RCMP Watch

(Vancouver Sun) - Tasers are once again in the news in the wake of the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport. But while it’s important to consider police use of Tasers, that issue forms only one small part of a puzzle that must be pieced together by any investigation or inquiry into Dziekanski’s [...]

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(CBC News) - A man is in hospital and may lose one of his eyes after being hit by a police Taser over the weekend in Toronto.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit has been called in to review the incident.
SIU spokesman Frank Phillips said Toronto officers were called to the scene of a domestic dispute in [...]

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Chad Skelton (Vancouver Sun) - A serious gender gap exists within the RCMP in B.C., with female officers far less likely than their male colleagues to believe they are treated fairly and that their rights are respected, according to an internal survey obtained by The Vancouver Sun.
The survey, obtained by The Sun through the Access [...]

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Edmonton, Alberta  (Canadian Press) - The parents of a slain Alberta Mountie have lost a bid to delay his widow’s plan to move his body to the national RCMP cemetery in Regina.
A judge in Edmonton has turned down their request for an injunction to prevent Kelly Johnston from going ahead until the family can appeal.
Constable [...]

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Justin Hunter (Globe and Mail) - The RCMP are conducting an investigation into mysterious allegations of wrongdoing against Victoria’s police chief.
Two weeks ago, Paul Battershill was placed on leave with pay after the local police board heard allegations against him, but those concerns have yet to be disclosed.
Yesterday, B.C. Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld asked [...]

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Patrick Brethour, Vancouver, BC (Globe and Mail) - Robert Dziekanski had no alcohol or drugs in his system when he died after being tasered by police at Vancouver International Airport, his family’s lawyer says.
Mr. Dziekanski was acting erratically after being delayed more than 10 hours at the Vancouver airport - it still is not clear [...]

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(Bellingham Herald) - A Canadian Border Services agent stationed at the Pacific Highway truck crossing has been arrested for allegedly helping smuggle cocaine into Canada.
Six-year border agent Baljinder Kandola, 35, of Surrey, B.C., faces six drug trafficking, conspiracy and bribery charges in Surrey Provincial Court for allegedly allowing Shminder Johal and Herman Riar, both Richmond, [...]

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Ajit Jain (Rediff) - In an shocking testimony at the public inquiry into the1985 Kanishka bombing, former Federal lawyer Graham Pinos said on Thursday that the then director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Services had told him a few days before the incident that, “Sikhs are going to take a plane out of the sky.”
Canadian [...]

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Tony Blais (Sun Media) - Freedom of the press and upholding the openness of the Canadian court system has trumped the privacy issues of a cocaine-addicted former undercover RCMP officer.
An Edmonton judge today vacated a publication ban issued in an ongoing drug trafficking case and granted Sun Media access to exhibits in the proceeding.
Included in [...]

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Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver, BC (CanWest News Service) - Maria Cisowski could not contain her grief or her anger when she spoke to the media Thursday about the death of her 40-year-old son at the Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14.
With her lawyer Walter Kosteckyj at her side, the distraught 61-year-old woman said she doesn’t understand [...]

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