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Ceasefire in Gaza could begin on January 19, an estimated 1,422 human rights defenders among those killed

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: “Relatives of Palestinian journalist Ahmed Al-Shayah mourn next to his body after he was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 16 January. Photograph: Haitham Imad/EPA.”

The Guardian reports: “Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire deal, Qatar announced on Wednesday [January 15] evening in Doha. The deal, which is set to be begin on Sunday [January 19] and will last 42 days, will see the exchange of hostages detained by Hamas and Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.”

CBC adds: “The complex accord outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip… It also does not guarantee a permanent truce.”

This morning The Guardian further reports: “Israel airstrikes killed at least 70 more people in Gaza overnight and during Thursday, Reuters reports residents and authorities in the territory said, hours after a prospective ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas which has devastated the Gaza Strip and triggered a humanitarian crisis.”

An estimated 46,707 Palestinians have been killed over the past 467 days (15 months). This includes 18,000 children. It is also believed that 10,000 more people are uncounted because they are buried underneath rubble.

More than 110,265 Palestinians have also been wounded. According to the World Health Organization an estimated 22,500 have life-altering injuries that require but are not receiving rehabilitation. By the end of 2024 there had been at least 4,500 amputations. Every day 10 children lost one or both of their legs with operations and amputations conducted with little or no anesthesia due to Israel’s blockade.

Nearly 1.9 million people in Gaza are internally displaced, of which nearly 80 percent are living in makeshift shelters without adequate clothing or protection from the cold.

The Israeli military says 405 of its soldiers have been killed in combat in Gaza since October 2023. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed in the attack on October 7, 2023, and about 240 were taken captive.

The impact on human rights defenders

Front Line Defenders has stated: “Those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”

It is possible that more than 1,422 human rights defenders have been killed over the past 15 months.

Front Line Defenders has noted: “People considered to be human rights defenders in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] include journalists, lawyers, medical workers, fieldworkers, international volunteers who act as independent observers and carry out human rights work and defenders working for economic, social and cultural rights.”

“Over 1,000 health workers have been killed” (Médecins Sans Frontières, January 7, 2025), “at least 254 aid workers have been killed in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 30 April 2024” (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), “165 journalists and media workers were confirmed killed: 157 Palestinian, two Israeli, and six Lebanese” (Committee to Protect Journalists, January 15, 2025), 2 lawyers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights were killed in airstrikes (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, February 26, 2024), and 1 International Solidarity Movement volunteer (The Guardian, September 7, 2024) are among those killed.

Peace Brigades International called for a ceasefire in November 2023 and in March 2024 asked the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomam People in Chinautla as Ministry of Environment visits

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 15, PBI-Guatemala posted on Instagram:

“A week ago PBI accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomam People in Chinautla. They received a visit from the Ministry of Environment to review 7 water sources that are contaminated, mainly due to the activities of sand mining companies in the territory that operate with expired licenses.

The members of the Resistance asked the public official that the report of the Ministry of Environment reflect the reality of water pollution in Chinautla and that it be transferred to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, with the objective of paralyzing the extractive activity in the territory, canceling the current licenses and preventing the granting of new ones.

Despite the difficulties they face, the Poqomam people of Chinautla remain committed to protecting the territory and the rights to water and sanitation.”

Since 1989, the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomán People in Chinautla (in Spanish – la Resistencia pacífica del pueblo Poqomam en Chinautla) have been defending their right to be consulted on the activities of various clay extraction companies operating in their territory (Arenera La Primavera, Arenera El Pino, Piedrinera San Luis and San Fernando Arenera). They are also defending their territory against the pollution caused by other businesses operating in the region.

PBI-Canada visited Chinautla in May 2023.

In April 2024, the 16-year-old son of Maya-Poqomam leader opposed to sand extraction in Chinautla, Guatemala killed by gunmen.

PBI-Guatemala received a request for accompaniment from the Peaceful Resistance of the Poqomán People in Chinautla, as they have been subject to attacks and criminalization.

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying them in December 2018.

PBI-Honduras observes COFADEH press conference following the arrest of former General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 7, PBI-Honduras posted on X:

“Yesterday we observed the press conference convened by @defencofadeh [the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras -COFADEH] following the arrest of the former head of the Armed Forces, Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, and two other high-ranking military officers accused of the death of Isy Obed Murillo and serious injuries to Alex Zavala.

