BREAKING: Vancouver School Board Votes to Reinstate the SLO Program
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This is a developing story. Updates will be made as more information becomes available.
Police will be back in schools no later than September 2023. | Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via CTV News
UPDATE: Statements from trustees added [11:06pm]
The Vancouver School Board (VSB) voted 5-4 on Monday night to reinstate the School Liaison Officer (SLO) program, a year and a half after it was cancelled.
According to the motion regarding the SLO program drafted by board vice-chair Preeti Faridkot, the VSB will “request the implementation of a revised and reimagined School Liaison Officer (SLO) program,” with the goal of putting police officers back in school no later than September 2023.
At the Nov. 28 board meeting, trustees debated the motion for an hour before voting on it.
Trustee Faridkot argued in favour of her motion.
“The stats from the VPD SLO program prove that the benefit of taking a preventative, proactive approach to policing, with a foundation of relationships and community building, is one that betters youth criminalization and unnecessary entry into the criminal justice system.”
Trustee Josh Zhang also supported the return of the SLO program, stating that; “The complete removal of the SLO program and the termination of the relationship between the Vancouver School Board and the Vancouver Police Department and any collaboration between the two - I just don’t see that moving us closer to the goal of our equity statements.”
Trustee Jennifer Reddy held an opposing viewpoint.
“We’re also exposing our vulnerable students to this type of injury again and trauma again, to what cost to the mental health of our marginalized students?” She asked the board.
Trustee Janet Fraser provided some insight from the previous decision to cancel the SLO program. “At that time, when the board made that decision [to end the SLO program], there did not appear to be any willingness by the VPD to make changes in the program.”
Trustee Lois Chan-Pedley and Trustee Suzie Mah, along with Trustees Fraser and Reddy, attempted to delay the motion, proposing twice that the motion be referred to the Student Learning and Well-Being Committee and by tabling a secondary motion that would have postponed consideration of the motion until legal counsel could be sought. On all counts, these motions failed to pass.
“In terms of reinstatement without counsel, without meaningful consultation and a longer consultation process involving more stakeholders involving the public and marginalized groups particularly our black community and our Indigenous community I believe that we are not meeting up to our responsibilities.” Trustee Mah said, defending her motion to delay a decision on the SLO program.
After debate ended, trustees voted on the motion. Board chair Victoria Jung, Chris Richardson, Josh Zhang, Alfred Chien, and Faridkot, all ABC Vancouver trustees, with the exception of Richardson, voted in favour. Trustees Mah, Reddy, Chan, and Fraser voted against the motion.
VSB chair Jung was elated to see the motion pass.
“It was something that's near and dear to my heart, so I was happy to see the motion pass and see so much support for it,” she told The Nest.
The specifics of how the SLO program will operate is still unclear. However, board chair Jung outlined how the VSB plans on moving forward.
“Our first step is to engage, engage with the community, engage with stakeholders, and engage with the Vancouver Police Department. There are a lot of gaps and bridges that we need to mend. And so it'll begin with engaging and and consultation.”
Trustee Chan-Pedley was disappointed with the reinstatement of the SLO program.
I'm disappointed in the rushed process and the outcome as well… The vote is what it is and I'm very disappointed,” she stated.
“We've been trying to put brakes on it, even just to slow it down and have a more fulsome discussion over a longer period of time. But it feels like whiplash. Honestly, how quickly this was brought forward and then pushed through without due consultation was shocking and unfortunate. I think they're going to miss the mark.”
Prior to its cancellation last year, the School Liaison Officer program put police officers in all 17 of the district’s secondary schools. It was first implemented in 1972.
Reinstating the SLO program was one of the key school board campaign promises of the ABC Vancouver party, which won five out of nine seats on the Vancouver School Board in the municipal elections held in October. One ABC trustee has since been removed from the party’s caucus.
Before the vote on Monday night, the VSB held three public delegation board meetings and a stakeholder delegation meeting, with most delegations arguing for and against the SLO program. According to meeting agendas on the VSB website, 69 delegations spoke on the SLO program, with the majority of delegates speaking against the reimplementation.
The School Liaison Program was previously cancelled in April 2021, after a lengthy and sometimes contentious public debate on the issue.
The cancellation came after a report by Argyle Communications commissioned by the VSB revealed that students had mixed opinions of the SLO program.
The report commissioned by the VSB on the SLO program in 2021
Engagement methods included stakeholder interviews, student discussion groups, and an online survey. Out of nearly 1500 survey respondents, 4 per cent identified as Black and 4 per cent identified as Indigenous.
When respondents were asked to comment on their personal experience with the SLO program, 941 comments were positive, 531 were negative, and 262 responses were neutral or unaware of the program.
The report also revealed that Black and Indigenous students were less likely to refer to positive relationships with SLOs and more likely to refer to negative feelings like fear, anxiety, or mistrust. Students identifying as Black or Indigenous were more likely to express both positive and negative feelings related to safety in schools.
The report’s conclusion found that the main themes were a “[l]ack of familiarity with the SLO program and a desire to understand why SLOs are in schools”, a “spectrum of experiences with the program, from positive to negative”, and “most students expressing support for the program to continue as is or with small changes” while “a smaller but important group of students expressed a desire for the program to be dramatically changed or removed.”
The school board at the time voted 8-1 in favour of the cancellation.
"It is important that all our students feel safe, secure and included in our schools," then Board Chair Carmen Cho remarked in a statement afterwards.
After ABC Vancouver won a majority of seats on the board of education, the role of law enforcement in schools has been debated amongst students, teachers, and organizations alike.
On the same day as the Nov. 28 board meeting, the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council (“DPAC”) published an open letter to VSB trustees to withdraw the motion, calling the stakeholder engagement process “inherently flawed and discriminatory”.
The letter then went on to state the need for a PAC led motion on School Liason Officers in the spring of 2023.
In addition to parents, organizations have also voiced concerns about the School Liason Officer program.
Last Friday, BC’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender wrote a letter to BC school board trustees strongly recommending against SLO programs in schools.
“Out of respect for the rights of our students, I strongly recommend that all school districts end the use of SLOs until the impact of these programs can be established empirically.”
“For school boards who choose not to take this step, it is incumbent on you to produce independent evidence of a need for SLOs that cannot be met through civilian alternatives and to explain the actions you are taking to address the concerns raised by Indigenous, Black and other marginalized communities.”
VSB chair Jung disagreed with the letter from the BC Human Rights Commissioner, telling The Nest that; “We respect the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner. However, there's no evidence that supports what they provided. And so what's best for us in Vancouver might not be what's best for the community outside of Vancouver.”