VICTORIA — Victoria's new police chief Fiona Wilson says she faces "a very, very steep learning curve" in her new post after almost 27 years with the Vancouver Police Department, where she rose to deputy chief constable.
But she said a tour of Victoria's Pandora Avenue, where crime is a recurring problem and homeless people have set up tents, showed that her time in Vancouver could prove valuable.
"It reminds me a lot of some of the challenges we also have in the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver," she said.
Victoria's city council recently approved a plan worth more than $10 million to help improve community safety and well-being in the downtown core, including Pandora Avenue, and Wilson said she would apply her experience with Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside to the plan.
She called Victoria "a really small microcosm of many of the same challenges that the City of Vancouver has."
She added that she has "a very compassionate approach to social challenges" in communities. "But I also think it is really important that everyone in a community can enjoy public spaces, and so through that lens, I will be tackling these challenges head on."
Wilson was speaking to reporters before a ceremony at the residence of Lt. Governor Wendy Cocchia Thursday to mark the change of command from Del Manak, who had been head of the department since 2017 and is retiring.
The appointment of Wilson, who is a past president of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police, was announced in April. She takes over a department with more than 250 police officers, 85 civilian staff and over 100 reserve officers, serving both Victoria and neighbouring Esquimalt.
Wilson and Manak hugged before the formal start of the ceremony, and paid tribute to each other in their remarks to media.
"What I am most excited about right now is honouring the legacy that Chief Manak has left behind, and really celebrating moving forward in this new role," she said.
Manak, meanwhile, called Wilson an "accomplished police leader" who was joining Victoria from a "very reputable, well-respected" police organization.
Manak said he expected the transition to be "seamless" but Wilson would need help.
"I can tell you, no police chief as great and as accomplished as Chief Wilson, is going to be able to do it alone," Manak said.
He said Wilson would need support from all levels of government, social service agencies and Island Health "all kind of pulling in the same direction."
Manak said there was a "light at the end of the tunnel" when it comes to public safety and substance use problems. "But we need to have serious conversations about recovery, treatment, involuntary care, and it can't just be window-dressing."
Manak specifically called for tougher criminal penalties, including for property crimes.
Wilson has been a prominent voice in the debate over drug policy in B.C. The BC Association of Chiefs of Police initially supported the province's experiment with drug decriminalization, but later withdrew its backing.
She testified before a House of Commons committee in April 2024 that the NDP government's decriminalization policy was limiting the ability of police to respond to public drug use, which became illegal again in B.C. the next month.
Asked how her new physical proximity to the NDP government might play out, Wilson said she was "more than happy to sit down and have more fulsome conversations with respect to issues, such as safe supply, and decriminalization and some of the challenges that we'll be tackling in both Victoria and Esquimalt."
"But today, I really want to focus on honouring the legacy that Chief Manak has left here, but also ushering in a new era for Vic PD."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2025.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
