The Premier says calls to defund the police are a simplistic approach to a complex problem.

Speaking in Sooke on Friday, John Horgan says police are increasingly burdened with a range of challenges in areas including homelessness, mental health and addiction – which are areas he says that need more funding.

Horgan says its inappropriate to expect law enforcement to take on those issues as they deal with public safety concerns, noting the existing 45-year-old Police Act in the province is out of date and it needs to be reviewed to meet modern day concerns.

“Minister [Mike] Farnworth and I have been talking about policing for some time. It wasn’t just the advent of the frustrations and the challenges that we’ve seen south of the border. We have issues with law enforcement in Canada as well, we’re not immune to this,” Horgan said.

“What we expect law enforcement to do today is quite different from what they were doing 45 years ago. An understanding of mental health issues, an understanding of the consequences of addictions are just two that I think of off the top of my head.”

The Premier’s comments come as police forces across North America are under increasing scrutiny following the death of George Floyd, at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis.

Horgan says he envisions expanding the capacity for communities to ensure they’re not asking police for more than they’re capable of delivering, noting the province will create a committee to consult with communities and experts on how to best update it.

“We need to provide more resources to those challenging files. That’s why we established the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions so that we could focus specifically during the opioid crisis on addressing addictions,” Horgan said.

– With files from the Canadian Press