At least five people were killed by police in January 2026. One person was also killed by private security serving in a hospital.

In 2025, at least 94 people were killed in Canadian police actions. In 2024, at least 100 people were killed. There were at least 97 police-involved deaths in Canada in 2023, while in 2022 there were at least 117 police-involved deaths.

All five of the victims killed by police in January were shot. Three of the police victims have been identified publicly. Two were Indigenous men—Darrell Leo Thomas Augustine, from the Sipekne’katik First Nation and Bronson Paul, a Wolastoqiyik man. Christopher John Delaney was killed by Yukon RCMP. The victim of hospital security was also an Indigenous man—Trevor Dubois of Muskoday First Nation.

The details below are based on police reports, reports from oversight agencies, media reports, and in some cases information from families. As always, because there are no formal, systemic mechanisms for documenting and reporting police killings publicly in Canada, all numbers presented for police-involved deaths represent an undercount.

As well as the known cases, there are instances of police-involved deaths that have no formal public reporting. For example, the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) lists two investigations for which they provide no reporting: January 1, involving the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and January 13, involving the Nanaimo RCMP.

 

January 9. Trevor Dubois. Saskatchewan Health Authority Protective Services. Saskatoon.

Trevor Dubois, an Indigenous man who was a cancer patient at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, was killed in an interaction with Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) Protective Services Officers on January 9. It is reported that security officers were called to a patient room after staff reported “a safety concern involving an admitted patient.” Some type of unreported “physical altercation” occurred, and Mr. Dubois became unresponsive. Medical staff responded to begin care and he was pronounced dead.

Family and friends have reported that Trevor Dubois was a member of Muskoday First Nation with roots in the Metis community.  A social worker, he was the former Students Union President of the Prince Albert Campus of the First Nations University of Canada.

Several people have been killed by private security over the last few years, including in hospital. Darryl Sabourin, a 45-year-old Dene father of four from Hay River, NWT, was killed after what is described as “an altercation” with security officers at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton on March 6, 2024.

Because this death involved private security, Saskatoon Police Service is investigating. No other details have been confirmed publicly.

 

January 13. Darrell Augustine. Nova Scotia RCMP. Shooting.

Nova Scotia RCMP shot and killed Darrell Leo Thomas Augustine, a 37-year-old man from the Sipekne’katik First Nation, on the morning of January 13. Mr. Augustine has been identified publicly by his family. Mr. Augustine was a father of three children.

The Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) reports that Sipekne’katik RCMP and East Hants District RCMP responded to a call at 8:35 AM regarding a man allegedly having a firearm who was threatening people inside a home on Church Street in Sipekne’katik. The man had reportedly left in a car.

At around 9:00 AM, police issued an alert that a man, believed to be the person in question, was driving a blue Honda Civic and was headed northbound on Highway 236 in the area of Stanley, NS, and Clarksville. SIRT reports that officers found the man and deflated the car’s tires with a spike belt. The car reportedly left Highway 236 near the intersection with Highway 202.

Police fired multiple shots, striking Darrell Augustine. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His family says that Mr. Augustine was a seasonal fisherman who exercised his inherent Treaty rights and had been subject to “run ins with the DFO” (Fisheries and Oceans Canada).

 

January 13. Burnaby RCMP. Shooting.

Burnaby RCMP shot and killed a woman on the evening of January 13. It is reported that RCMP officers responded to a call about a person in distress at a home in the 4100 block of Oxford Street, near Carleton Avenue, in the Burnaby Heights neighbourhood. Police claim they encountered a woman who was allegedly in possession of weapons. Officers opened fire, striking and killing the woman. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

One witness reported hearing several gunshots in quick succession. A resident of the neighbourhood told media, “So that was kind of ominous in the fact that, you know, I think that what happened was pretty quick and pretty sudden.”

At around 8 PM, Burnaby RCMP blocked off and shut down several city blocks, from approximately Cambridge Street to Dundas Street, between Gilmore Avenue and North Carleton Avenue. Neighbours reported seeing a massive police presence. One witness told media, “When all the police officers swarmed in here so rapidly, it was a little bit frightening.”

Police claims have not been independently and publicly confirmed. No details have been provided about what, if any, weapons were allegedly present other than police weapons.

 

January 16. Brantford Police. Shooting.

A 33-year-old man was shot and killed by Brantford Police Service (BPS) officers in the early morning of January 16. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) reports that police were called regarding a dispute between a man and a woman in a home at 4 Palomino Drive in Brantford’s north end at around 2:30 AM. Emergency Response Team officers arrived and reportedly negotiated with the man. At some point, police entered the residence and at approximately 4:30 AM three BPS officers opened fire, striking and killing the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The SIU has confirmed that the man and woman were married.

No details have been released about the timeline or nature of police actions leading up to and at the time of the shooting. It has been confirmed that the incident occurred in the bedroom of the home in which the two people resided.

The SIU has assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to examine the killing.

 

January 18. Bronson Paul. New Brunswick RCMP. Shooting.

Bronson Paul, a Wolastoqiyik man, was shot and killed by Perth-Andover RCMP on Neqotkuk First Nation (formerly Tobique First Nation) on the evening of January 18. Neqotkuk First Nation Chief and Council have formally identified Mr. Paul as the victim. His family reports that he was shot in front of two of his children (seven and eight years old) at his home. Mr. Paul was a father of six.

Chief and Council report that police made no request beforehand to tribal security members, council, or the outreach team, as would usually be done. Recognizing the numerous police killings of Indigenous people, Chief and Council have taken the decision to immediately close the RCMP detachment.

The provincial Serious Incident Response Team has released few details. RCMP had issued an advisory through social media shortly after 6:30 PM, about “an ongoing situation.” RCMP have confirmed that a taser was also deployed against Mr. Paul.

Neqotkuk First Nation is located about 180 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital of Fredericton.

 

January 27. Christopher John Delaney. Yukon RCMP. Shooting.

Yukon RCMP shot and killed Christopher John Delaney (55) outside of Whitehorse on the afternoon of January 27. Mr. Delaney has been identified publicly by the Yukon Coroner Service. It is reported that the killing occurred at approximately 1 PM near the McClintock River Bridge in Marsh Lake, about 50 kilometres southeast of Whitehorse. Police had earlier given notice that a warrant had been issued for Mr. Delaney’s arrest in relation to a firearms incident over the weekend. They allegedly located him at around 1 PM and during “an interaction” police shot and killed him. No other details have been confirmed publicly at this time.

Because Yukon has no police oversight agency, this shooting is being investigated by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT). ASIRT has a memorandum of understanding with the territorial government to investigate killings and other violent police incidents that involve serious harm in Yukon.

Jeff Shantz is a long-time anti-authoritarian organizer, researcher, and writer who lives and works on Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo territories (Surrey, British Columbia).

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