Surrance Myers (Image Credit: Facebook / Surrance Myers)

By James Peters

Surrance Myers

Tŝilhqot’in monitors to review IIO probe into 2022 death in Williams Lake RCMP cells

Feb 2, 2024 | 3:06 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — B.C.’s police watchdog says members of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation will monitor the investigation into the 2022 death of a man in Williams Lake RCMP cells.

Surrance Myers, 21, died early on the morning of October 1, 2022, hours after RCMP arrested him after stopping a man and woman riding a moped.

Sigurdson Forest Products posted a note of condolence after Myers’ death, calling him “a very valued and hard-working” employee.

The Tŝilhqot’in National Government expressed outrage after the young man’s death and called for better cultural sensitivity in the local RCMP detachment.

In a news release issued Friday (Feb. 2), the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) says Civilian Monitors selected by the Tŝilhqot’in National Government will review the probe.

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“On behalf of the IIO, I thank the leadership of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government for working in partnership with my office to appoint these monitors. I have said it before: the IIO is committed to earning the trust of Indigenous Peoples and building confidence in police accountability,” said Chief Civilian Director Ronald MacDonald in the release.

“The IIO continues to work diligently to recruit an even more diverse workforce to ensure we are representative of the people we serve. In the interim, I look forward to receiving the monitor’s reports and commit to undertaking any additional considerations, evidence, or other avenues of investigation they identify,” he continued.

MacDonald says the monitors’ report will be published on the IIO website once completed.