BC Civil Liberties Association: British Columbia leads country in police-related deaths. RCMP objects to numbers.

The RCMP is not buying the numbers in a report from the BC Civil Liberties Association that contends that there are more deaths from police action than any other province. It’s not that particular point that the force is disputing. The RCMP is objecting to numbers in the report comparing police-caused deaths between BC and Ontario.

The RCMP has issued a media release stating that a recent B.C. Civil Liberties Association report on in-custody deaths contains “inaccurate” information.

“The BCCLA news release directly compares 267 police involved deaths in B.C. with 113 deaths in Ontario over a 16 year period,” the Mounties’ November 10 release states. “This comparison is misleading and is based on incorrect figures.”

It continues: “Official data from the Office of the Chief Coroner in the Province of Ontario shows that during the 16 year period between 1992-2007 there were in fact 316 deaths in Ontario that involved the police, and not 113 as reported by the BCCLA.”

The BCCLA’s October 27 report claimed that between 1992 and 2007, B.C. saw one police-related death for every 254,550 people per year, and that in comparison, Ontario saw one death for every 1.63 million people per year.

David Eby, executive director for the BCCLA, took issue with what he described as the RCMP’s suggestion that in-custody deaths are not a problem in the province.