15-05-2025
Police investigating whether officer leaked provincial document that showed B.C. is downplaying safer-supply risks
British Columbia's director of police services is investigating whether a law enforcement officer was responsible for leaking government presentation slides that revealed a 'significant' portion of safer-supply opioids is being diverted and trafficked, a disclosure that prompted swift policy change.
The documents were obtained by opposition B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko, who provided them to journalists and introduced them in the legislature in February. The revelation undermined the government's longstanding public assurances that diversion of opioids that are part of the province's prescribed alternatives program was not widespread.
Assistant deputy minister and director of police services Glen Lewis requested the investigation into the unauthorized disclosure in a Feb. 10 letter to Assistant Commissioner Will Ng, acting commanding officer at the B.C. RCMP.
'Specifically, it is alleged that a copy of a presentation by the Ministry of Health to a law enforcement workshop that occurred in January 2025 was disclosed,' Mr. Lewis wrote. 'This presentation included sensitive information, including investigative information.'
He cited section 44 of B.C.'s Police Act, which states that the director may order an investigation into alleged acts committed by RCMP officers or others appointed under the legislation.
Ms. Sturko, a former police officer, told The Globe and Mail in February that she received the documents from multiple sources, some of whom saw the presentation in late 2024 and others in early 2025.
She said in an interview Wednesday that she was contacted on April 30 by a B.C. RCMP sergeant who informed her that Mr. Lewis had ordered the investigation to determine if a police officer had leaked them to her. She said she told the sergeant that she received the documents from a third-party who is not a police officer.
Sergeant Vanessa Munn, a non-commissioned officer with the E Division of the RCMP in B.C., told The Globe that investigators spoke with a number of individuals to determine the source of the information and if there was a breach of a law enforcement officer's responsibilities. The investigation focused on actions of any active law enforcement officers, and Ms. Sturko is not under investigation, Sgt. Munn said.
A request for comment from Mr. Lewis was forwarded to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, which did not respond by deadline.
Ms. Sturko said it was offensive for government 'to make a witch hunt for a whistleblower,' and that she intended to raise a point of privilege in the legislature, as members must be able to fulfill their parliamentary duties without undue obstruction, interference or intimidation.
'I wish the government showed as much concern for the diversion of safe supply and the warnings to the public and education they need about the dangers of drugs, as they did into worrying about who was the source of their embarrassment,' she said.
Premier David Eby underscored that the investigation was launched by the director of police services independent of government, and that government cannot direct the RCMP on its work. He also gave credit to Ms. Sturko for doing her job.
'I was an opposition MLA for a number of years,' he said at an unrelated news conference in Victoria on Wednesday. 'If I had ever been so fortunate as to receive documents like that about the government of the day, I would have done exactly what she did. I disagree with her often on policy but, in this case, game recognize game.'
The leaked 38-slide presentation was prepared by the Ministry of Health and presented to RCMP officers at the force's provincial headquarters in Surrey, B.C. It included details on several investigations, including that diverted opioids from the prescribed alternatives program were being trafficked 'provincially, nationally and internationally.'
As well, the documents revealed that more than 60 pharmacies were accused of paying patients illegal cash incentives for their prescription business, in a kickback scheme The Globe reported on in March, 2024.
The documents were seen as a damning admission by the governing NDP, which until that point had publicly downplayed the extent to which the drugs were being diverted. Within two weeks, the province announced changes to the prescribed alternatives program to require that new clients ingest their medications in front of a health care provider, and could not take them home.
Mr. Eby, asked Wednesday whether police resources should be used on hunting down a whistleblower, said the police's focus should be on the problem pharmacies.
