Attorney Berglund named new chief of British Columbia police watchdog – BC News

The new head of British Columbia’s police watchdog is a lawyer with close ties to the Department of the Interior.

Jessica Berglund has been named the new chief of the civil director of the British Columbia Independent Investigations Office.

Berglund’s appointment follows the retirement earlier this year of Ronald J. MacDonald, the IIO’s first chief civil director, serving for seven years.

The IIO is a civilian-led police oversight agency responsible for investigating incidents involving death or serious injury that may have resulted from the actions or omissions of a police officer, whether on or off duty.

Berglund most recently served as director of occupational health and safety investigations at WorkSafeBC. She joined the organization in 2003 and has held various legal and senior management positions over the past 21 years.

Bergund was born in Merritt, where she grew up on her family’s cattle ranch in the Nicola Valley. Her family later moved to the Okanagan.

She received her bachelor of arts in French and Asian studies from the University of Victoria. Bergund also studied at Beijing Normal University before returning to Victoria to study law.

She was admitted to the bar in 1998 and worked as a civil litigation attorney at a law firm in Vancouver until 2002. Bergund lives in Richmond with her husband and son.