B.C. Law Society names OPCC counsel as source of obscenity that derailed hearing

By Canadian Press on January 23, 2026.

VANCOUVER — The Law Society of British Columbia has identified Brad Hickford, counsel for a public hearing into the death of Myles Gray, as the person who uttered an obscenity resulting in the adjournment of the long-awaited proceeding this week.

The society has opened an investigation into the vulgar remark that was broadcast on Wednesday over the audio stream of the hearing into the 2015 death of Gray after a beating by seven Vancouver police officers.

Hickford, appointed by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, says he’s not in a position to comment and referred questions to his own lawyer, Richard Neary, who did not immediately respond.

The society says it is looking into “concerns” about the matter, in which Hickford was caught on a microphone calling someone “stupid,” followed by an extreme vulgarity sometimes used to describe women.

The hearing that opened on Monday and had been scheduled to last up to 10 weeks was adjourned midway through Wednesday’s testimony after the remark came to the attention of the adjudicator.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner had urged caution on Thursday against trying to figure out the source and the target of the comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press