Protests are planned across B.C. Saturday in support of Mona Wang

July 10, 2020

SUPPORTING MONA ACROSS BC

Kelowna’s Stuart Park will be one of several protest sites Saturday afternoon, as people gather across the province to protest the treatment of Mona Wang at the hands of a Kelowna RCMP officer.

In January of this year, Wang’s boyfriend called 911 over concerns about her mental health. Const. Lacey Browning arrived at Wang’s apartment near UBC Okanagan for a “wellness check,” but ended up dragging the UBC Okanagan nursing student facedown through the hallways, before stepping on her head in the apartment lobby.

Wang filed a civil suit against Const. Browning back in March, but the case gained national attention after Castanet published surveillance video of the disturbing incident last month.

On Saturday, Justice for Mona Wang protests will be held in Kelowna, Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey from 1-3 p.m.

“Show your support and protest for better wellness checks and accountability for police misconduct,” a poster for the protests reads.

“My client is not anti-police, she’s just anti-police brutality. People who are supporting her are not anti-police either, they’re anti-police brutality,” said Michael Patterson, Wang’s lawyer.

“This is Canada, we all expect an RCMP that will be the envy of the world, where citizens are arrested and their Charter rights are respected and that they’re dealt with with dignity, that’s what people expect. It’s not a high standard, it’s a very low bar.”

Patterson says the widespread support Wang has received across the province has been a positive thing.

“It reinforces the ideals of what people expect of their police officers, and when that doesn’t happen, people voice their concerns,” he said.

“What they saw, they don’t like, and they want to make sure it’s not repeated.”

An online petition calling for the firing and charging of Const. Browning has reached more than 370,000 signatures as of Friday.

Last week, the Southeast District RCMP chief superintendent Brad Haugli offered Wang an apology for her treatment. An RCMP internal code of conduct investigation of Const. Browning is currently underway, as the officer is on desk duty. Haugli said he expects the results of a criminal investigation to be in the hands of the Crown by mid-July.