Overview

• Judge Brooks rejected Const. Arthur Dalman’s bid to stay proceedings and dismissed his claim that his Charter rights were breached
• Dalman was convicted of obstruction of justice for ordering witnesses to delete video footage of Culver’s 2017 arrest
• Dale Culver, a 35-year-old member of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Nations, died about 30 minutes after RCMP officers used pepper spray during a ‘violent’ arrest in Prince George
• The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. recommended charges against multiple officers in 2020 but manslaughter and other obstruction charges against three colleagues were stayed or dropped, leaving Dalman as the sole convicted officer
• Culver’s family welcomed the ruling as a step toward accountability and renewed calls for systemic reforms to protect Indigenous people in police encounters