At PBI, we highlight the importance of achieving comprehensive justice for all victims of the 2009 coup d’état.”

Deutsche Welle reports:

“The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Honduras, General Romeo Vásquez, was arrested this Sunday (05.01.2025) as allegedly responsible for the murder by the military of a demonstrator in 2009, days after leading the coup d’état against former President Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009).

Along with him, the deputy chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Venancio Cervantes, and the former commander of the Joint Operations Command, Carlos Puerto, were also arrested, the Secretary of State for Security (Interior), Gustavo Sánchez, reported on his account on the social network X.

The three former military officers were wanted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office “for allegedly being responsible for the crimes of homicide and serious injuries” after an armed attack by the military against demonstrators in the vicinity of Tegucigalpa’s Toncontin airport on July 5, 2009.”

Infobae names the person killed at the protest: “Isis Obed Murillo Mencías was killed on July 5, 2009 in Tegucigalpa. He was 18 years old and participating in a march near the Toncontín airport, in the Honduran capital, when army snipers fired into the crowd; he died after being shot in the head.”

Radio Habana Cuba also notes: “Alex Roberto Zavala … suffered ‘serious injuries’ as a result of shots fired by Honduran soldiers” at the same incident.

CNN adds:

“Vásquez was arrested on January 6 and sent to the Támara prison – north of the Honduran capital.

The judge accuses him of the murder of Isy Obed Murillo, and the attempted murder of Alex Roberto Zavala, during a demonstration that took place on July 5, 2009, after the coup d’état against then-President Manuel Zelaya.

After the initial hearing, which lasted more than 24 hours, the judge modified the precautionary measure of preventive detention to Vásquez Velásquez, granted him house arrest and a ban on leaving the country.”

Canada and the 2009 coup

On July 30, 2009, more than three weeks after Isis Obed Murillo Mencías was killed and Alex Roberto Zavala was seriously wounded by soldiers, The Globe and Mail reported: “Canada is still providing training to members of the Honduran army, despite the military coup that sent the Central American country into turmoil late last month.”

Between the Lines, the publisher of Ottawa and Empire: Canada and the Military Coup in Honduras by Tyler Shipley, has noted: “In June 2009, the democratically elected president of Honduras was kidnapped and whisked out of the country while the military and business elite consolidated a coup d’etat. To the surprise of many, Canada implicitly supported the coup and assisted the coup leaders in consolidating their control over the country.”

In July 2014, MiningWatch Canada Latin America Coordinator Jen Moore (now at the Institute for Policy Studies) commented:

“There was no doubt that the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement would be rushed through the Senate and receive Royal Assent before parliament recessed in June. Five years ago, however, – before then-Honduran President Mel Zelaya’s back door was shot open and he was flown to Costa Rica in his pyjamas in a military-backed coup – such a trade pact was not so sure.

Over the course of Zelaya’s mandate and under pressure from civil society groups, Zelaya had gradually been making progressive policy shifts. In the mining sector, this included ratifying a moratorium on new mining projects, in place since 2004, and taking steps to draft a new mining bill that incorporated civil society demands, including a ban on open-pit mining.

It took the June 28, 2009 coup – plus tacit support from Canadian and US governments, who turned a blind eye to targetted repression against broad opposition to the coup and endorsed the profoundly corrupt regime; the shredding of Honduran institutions; and the terrorizing of Honduran society – to get where we are today.

Today, thanks to Canadian lobbying efforts and financial support from 2010 to 2013, Honduras also has a new mining law that has lifted the nine-year moratorium and unleashed a wave of violent repression for which communities are paying a high price.”

Further reading: Canada and the Honduran Coup, TODD GORDON and JEFFERY R. WEBBER, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 30, No. 3 (JULY 2011), pp. 328-343 (16 pages).

PBI-Mexico accompanies Peoples Front in Defence of Land and Water at meeting with Municipal President about landfill

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Mexico has posted on Facebook:

“Today, Friday, January 10, PBI accompanies the People’s Front in Defence of Land and Water (FPDTA-MPT) to a dialogue with municipal authorities and the municipal presidency of San Pedro Cholula in the context of their struggle against the intermunicipal landfill. The project that, according to the inhabitants and some studies, has contaminated the aquifers that supply the original [Indigenous] towns of the Cholulteca region.

