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Surrey Now-Leader: ‘You can’t just shoot a man and walk away,’ says mom of South Surrey man killed by police in 2015

As seen in Surrey Now-Leader by Tracy Holmes on July 18th 2020.

Jennifer Brooks joins call for changes to Family Compensation Act.

Hudson Brooks. (File photo)

Hudson Brooks. (File photo)

The 2015 police-shooting death of 20-year-old Hudson Brooks in South Surrey is being touted as evidence supporting the ongoing call for changes to B.C.’s Family Compensation Act.

“This is such an egregious case of a wrongful death that it’s proof that the government systems we have in place… aren’t effective at all,” Michael-James Pennie, president of the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society, said Friday (July 17).

Acknowledging that civil action in Hudson’s case would be considered under federal legislation, Pennie said he hopes it can bring attention to longstanding deficits in the province’s approach.

“B.C. is the last province yet to modernize its wrongful-death legislation. The way it works in B.C. is that the only way people have value under the law when they’re wrongfully killed is if they meet the discriminatory criteria of having both an income and dependents. That’s the only way we have value.”

Brooks’ mother Jennifer said for her, in light of last September’s news that charges had been dropped against the officer who killed her son, the issue is more about holding those responsible for his death accountable than it is financial compensation.

“You can’t just shoot a man and walk away,” she said. “There has to be some accountability.”

Brooks died on July 18, 2015, after what police initially described as a physical struggle outside of the South Surrey RCMP detachment, located in the 1800-block of 152 Street. He was shot nine times. The incident also resulted in an officer transported to hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Only police-issued firearms were found at the scene.

Charges of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon were announced against Const. Elizabeth Cucheran in December 2017, but were dropped last September – nine months after the judge of a preliminary inquiry ruled there was enough evidence to order the officer to stand trial.

A news release issued by the B.C. Prosecution Service at the time stated “that the available evidence no longer satisfies the charge assessment standard for the continued prosecution of Cst. Cucheran for any criminal offence.”

Evidence that emerged “revealed significant shortcomings in the case against Cst. Cucheran,” the statement added.

“I was so shocked,” Jennifer recalled Friday, describing the news as “so crushing.”

She said she filed a civil claim against the RCMP in 2017 – just shy of the two-year deadline to commence the legal action – and is hopeful Pennie’s group can help her get the justice her son deserves. At the very least, she hopes changes will come about to prevent other families from living the same ordeal.

“There has to be changes made, to help families who have been destroyed,” Jennifer said.

“I don’t want families to have to live through this nightmare and have no justice, no peace.”

Pennie told PAN that in other provinces, and even in the Yukon, there is a “foundation of what’s called bereavement damages,” which consider things such as loss of care when determining compensation, he said.

Without that foundation in B.C., “basically, there’s no ability to sue someone and go to trial and see that there would be a financial penalty at the end of that trial.”

He said good legislation would consider bereavement damages, punitive damages, allow for pain and suffering damages to survive the claimants’ death, and have no legislative caps.

He believes for change to happen, however, it has to become an election issue.

Jennifer said she is still consulting counsel regarding her claim, and a court date has not been set – but she is determined to see it through no matter how long it takes.

“He was a beautiful boy and he’s missed desperately,” she said of Hudson.

“We are healing, but I just can’t rest till something happens. Maybe there will be another law one day – Hudson’s Law.”


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About the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society

‘In Their Name’ is the campaign of ‘The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society’ – a BC registered non-profit organization comprised of volunteer families who have lost a loved one to wrongful death in BC and were denied access to justice. In response to the biggest human rights issue facing the province today, our goal is to modernize British Columbia’s antiquated wrongful death legislation, which predates confederation (1846). Under current legislation, the value of a human life is measured only by the deceased’s future lost income, so long as they had dependents.

As a result of the province’s antiquated law, access to justice has been denied to the families of the wrongfully killed who do not meet this discriminatory criteria. This has affected especially vulnerable groups, namely children, seniors, the disabled, and anyone without dependents when they are killed by the negligent or intentional acts of another.

BC is presently the last of all the provinces, yet to have undertaken this critical legislative modernization to allow for dignity, value, and protections for all its citizens under the law.

When it’s ‘free’ to kill in BC, wrongdoers are not held accountable. This lack of general deterrence holds the province back in terms of incentivizing innovation of safety measures and protocols to prevent wrongful deaths in the first place.


Here’s How You Can Get Involved…

The Premier of British Columbia, David Eby, is responsible for the modernization of BC’s wrongful death laws. Our Society provided David Eby with the drafted ‘Wrongful Death Accountability Act’ when he was acting as the Attorney General for British Columbia for 6 years between 2017-2022. The new Attorney General, Niki Sharma, also shares responsibility as she is the Minister responsible for the ‘Family Compensation Act’ – the current guiding piece of legislation that the civil courts must follow in cases of wrongful death. Minister Sharma receives feedback from the regional ‘Members of the Legislative Assembly’ (MLAs) and follows orders from the Premier, David Eby, who is ultimately responsible for modernization.

Reform is presently at a standstill, as the BC NDP government does not presently view access to justice for the surviving family members of the wrongfully killed as a priority in this province. This is despite the fact that the families behind our Society have been fighting for modernization for over two decades. And despite the fact that all other provinces, including the Yukon, have already modernized in most cases long ago.

The only way to move this forward is by creating massive public awareness and outcry for legislative modernization. Only under the scrutiny of the public and the media will our politicians be forced to take this necessary, and long overdue action.

How many more people will need to die from the same preventable wrongful actions before our politicians will do their job?

#1 Kindly consider supporting the public awareness advertising efforts of our volunteer led Society by Donating Now »

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We appreciate your support at this critical time!

2024 Election – David Eby & the BC NDP have failed to keep their promise to modernize BC’s wrongful death laws within their 2020-2024 mandate of government.

John Rustad and the Conservative Party of BC have committed to modernize if elected.

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