A community advisory group is being created to help “close gaps” between the community and the B.C. extortion task force amidst the ongoing extortion-related violence in Surrey and other B.C. communities.
The chair of the committee will be announced tomorrow, Premier David Eby said Tuesday (Feb. 3) after meeting with Surrey business leaders in Vancouver.
The group will be made up of community members who will be working alongside the task force and ensuring they understand “the front-line experience of people” who have received extortion threats, Eby said.
“I know as a leader, it can be hard to know what’s happening on the front lines when you get reports up that say everything’s great. So this community group will help close that gap by ensuring that the front-line people’s experiences south of Fraser and in Surrey are directly delivered to the task force leadership, so they can take the actions necessary to ensure that everybody feels protected and safe in the community,” Eby said.
Eby said the move comes after repeated attempts by the province for the police to communicate updates regularly to the community; despite those efforts, he said, they have not done so.
“I have been very concerned about inconsistent communications between the task force and the Surrey Police Service to the community. These inconsistent communications result in a community feeling that everybody is not on the same page, that they’re not all working together, that they’re not coordinated on the number 1 issue in their lives,” Eby said.
At times, the community has been hearing “different updates from different police groups at different times saying differing things, and that is not a recipe for public confidence in the community, and that’s the issue that has to be addressed,” Eby said.
He added that when he speaks to people south of the Fraser, particularly in Surrey, people do not have confidence that things are getting better and that everything possible is being done to address the issue.
“That gap in community understanding is very corrosive, because it means that people don’t call in information. It means they say ‘Well, what’s the point of letting police know because they’re not doing anything anyway.’ These are some of the serious things I am hearing,” Eby said.
“We absolutely have to close this gap between the community’s experience of policing south of the Fraser, the response to extortion when they get a threat, and the understanding of police leadership south of the Fraser of what’s happening, because there is a gap. When I meet with police leadership, they assure me that they are on top of this, that people are receiving the best possible response, that there are no additional resources that are needed, but when I meet with community leadership, they say that that is not their experience.”
There have been 46 reports of extortion, 11 extortion-related shootings and 29 victims (17 of whom are repeat) in 2026 alone, Surrey Police said Monday (Feb. 2).
Eby reiterated that what is happening in Surrey is like “a slow-motion terror attack.”
“People are afraid to leave their homes, they are afraid to attend their businesses, they’re afraid to do business, and they’re afraid to celebrate when they have big accomplishments that may draw attention,” Eby said.
There is no date set yet for a planned meeting in Surrey between top cops from B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario to discuss the ongoing extortion crisis, close any information gaps, and ensure police have the resources they need to tackle it.
Eby also announced a coming change to the makeup of the Surrey Police Board.
Vacancies on the board have lapsed, and they will only be filled by people in mutual agreement between the mayor’s office and the public safety minister.
“The goal here is to develop what local policing is meant to be for the people of Surrey,” Eby said. “A police board that is reflective of the community and directs policy along the lines of community priorities.”
Conservative interim leader Trevor Halford and Steve Kooner, critic for Attorney General, are critical of the advisory committee, saying it won’t stop the extortions.
“People are scared,” said Kooner. “They want to know what is being done right now to protect their families and their livelihoods. An advisory committee doesn’t put offenders behind bars, and it doesn’t shut down criminal networks.”
Halford added that the province has been slow to listen to the community.
“They should have been listening from the very start. Instead, they ignored dozens of cases, the repeated pleas from business owners, and the cries from communities who were warning that this crisis was escalating.”
READ MORE: B.C. premier says extortion crisis is a ‘terror attack in slow motion’
READ MORE: Top cops to meet in Surrey to discuss extortion crisis
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke is in Ottawa this week to discuss the issue with federal leaders.
“The extortion crisis has devastated families, shaken businesses, and put communities across the country on edge,” said Mayor Locke. “While recent steps from the federal government, such as the announcement of up to 20 additional RCMP officers, are encouraging, more needs to be done. This is a national emergency, and it requires a full-scale national response.”
She will also call on the federal government to appoint a Commissioner for Extortion Violence Against Canadians.
Eby was in Ottawa last week for Canada’s First Ministers meeting, where he called upon the federal government to pass bill C-14 and close the “loophole” that is allowing those charged in extortion-related offences to apply for refugee status.
About the Author: Anna Burns
I cover breaking news, health care, court, Vancouver Rise FC, Vancouver Goldeneyes and social issues-related topics for the Surrey Now-Leader. anna.burns@surreynowleader.com Follow Anna on Twitter.
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