The meeting that had been scheduled for this morning was held after a peaceful protest by the affected communities whose purpose was the attendance of the Municipal President.

PBI will continue to observe the process and provide international accompaniment of the People’s Front of Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala.”

El Sol de Puebla reports:

“With samples of black and smelly water, product of the leachate that continues to be generated by the landfill in the Cholula region, the group of activists who managed to have it closed last year demonstrated in front of the municipal presidency of San Pedro. They demanded that the city council, headed by Tonantzin Fernández, issue an agreement of the Cabildo to prevent the opening of a new one.

At least 20 members of the Union of Peoples and Fractionations Against the Garbage Dump and in Defense of Water went to a working table with the city council, which began an hour late and after the closure of 4 Poniente Street, since the activists demanded the personal attention of the mayor and agreed to dialogue until her arrival.

Activist Miguel López Vera explained that although the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) definitively closed the landfill last August, they are concerned that the state government has announced the creation of a Waste Transformation Center in that region, to replace the landfill.

He argued that this is how the problem began, since at the time the former governor, Rafael Moreno Valle announced a dry sanitary landfill for the area, where waste would be recycled and processed; however, in the end the site was exceeded in operating capacity, its useful life ended early and it became a garbage dump that caused pollution.”

There were also news reports: They ask that the Calpan-Cholula landfill not be reactivated; Activists against the reopening of the landfill demonstrate in San Pedro Cholula; and Open Town Hall Session Agreed Between San Pedro Cholula City Council and Activists.

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples’ Front since early 2020. In August 2022, that accompaniment was extended for another three years.

Previous articles:

 PBI-Mexico accompanies communities at protest in Mexico City demanding closure of Cholula garbage dump (PBI-Canada, June 12, 2024)

PBI-Mexico accompanies Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water at march against San Pedro Cholula landfill (PBI-Canada, April 26, 2024)

PBI-Mexico accompanies Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water at highway blockade at Cholula garbage dump (March 22, 2024)

PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS threatened as “military target” by EGC/AGC

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: CREDHOS president Ivan Madero, January 4, 2025.

Infobae reports: “On January 1, the Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS) received a text message with a threatening pamphlet that pointed to social leaders and human rights defenders as new military targets. The threat was not only directed at the organization, but also at four members of the human rights collective in [the city of] Barrancabermeja, Santander.”

The article continues that CREDHOS president Ivan Madero has named Dylan Mauricio Benjumea, alias Gamba or Katín, as the person responsible from the Clan del Golfo paramilitary, formerly known as the AGC and now seeking to be recognized as the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC).

Infobae further reports: “The president of CREDHOS called on government entities to intensify offensive measures against these illegal armed groups, which intimidate, subjugate and kill people committed to building a better society in the most marginalized territories of the country.”

In this statement, CREDHOS notes: “The threats occur in the midst of the increase in victimizing acts against the civilian population committed by various armed groups, as well as territorial control in the paramilitary project of the AGC in the Middle Magdalena.”

El Espectador adds: “Madero urged national and government authorities to take measures to protect the civilian population, but also human rights defenders. Madero was emphatic in asking that the Ministry of the Interior ‘quickly and effectively implement’ the public policy of dismantling paramilitary groups.”

That article also explains: “The Gulf Clan is the most powerful illegal organization in the country. Emerging from paramilitary demobilizations in the 2000s, the Clan has consolidated significant territorial control in several regions, especially in Urabá in Antioquia and Choco, the Caribbean and areas of the Pacific. The group, today commanded by Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego, has diverse criminal activities, ranging from drug trafficking to illegal mining, extortion and contract killings.”

And on January 13, BLU Radio Santander reported: “CREDHOS denounced a serious humanitarian situation in the region of Guamocó, in southern Bolívar, after the presence of an armed group allegedly from the Clan del Golfo, known as the Roberto Vargas Gutiérrez bloc. According to the statement issued by the NGO, these events have generated forced displacements and serious human rights violations.”

Enlace Television further explains: “CREDHOS reported that on January 5, approximately 600 armed men of the AGC broke into the village of Altos de las Brisas, where they looted homes and forcibly displaced families. In addition, direct threats against the mining population were reported in the villages of Minguillo and Los Tomates. The situation worsened on January 7, when the AGC intensified its presence in the Las Brujas sector, imposing restrictions on mobility and sowing fear among the communities.”

