B.C. minister calls out police over stayed drug charges

B.C.'s public safety minister says he's outraged at revelations members of Victoria's police department caused the collapse of a major drug prosecution by misleading Crown counsel.

A day after CBC reported that charges had been stayed against three men accused of sitting at the top of B.C's "fentanyl trafficking pyramid," Mike Farnworth told reporters he was as "angry as everybody else when I heard the news about the staying of the charges."

"I also want to know and will be looking into the matter in terms of getting information: what specifically went wrong, how did it go wrong and what steps are being taken to ensure that it does not happen again," said Farnworth, who is also solicitor general.

'Project Juliet'

The minister's comments followed the release this week of a B.C. Supreme Court judgment claiming Victoria police officers misled prosecutors and defence lawyers about the involvement in their investigation of an officer who was himself under criminal investigation.

Victoria Police Chief Const. Del Manak apologized Wednesday for any "contributions" his officers had made to the demise of 'Project Juliet' — but he stopped short of pointing a finger at anyone beyond Robb Ferris, the disgraced officer who has since resigned from the force.

Ferris was not criminally charged in connection with the allegations against him, which included associating with suspects, divulging details of investigations to family members, improperly accessing police databases and lying to investigators.

According to Justice Catherine Murray's decision, he remained part of the initial 'Project Juliet' investigative team from May 2020 to June 2020, because the lead investigator didn't want to tip him off to a criminal probe against him by the RCMP's anti-corruption squad.

Ferris was arrested in June 2020.

Murray said 'Project Juliet' recommenced without him, culminating in the three arrests. But when investigators filed a final report to Crown counsel they left out any mention of activities preceding June 2020.

The judge said an officer tasked with writing applications for search warrants "concealed" the existence of previous authorizations obtained in the investigation.

And when a defence lawyer stumbled on an earlier date in the documentation, a new lead investigator told Crown counsel it was an administrative oversight.

That lead investigator is now herself under external investigation.

'It's unacceptable what happened'

On Thursday, the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner confirmed the initiation of an investigation — conducted by Delta Police — into the handling of 'Project Juliet.'

"This investigation was placed on hold while the matter was before the courts," the OPCC said in an email.

"We are reviewing the decision of the B.C. Supreme Court and will lift the suspension in due course and the investigation will continue. This investigation will examine all relevant circumstances relating to this matter."

The CBC has also learned that at least one criminal conviction in which Ferris played a role is currently before the B.C. Court of Appeal — with his part in the proceedings a matter of contention.

Manak said Victoria Police and RCMP performed an audit following Ferris's arrest to determine the impact of his alleged misconduct on any other investigations.

But he said he did not have the details.

Farnworth said Thursday that Victoria Police have indicated that "they will be making significant changes to ensure that this does not happen again.

"I want to make sure that if there are gaps identified, that they are addressed," Farnworth said.

"Quite frankly, it's unacceptable what happened."