B.C. lawyers receiving extortion threats, legal regulator warns

VANCOUVER — The Law Society of British Columbia says it has become aware of lawyers receiving extortion threats for “substantial sums of money.”

The legal profession regulator sent out a notice to its members that says lawyers have been targeted with threats to their physical safety and it urges victims to contact police.

Society spokeswoman Vinnie Yuen said in a statement that the reports received were confidential and the Law Society could not reveal the nature or number of threats to lawyers, but “at the moment the issue is not widespread.”

The notice was sent to Conservative member of the legislature Steve Kooner, the Opposition attorney general critic, who’s a lawyer and a member of the society.

He released a statement Friday calling for extortion to be made a terrorism offence under the Criminal Code.

Kooner said that lawyers being threatened represent a “disturbing escalation” of what he calls the province’s “extortion crisis.”

B.C. has set up an Extortion Task Force to investigate dozens of extortion attempts and subsequent shootings — many of them aimed at South Asian business people — that have terrorized several communities in the province.

Kooner said in an interview Friday that he was “shocked” to learn of threats toward lawyers, and had never heard of legal professionals being targeted in his nearly two decades practising law.

“We’ve heard about this extortion crisis targeting business owners, homeowners, and bystanders,” he said. “Now it’s targeting legal professionals, it’s targeting the lawyers who are officers of the court. They are the protectors of our legal system.”

He said the federal government should move urgently to classify extortion as a terrorism offence.

“People are being terrorized, and now lawyers are being terrorized,” he said.

He said threats against those who uphold the justice system represent an attack on the system as a whole, highlighting the need for a stronger response.

“Why this could be even more concerning is certain lawyers may not want to be anywhere around extortion related offences or charges,” he said. “They may not want to represent or they may not want to act on these types of offences fearing for their own safety.”

The Ministry of Attorney General said in a statement that it was aware of the Law Society’s notice sent to its members.

“The safety and integrity of lawyers are essential to the justice system, and we stand with members of the legal profession during this challenging time,” the statement said. “The Law Society has correctly directed its members to available resources, and we encourage anyone facing threats to report them to the police immediately.”

Sgt. Vanessa Munn, a spokeswoman for the B.C. RCMP, said police are also aware that the Law Society had notified members of extortion threats.

“However, we are not able to confirm whether or not there are any active investigations where a lawyer is the victim,” Munn said in an emailed statement. “We encourage anyone who is receiving extortion threats not to pay and to immediately report to their local police.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press