The work of CREDHOS

El Espectador has highlighted: “Since 1987, CREDHOS has been making visible the barbarities committed against the population, paramilitaries and the former FARC guerrillas – sometimes in collusion with the security forces. …CREDHOS has continued to carry out investigations in which oil multinationals, mayors’ offices, high-ranking members of the security forces and businessmen have been implicated in the commission of atrocious crimes during the armed conflict. This has again brought them harassment and stigmatization.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994. PBI-Canada hosted a visit to Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria by CREDHOS president Ivan Madero in November 2019. In June 2022, PBI-Canada visited CREDHOS in Barrancabermeja. Madero has also participated in several PBI-Canada webinars.

We continue to follow this situation with concern.

Photo: PBI-Colombia and PBI-Canada with CREDHOS president Ivan Madero in Puerto Wilches, Colombia, June 28, 2021.

Photo: Ivan Madero in Ottawa, November 4, 2019.

Photo: Madero in Toronto, November 2, 2019.

Land defenders oppose Toronto-based developer removing trees in the Lemay Forest in Winnipeg

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: “A Manitoba judge extended an injunction ordering protesters opposed to a planned development in the Lemay Forest not to block access to the site.” (CBC, January 6, 2025)

On January 8, APTN News reported: “Land defenders opposing tree removal in the Lemay Forest will not vacate an entry point despite the owner’s attempt to access the land Wednesday [January 8] morning.”

“Since late December, land defenders and members of the Coalition to Save Lemay Forest have camped at an access point just outside the forest.”

This APTN article explains: “They’re fighting to stop the land owner – Tochal Development Group Inc. of Toronto – from removing trees on what they say is sacred land.”

Injunction

APTN also notes: “On Dec. 31, a Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Judge granted an interim injunction ordering them not to impede access to the property owner’s land. On Monday [January 6], the injunction was extended until the next hearing.”

CBC adds: “A Manitoba judge has ruled protesters can’t stop trees from being cut down in Lemay Forest and extended an injunction forcing them to leave the privately owned property. Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Sarah Innes granted the request from Tochal Development Group, which owns the property, to extend the interim injunction first granted near the end of December.”

Photo: Land defenders comment after injunction extended (Global News, January 6, 2025).

Ceremonial site and cemetery

CBC also reports: “Protesters say the forest is a ceremonial site for Indigenous people, and has remnants of a cemetery connected to a former orphanage.”

Global News has previously reported: “The Asile Ritchot, a home for unwed mothers that operated until 1949, had a cemetery in the forest.”

That article continues: “Ian Histed, who is representing one of the 22 defendants, argued the entire property should be considered a cemetery under the province’s Cemeteries Act.” It is believed there could be 1500 grave sites in the area.

Shelley Sweeney, an archivist emeritus with the University of Manitoba who opposes the development, says: “The ethnicity of the children was only reported for a subset of the population. This indicates that there were Métis and a small number of First Nations and Inuit children who died at the Asile.”

In January 2024 the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) called for a halt to the development given the possible “mass grave” site.

Natural habitat

CBC further notes: “Nearby residents and Indigenous groups have fought against the developer’s plans for more than a year. Opponents of the development say the property, which is between Lemay Avenue and the Red River, south of the Perimeter Highway, is an important natural habitat. Last week, the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy made an offer to buy the land from Tochal for $5.25 million, but [John] Wintrup [of Tochal Development Group] said that offer is less than the market value of the land.”

Video still: John Wintrup

We continue to follow this.

Land defenders remain at Winnipeg’s Lemay Forest access point despite injunction (APTN, January 8, 2025): “On Wednesday morning the developer’s planner arrived with a large truck intending to access the land. He returned on two separate occasions with a bobcat. But the coalition told him they wouldn’t move until police arrived.”

Protesters continue to occupy blockade at privately owned Winnipeg-area forest (CBC, January 8, 2025)

2025 will soon be upon us!

By
Brent Patterson
-

In these last few hours before the new year, we ask that you donate to help make possible our efforts to improve the security situation for human rights defenders in Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia.

This includes six webinars to amplify the voices of these defenders to the world, encourage new accompaniment volunteers in the field, and better understand the emerging technologies that put defenders at further risk.

