Five new Surrey Police Board appointees named
Published 11:00 am Tuesday, March 24, 2026
The provincial government has appointed five new people to the Surrey Police Board, making for nine altogether.
The new volunteers will serve for 12 months, ending March 31, 2027.
The board’s next meeting is set for April 30.
Joining chairman Harley Chappell, provincial appointee James Carwana and Surrey council appointees Rob Stutt and Archie Johnston, the five new appointees are retired Surrey fire chief Larry Thomas, Jaswinder Sidhu (regional vice-president, Bank of Montreal), George Duncan (former CAO of Richmond), Hanne Madsen (former executive director of Big Sisters of B.C./Lower Mainland), and Parminder Jawanda (former vice-president of Rogers Communications).
A B.C. government bulletin states the appointees were chosen by “aligning individual skills, competencies and attributes with the needs and responsibilities of the board, and to reflect the diversity of the community.”
“Police board responsibilities include establishing the priorities, goals and objectives for the police service, serving as employer of all police department personnel, and developing and submitting the policing budget to council for approval each year,” it reads.
The bulletin notes that since June 2017 there’s been close to an 100 per cent increase in visible minorities serving on B.C. municipal police boards with 25 per cent described as “people of colour,” up from 12.5 per cent.
Meantime, in February Chappell sang outgoing board members’ praises a week after Premier David Eby announced their terms wouldn’t be renewed.
“Sarbjit Bains, Christine Mohr, Nerissa Allen and Sonia Parmar are all leaders from Surrey who are truly reflective of Surrey,” Chappell stated.
Eby announced on February 3 that an agreement had been struck between the provincial government and City of Surrey that vacancies on the board will only be filled by “mutual agreement between the mayor’s office and the provincial government through our public safety minister.”
“The goal here is to deliver what local policing is meant to be for the people of Surrey – a police board that is reflective of the community, that directs police along the lines of community priorities,” Eby said.
Chappell said the decision not to renew those directors’ terms came as a surprise and “their contributions will not be easily replaced.”
As for the new appointees, Thomas retired last September after serving with the Surrey Fire Service for 36 years.
Fire Chief Jason Cairney, who took over from Thomas on September 2, one day after Thomas retired, said his former boss’s legacy “is one of integrity, innovation, and service.
“His leadership has guided Surrey Fire Services through transformative initiatives supporting public safety from improving emergency planning to opioid crisis response,” Cairney said.
Sidhu is described in a SPB bio as a “results oriented executive experienced in providing direction to a team of diverse professionals” while Duncan, a former city manager for the City of London, advised the RCMP on budgeting a “strategic outlooks” and was also chairman of the Working Committee on Policing in Lower Mainland cities and municipalities served by the RCMP as well as author of a final report through which a new role of “Principle Policing Contact” was established.
Madsen is described as having “deep expertise in governance, public accountability and oversight within regulated and public-interest environments” while Jawanda has more than 30 years of senior executive and board experience. She’s described as being a “strategic and collaborative leader with a proven record of guiding organizations through growth, innovation and complex governance environments.”