The Sea to Sky RCMP has responded to some community members’ concerns over the potential use of British Columbia’s Critical Response Unit (CRU-BC) during protests.
Insp. Robert Dykstra and Staff Sgt. Gareth Bradley gave a briefing at the District’s Jan. 14 committee of the whole meeting in response to a submission made to council last year from Rising Tide Squamish.
On Sept. 24, 2024, the environmental and social justice group called upon the District to communicate to the RCMP that “Squamish does not recognize CRU operations and tactics as contributing to public safety, security and individual rights, and therefore the CRU must not be deployed here.”
“We wish to keep our community free from CRU-BC. The safety of our community is threatened by militarized police,” group members Spencer Fitschen and Maryam Adrangi wrote in their submission to council.
The letter calls the unit a “para-military force created to prepare and respond to Indigenous and environmental activism.”
It also raises issues of concern around the treatment of protesters, for example, at Fairy Creek, and references alleged complaints of “theft of property, racism, violence, assault, and other unlawful conduct.”
They said that “Squamish has no need for a militarized policing unit to maintain public safety,” and argued “this unit poses a great risk to public safety through violence, active intimidation of citizens, and presents its authority with military-style vehicles, advanced weaponry, and anonymity; face coverings, no badge numbers or names on the uniforms is common.”
In response to this, Insp. Dykstra said he wanted to reaffirm the Sea to Sky RCMP’s commitment to providing “effective and compassionate policing services that reflect the values and expectations of our community here in Squamish.”
“Regarding protest activities, our primary objective is to maintain public safety while respecting the fundamental rights of individuals to engage in lawful and peaceful protest,” Dykstra said.
“As the local police service jurisdiction, we prioritize proactive engagement and relationship building.”
He went on to explain that in Squamish, there are four officers with specialized training who are part of the police liaison team.
“This training focuses on fostering communication, trust and understanding between law enforcement and protest groups. Specifically, it equips officers with skills in negotiation, de-escalation and community engagement, ensuring that dialogue remains open and respectful,” he said.
“These officers are local resources; they're trained to work directly with community members and protest groups to promote peaceful outcomes.”
When could CRU-BC be called to Squamish?
According to the RCMP website, on Jan. 1, 2024, the “Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) was renamed as the Critical Response Unit – British Columbia (CRU-BC) to better reflect the scope of work and service that its members are called to.”
The newly named unit assists in civil and public order events for “natural or human-caused disasters” and operates in conjunction with other RCMP units.
In a bid to address the primary concerns of Rising Tide Squamish, Dykstra explained the circumstances around how and why CRU-BC could be called upon.
“CRU-BC is a specialized provincial resource that can provide additional support in situations where the scale, complexity or risk level exceeds the capacity of the local police,” he said.
“While our approach is to manage public order locally whenever possible, there may be instances where additional resources are required to ensure public safety. Should CRU-BC be deployed in Squamish, It's important that you recognize and be aware that our role as the police service jurisdiction remains central.
“We would work closely with CRU-BC to provide local context, ensure alignment with community expectations and facilitate an appropriate and balanced response.”
Dykstra said that any frontline engagement with the community and protest groups would continue to be led by local officers.
“We recognize the importance of maintaining trust, open lines of communication and a policing approach that reflects the values of Squamish residents,” he said.
“In an era where reconciliation with Indigenous communities is a national priority, we recognize that protests may arise over a wide range of issues; including those that impact local First Nations communities.”
For the local RCMP team, Dysktra said their policing philosophy places a strong emphasis on “respect, dialogue, collaboration and understanding.”
He said this ensures that when protests occur or intersect with First Nations interests, the team can respond in a way that is “mindful of reconciliation goals and respectful of all parties involved.”
“When public safety is at risk, we will act decisively, always within the framework of the law and with the goal of protecting everyone involved. While we cannot predict every scenario, we are confident in our local team's ability to manage situations effectively and in line with the expectations of the community,” Dykstra said.