We are also keeping a keen watch on the Gitxsan and Gitanyow land defenders opposing the PRGT pipeline in British Columbia, the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa that is linked to the sale of weapons to countries with atrocious human rights records, and the role Canada will play at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November.

If you can support us: make a donation online via CanadaHelps.org, through an Interac e-transfer to direction@pbicanada.org or by mail to PBI-Canada, 211 Bronson Avenue, #220, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6H5.

Thank you.

PBI accompanied defenders from Guatemala and Honduras meet with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI accompanied defenders with Working Group chairperson Fernanda Hopenhaym.

PBI-Switzerland has noted: “Four PBI-supported human rights defenders participated in the UN Forum on Business & Human Rights in Geneva, as part of an international delegation representing environmental and social rights struggles.”

They add: “Among the defenders supported by PBI are Wendy Maldonado and Edgar Perez of the Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos in Guatemala, Ubaldino García Canan of the Maya Ch’orti’ Council of Chiquimula, and Rocío Walkiria Reyes of CEHPRODEC in Honduras.”

Their article also highlights: “The defenders engaged with several UN mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing and the Working Group on Business and Human Rights.”

“Together with Fernanda Hopenhaym, an expert from the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the delegation presented concrete examples of companies involved in serious abuses in Guatemala and Honduras.”

The PBI-Switzerland article can be read in full at Des défenseurs·euses des droits humains du Honduras et du Guatemala à Genève.

Rocio Walkiria of CEHPRODEC has also posted: “I want to tell you that I participated in the United Nations Palace in Geneva, sharing the challenges we have in Honduras facing an extractive economic model planted during the narco-dictatorship with a private company that, far from having an interest in respecting human rights, murders, criminalizes and persecutes community leaders. We are a legitimate civil society that works in the territories and does not lend itself to the game of the 10 families that do not pay taxes.”

The Maya Ch’orti’ Council of Chiquimula also noted on Facebook an event in Hamburg that featured Ubaldino García Canan and Rocio Walkiria in the context of the UN COP29 climate talks having recently concluded in Azerbaijan.

Binding Treaty talks now underway

While the Working Group has the “mandate promote, disseminate and implement the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)”, the visit of the PBI accompanied defenders also took place just prior to the 10th round of talks on the Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights.

These talks are taking place December 16 to 20.

PBI has long supported the call for a Binding Treaty.

Notably, La Via Campesina posted last week: “The Global Campaign to Reclaim People’s Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power, and Stop Impunity (also known as the Global Campaign) has published a paper on the efforts by corporate lobbies to expand the scope of the future Legally Binding Instrument (LBI) on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights. The paper argues that the proposed expansion to include ‘all businesses’—including state-run enterprises without a transnational character—would severely undermine the future instrument’s effectiveness, allowing transnational corporations (TNCs) to deflect their responsibilities and evade cross-border liabilities.”

Pablo Fajardo of Friends of the Earth Ecuador has commented: “Many Global South countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Palestine, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Cuba, Honduras and others are emphasising the importance that the treaty focus on TNCs.”

Conversely, La Via Campesina has previously noted: “The countries who have not engaged or directly reject and have tried to stop the process are the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia, as well as other highly industrialized countries with a high number of TNCs headquartered in their territories.”

While it is not clear if Canada is trying to derail the Binding Treaty by proposing the inclusion of “all businesses”, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) has expressed the concern that Canada has previously endorsed the US initiative to “explore alternative instruments, binding or non-binding”.

Upcoming

PBI-Colombia also met with Working Group members Fernanda Hopenhaym and Pichamon Yeophantong when they visited Colombia this past July 29 to August 9. El Espectador has reported that the Working Group will present its final report on this visit to the UN General Assembly in June 2025.

We also note that the UN COP30 climate talks will take place in Brazil this coming November 10 to 21, 2025.

Just prior to the start of COP29, Global Witness highlighted: “At least 1,500 defenders have been killed since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015” at the conclusion of the COP21 climate conference.

We continue to follow these processes.

Our plans and hopes for 2025

By
Brent Patterson
-

Your support between now and the end of this year will shape what will be possible for us to do in 2025 and into 2026.

As we continue to meet with accompanied defenders, we know that the situations they face are truly perilous, that the megaprojects they struggle against often have hidden Canadian connections, and that new threats loom.

