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Cops kill people. They hurt people. They sexually assault people. And when they do, there’s a whole system that’s supposed to hold them accountable, but it barely works. On Episode 58, Garth and Sam dig into Canada’s rotten history of police accountability—and ask whether the system is failing, or doing exactly what it was built to do.
HEADLINES
A recent report by the Tracking (In)Justice Project at Carleton University has found that Canadian police officers have killed significantly more people during the 2020s than in previous decades. In 96% of cases Canada’s police oversight agencies declined to recommend or lay charges on officers.
APTN reports that a family from the Swan Lake First Nation in Manitoba is frustrated with the province’s Independent Investigations Unit. In 2025, an officer with the Manitoba First Nations Police Service shot and killed their dog. This week, the IIU cleared the officer of any potential charges. (Link).
Universities are spying on students. The Breach uncovered a secret network of administrators at top Canadian universities. This “top-secret” network worked to surveille and suppress students protesting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. In Alberta, University managers were found to have colluded with the UCP government and the police to clear student encampments using violent, para-military raids.
Since 2025, the US military has killed over 200 people as part of Operation Southern Spear – a campaign to bomb small fishing boats in the Caribbean. Human rights organizations have called it “illegal” and a “murder spree.” President Donald Trump has claimed that these bombings contributed to a 97% reduction in drugs trafficked to the US by sea. However, a recently leaked Drug Enforcement Administration assessment states that Donald Trumps’ bombings have completely failed to impact the supply, purity, and price of cocaine in the United States. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3).
UPDATES
DULF’s Charter Challenge had its last day in court at the end of July. You can read Michelle Gamage’s reporting on the trial for The Tyee on the DULF trial here.
The BC Supreme Court recently issued a decision saying that David Eby’s forced treatment centres violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Read Health Justice’s summary of the decision here.
FEATURE STORY #1
Garth and Sam talk to Kingsley Gilliam, a civil rights legend and the Director of Advocacy for the Black Action Defence Committee, as well as Lydia Lukas Lobbezoo, a policy consultant and researcher specializing in police oversight. You can read Lydia Lukas Lobozoo’s thesis, “Police oversight and the search for justice in British Columbia,” here.
COMMUNITY PROFILE
Support Starlings work with youth whose parents use drugs, here.
FEATURE STORY #2
Garth and Sam talk to Samona Marsh, Tyson Singh Kelsall, Paul Henry, and Professor Kanna Hayashi from the Vancouver-based organization, Police Oversight With Evidence and Research (POWER). You can read POWER’s report “What Are Police For?” and their IDJP paper on police confiscations here.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
Pivot legal society recently released a guide for health care service providers in BC to know their rights when encountering police officers.
Amy Romer investigates the emotional realities of living through a planetary health crisis in the new podcast series, Beyond Ecological Grief.
Read Justin Mah’s touching essay about his relationship with his father, mental health, and the overdose crisis, “Amidst a Protracted Toxic Drug Crisis.”
Read Euan Thompson’s investigative series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4) about the Nova Scotia government’s attacks on the Halifax-based Out of the Cold Community Association.
CREDITS
Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
Our editorial board is Dean Wilson, Jeff Louden, Laura Shaver, Samona Marsh, Delilah Gregg, Ryan Maddeaux, Scotty Archonous and Martin Steward. Rest in peace Shelda Kastor, Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin.
This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn and Garth Mullins with help from Professor Kanna Hayashi, Tyson Singh Kelsall, and Alex de Boer. Sam and Garth also wrote some of the music in this episode. The rest was produced by Blue Dot Sessions.
This episode was funded in part by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant awarded to Professor Kanna Hayashi (funding number PJT-190266).
Please support Crackdown at patreon.com/crackdownpod.