‘Troubled’ counsel for OPCC resigns from Myles Gray hearing over obscenity

By Canadian Press on January 26, 2026.

VANCOUVER — The counsel for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner of British Columbia at the hearing into the 2015 death of Myles Gray says he is resigning from the long-awaited proceeding after coming under a B.C. Law Society investigation for an obscenity uttered last week.

Richard Neary, the lawyer for Brad Hickford, read a statement by his client saying he is “bewildered and troubled” by a recording of the obscenity that was captured on an audio stream of the hearing in Vancouver last week, and he is withdrawing with “almost unbearable regret.”

Adjudicator Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey says the “unfortunate and vulgar” remark appeared to have been directed at either her or a female lawyer representing one of the seven Vancouver officers who have denied wrongdoing in the beating death of Gray, but she has doubts about who said it.

Arnold-Bailey says she hopes Hickford will be able to resume his duties, calling for the law society to investigate as it sees fit and urging parties involved to “get over it and get on with it.”

Neary had said Friday that Hickford denied uttering the remark, but now says that while his client cannot recall making it, it’s possible he did so unintentionally.

The audio stream of Wednesday’s proceeding had captured someone whispering that another person was “stupid” and calling them an obscenity sometimes used to describe a woman.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2026.

The Canadian Press