On May 1, 2024, a group of people established “People’s Park UVic” as a protest encampment on the grounds of the University of Victoria. UVic has consulted with the SPD about the encampment since that time.
At UVic’s request, the Saanich Police have provided special duty officers to supplement Campus Security resources with a view to ensuring the safety and security of everyone on campus, including individuals choosing to participate in the encampment.
On May 7, 2024, SPD special duty officers were informed of two incidents that had occurred at the encampment. Police were not called at the time of the first incident but were requested during the second to assist UVic Security. These two incidents have prompted SPD to initiate an assault investigation, which remains open at this time.
We would like to encourage anyone in the UVic community to contact Campus Security or the SPD with any safety or security concerns so they can be meaningfully and appropriately addressed. As an organization we are both individually and collectively committed to providing culturally-informed, community-responsive public safety services in keeping with our values of accountability, inclusivity, and compassion.
The police play a critical and impartial public safety role in helping our community members exercise their Charter Rights and Freedoms in a safe and peaceful manner. Emergency situations that pose an immediate risk to public safety should be reported to the police by calling 911. Non-emergency matters can be reported to SPD through E-Comm by dialing 250-475-4321 and pressing “1” to report an incident.
We encourage and welcome open dialogue between our officers and members of the UVic community. We will continue in our efforts to engage with those choosing to participate in the encampment and encourage them to bring forward any safety and security questions or concerns that we can assist with.
Deputy Chief Robert Warren