B.C. researcher starts project to document Indigenous deaths in police custody – CBC

May 24, 2023

First Nations and advocates echo calls for more transparency into in-custody deaths

An independent researcher is calling for greater transparency around deaths in police custody in B.C., saying they disproportionately affect Indigenous people.

Leonard Cler-Cunningham, a researcher who has documented the deaths of Indigenous people in custody for decades and co-authored research into violence against sex workers in Vancouver, held a news conference Tuesday to launch the Not In The Public Interest website.

It contains statistics relating to in-custody deaths, and videos of previous deaths involving Indigenous people.

He says the website’s title draws from one of the reasons that his numerous freedom of information requests regarding in-custody deaths were denied — that the requests were “not in the public interest.”

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/researcher-indigenous-deaths-police-custody-1.6852720