We also know the power of solidarity, that amplifying awareness about a struggle can make a difference, that there are opportunities on the horizon, and that the simple acts of being present, listening and caring do help.

In 2025, we plan to get more volunteers in the field to physically accompany threatened front line defenders, bring Indigenous Maya Ch’orti’ defenders here to raise awareness about the impacts of a Canadian mining company on their territory in Guatemala, organize a webinar on new threats (including AI and drones) to defenders, and to follow-up on our recent visit to communities in Honduras.

In 2025, we also hope to see progress on restraining the abuses of the RCMP C-IRG against Indigenous land defenders, the inclusion of needed protection measures for environmental defenders as an outcome of the UN climate conference in Brazil, and the launch of a PBI-Turtle Island initiative that has the potential to link our accompaniment work in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

To support this work, you can donate via CanadaHelps.org.

It is also now possible to donate by Interac e-Transfer. You can email your donation to direction@pbicanada.org. In the “Message” field, please note if you would like a charitable tax receipt and include your mailing address.

Or you can mail a cheque to us, but given the Canada Revenue Agency considers the date of the donation to be the date of the postmark on the envelope, the postal strike brings an uncertainty to this.

While we believe PBI-Canada contributes significantly to the work of PBI teams in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and other countries, we are one staffperson and twelve volunteers with minimal administrative costs (we closed our office to save money), so your donation truly go towards directly getting a lot of work done.

Thank you for your support.

Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) annual report provides brief update on systemic investigation into the C-IRG

By
Brent Patterson
-

Dramatic Video Shows Militarized Canadian Police Raid Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders & Journalists (Democracy Now!, November 24, 2021).

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP has released its Annual Report 2023-2024.

On page 8, the CRCC provides its first formal public communication on the status of the investigation into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) since November 23, 2023.

While the systemic investigation was launched almost two years ago on March 9, 2023, there is still no indication of when it will be completed, a report will be made available, and changes will be implemented.

The Annual Report does suggest limits in what might be recommended in that final report. Their examples include: “That the RCMP implement more widely a method, procedure or protocol worthy of emulating.”

PBI-Canada participates in the Abolish C-IRG coalition that stated in March 2023: “Given the nature of the complaints and substantial evidence supporting them, we argue for the suspension of all C-IRG deployment in BC pending investigation and resolution of all complaints currently before the CRCC. The CRCC reviews can take years to complete, and it is irresponsible to have this unit continue operations during that time, enabling the continuation of unlawful use of force, arrests, detentions, and assaults that have sparked such an investigation.”

ANNUAL REPORT 2023-2024

Systemic Investigations

The CRCC has the authority to conduct reviews of specified RCMP activities to ensure that they comply with legislation, regulation, ministerial direction, or RCMP policies, procedures or guidelines.

The RCMP “E” Division Community Industry Response Group (C-IRG)

This systemic investigation of the C-IRG was initiated in March 2023 and examines the effectiveness of C-IRG’s governance and command structure, as well as assessing whether C-IRG operations were carried out in accordance with legal standards, policy requirements, and leading practices. 

More about this systemic investigation is available here.

Status of the Investigation

  • While delays in receiving relevant materials persisted throughout 2023, improvements in this regard are notable and the investigation is progressing.
  • To date, the CRCC has received and is analysing thousands of documents as well as more than 17,000 videos and images.

What We Heard Report

  • The CRCC hired an Indigenous owned law firm to interview individuals and groups who have had interactions with C-IRG.
  • Information derived from the interviews will be compiled into a report and may be used to exemplify the CRCC’s findings and inform any recommendations.

Public Complaints about C-IRG 

As of March 2024, the CRCC received 573 public complaints related to the RCMP’s “E” Division C-IRG injunction enforcement operations. 

Of these public complaints:

  • 121 were accepted
  • 86 public complaint investigations are complete
  • 35 public complaint investigations by the RCMP remain ongoing
  • 10 requests for CRCC review have been received

Information derived from the public complaints and any reviews will also inform the CRCC’s systemic investigation. 

Systemic investigation recommendations can include:

  • That the RCMP implement more widely a method, procedure or protocol worthy of emulating;
  • That RCMP policies, procedures, or guidelines be developed, clarified or amended;
  • That the RCMP develop, amend or modify training for members.

Excerpt from Annual Report 2023-2024.

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