MEDIA ADVISORY What: The Vancouver Police Board will consider legal complaints filed against the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) for excessive use of force and surveillance of Palestine movement. When: Thursday October 31, 2024 - Media scrum 12PM | police board meeting 1PM Where: Media scrum will be outside VPD Headquarters, 2120 Cambie St. Vancouver. The police board public meeting is on 7th floor or online. https://vimeo.com/showcase/11109208 Who: Representatives from BCCLA and Pivot Legal Society, along with pro-Palestinian activists will be available for comment.

Pivot to appear before the Supreme Court of Canada to fight clawbacks to the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act Pivot has been granted leave to make submissions on the real-world impacts of potential clawbacks to the Act, and the need for laws like this one to grant vitally necessary legal protection in the face of a deadly drug poisoning crisis. This is the only way that the law can be effective in achieving its aim: saving lives.

Policing Race, Gender & Sex Work Learn about impacts of sex work criminalization on Black sex workers, and the ways in which advocates pushback against the erasure & racialized, gendered policing of sex work through court challenges, organizing, and community care.

PRESS RELEASE - Lawyers with Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association have filed three complaints against the Vancouver Police Department’s excessive use of force, targeting, and surveillance of Palestine protests.

Impacted Families Call for Inquiry Amidst Failings of Civilian Police Oversight in B.C. Join the call and stand in solidarity with Indigenous families: https://www.pivotlegal.org/demandjustice

PRESS RELEASE - This morning, 24 months after Jared Lowndes was killed by the Campbell River RCMP, the family of Jared Lowndes filed a lawsuit with the support of Vancouver lawyer Neil Chantler (Chantler & Company).

PRESS RELEASE - Nearly 8 years after the death of Myles Gray during a brutal and violent encounter with multiple Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers the Vancouver Police Board is set to receive a report based on Jury Recommendations.

Members of a Violence-Prone Department brutally killed Myles Gray - The coroner’s inquest jury classified this death as homicide.

MEDIA ADVISORY When: Monday, April 17, 8:00 AM Where: Burnaby Coroners’ Court, 4720 Kingsway, Burnaby BC - Meet at the entrance to Metrotower II at Metrotown [ https://goo.gl/maps/nNhvavQ33RtiVo226 ] - Livestream by Pivot Legal Society [ https://www.instagram.com/pivotlegal/ ] Who: Support rally for the family of Myles Gray & their supporters, to mark the beginning of the Inquest into the VPD killing of Myles Thomas Gray [ https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/death/coroners-service/inquest-schedule-jury-findings-verdicts/inquestlivestream ]

PRESS RELEASE - Pivot's position paper, Involuntary Treatment: Criminalization by another name, comes amid government movement toward the expansion of involuntary treatment in BC, including by Premier David Eby and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside. Recent rumblings from municipal, provincial, and national politicians indicate that the latest call to expand involuntary treatment directly targets people who use drugs. Involuntary treatment - for any community - is a harmful and degrading intervention at odds with healing, wellness, and best practices in drug policy and mental health care. In the context of the drug toxicity crisis, this expansion could be deadly.