism. We are urging the federal government to commit to not extraditing Dr. Diab and to proactively intervene with their French counterparts to have these charges dropped. This prolonged Kafkaesque injustice for Dr. Hassan Diab, his wife Dr. Rania Tfaily, and their family must end. Read our full statement here.

BCCLA is urging the City of Vancouver NOT to adopt recommendations on enhanced enforcement of amplification devices. The recommendations will unreasonably infringe on freedom of expression, especially for people already targeted by state violence.

It is unconscionable that despite all data and calls for accountability, the Police Board continues to support police authority to conduct street checks. Chief Don Tom of UBCIC

The issue isn’t whether there are more or less street checks, the issue is that street checks are illegal and they shouldn’t happen, said Harsha Walia, the director of the BC Civil Liberties Association. The entire framework of the Vancouver Police Department around street checks is really troubling, because it avoids the core questions that were at the core of our complaint, which is that there is no utility to street checks, that there is no basis for them in the law. #vanpoli #bcpoli

We give the VPD a failing grade in their first annual audit of street checks. With UBCIC, WISH Drop-In Centre Society, and Hogan's Alley Society, we're releasing our own annotated response to the audit, and call for an immediate BAN on street checks.