Council response
After the briefing, Mayor Armand Hurford asked the local RCMP representatives how much control they have when asking CRU-BC or other teams for specific help.
“In most cases, we have a direct say in what resources we get to assist us in whatever situation is ongoing,” Dykstra responded.
“We had an incident last year where we managed to get three ERT [Emergency Response Team] people to come. So there is some flexibility as it pertains to protests.
“Obviously, they can be dynamic in nature, so you know, we start off with our local resources. If we feel that the protest is going to be a bigger event then we would call in additional resources to assist based on what we think the need is.
“CRU-BC and other units will probably have their own minimums, in some cases, for what they require based on the ask. But we do get a fair amount of say in terms of what comes; we don't just say we need CRU-BC, or we need ERT, or we need another team, and then suddenly there's 100, you know, 200 officers just walking in the streets.”
Coun. Jenna Stoner asked whose responsibility it would be to cover the costs if the provincial unit were to come into play.
“It's a provincial team that's there to assist us in the event that we need the additional resources. So there would be no cost; that crew is covered by the province,” Dykstra said.
“That would be their costs and responsibility; nothing comes back to the municipality.”
Coun. Lauren Greenlaw asked when exactly the local RCMP team would be likely to call in CRU-BC, to which Dykstra confirmed it would be for protest-related activities.
“We do have a relatively good team here in Squamish, but there's only so much we can do with the resources that we do have. Because of the joint command that we have within the Sea to Sky as well, I'm able to deploy resources from Whistler, Pemberton to come down and assist, so we can draw on additional bodies to assist in the event that there's something going on,” he said.
“CRU-BC, for me, is if we see an event that's starting to either be planned, which is outside the scope of what our local resources could potentially cover or if we have an event that's ongoing and it starts to go in a direction which is outside of our scope to be able to manage on our own.
“We would [then] bring in additional resources, and that's when we would call them in.”
Moving forward
Council unanimously moved to receive the report from the RCMP, but some councillors were still on the fence about CRU-B.C. being used in Squamish.
Hurford thanked both the community for bringing the issue to council’s attention and the RCMP for their effort to ease concern around the provincial unit.
“I know this is a challenging subject that comes with some history. I hope this is as far as we need to go with this conversation, this topic, as our community moves forward together,” Hurford said.
Coun. Chris Pettingill said he found the topic “challenging.”
“I personally, organizationally, haven't seen the RCMP, from my perspective, respond adequately to some of the criticisms, I think, quite valid and well-documented events and [that] raises a lot of concerns for me,” he said.
“When we made the motion to hear more, it was important to me that ... we did not expect the local RCMP to speak on behalf of CRU because … with any large organization, there's different perspectives and different actions.
“So, I wanted to try and separate what we see with the local attachment and operations versus what I would still consider some more troubling aspects in how things have been approached, and for me, I would like to see a little more accountability and action from the RCMP to feel comfortable with CRU.”
Coun. John French said the briefing was encouraging for anyone involved in protest action.
“There are a few things that I heard today that I think are really encouraging. Words, like relationship building, communication, negotiation, these are super important in situations like a protest, because for everybody involved, it is a very difficult environment,” he said.
“I think particularly for RCMP or anybody that has been charged with keeping the peace, it's super challenging in an environment where peace is not necessarily top of mind for some of the people who are involved in the protest action.”
Greenlaw said she has an expectation that the local RCMP and provincial force will be “protecting the rights of individuals over industry assets and corporate rights.”
“I'm very uncomfortable with the CRU being in our District, and I think that people all over the world are being put in a really difficult situation where governments and legislation are not representing the best interests of people, and being inactive with climate change, and they feel like there are no choices or worse, representing corporate interests as opposed to human interests,” she said.
“I do have a lot of fear about the CRU, and I think a lot of people do too.”
Visit the RCMP website for more information on our local detachment and the CRU-BC.
