B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner said police had no good reason to block media access during the April 2023 eviction of an encampment in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

A Feb. 4 report found that Vancouver police compromised transparency and press freedom by excluding reporters from the operation.

“The rights to peaceful protest and freedom of the press are essential to a functioning democracy,” Commissioner Kasari Govender said, adding that police must take “clear and intentional steps” to protect both rights unless there is compelling evidence of a significant safety risk.

Govender urged the provincial government to enact a law protecting the press’s right to cover protests unless police obtain a court order or can show blocking access is necessary to address a “credible and substantial” threat to public safety or to avoid compromising a criminal investigation.

The Vancouver Police Department denied imposing an exclusion zone, noting that some reporters entered the area and that one “pool” camera was allowed to cover the decampment. 

Govender said that limitation was unreasonable and amounted to an exclusion. She also criticized the department’s handling of complaints, noting it left the review to the same police commander who oversaw the operation and that he did not involve other staff, interview journalists who were present or conduct research. 

Govender also called for funding to train police in Vancouver and across British Columbia on the role of the press in a democratic society.

“Protecting the ability of the media to report on critical stories impacting marginalized people is essential to ensuring we have shared truth in our society,” she wrote. “A shared understanding of what’s happening in the world is also a foundation for human rights. Without it, we cannot hold police and other powerful institutions and actors to account.”