Rikki Schierer (Houston Today) – In a changing world of RCMP perceptions, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen introduced a bill which would create a Civilian Investigative Service last week.
“I know the public mood is strong for having real oversight of the RCMP and no longer allowing the RCMP to investigate themselves,” Cullen said.
This bill, Cullen said, has been on his mind for awhile now, and it’s not only the public who are showing interest in it, but RCMP officers themselves. It would help make their job easier, Cullen said, and to restore public confidence that, if anything were to go wrong, there is a special investigations unit to take over from the RCMP.
“The lack of transparency when it’s police investigating themselves erodes public confidence,” Cullen said. “Other jurisdictions do it, it’s done in Ontario and in England and I think it’s time for the RCMP to step into the modern world.”
The bill is being introduced to Parliament this week, Cullen said, who has invited Linda Bush to the reading of the bill to show her support as well. The proposed legislation would be called Ian’s Law in honour of her son, Cullen said, who died after an altercation with an RCMP officer in Houston in 2005.
“I’m actually quite touched, and I think that’s a good thing,” Bush said about how she feels about the legislation being named Ian’s Law. “ It puts a human face, it puts some body attached to it which make it more meaningful to some.”
The need for an independant investigation unit is what the family has been lobbying for since 2005, Bush added, and while this bill may not pass at this time, it’s great that this is opening up the conversation and moving forward, she said.
“It’s a difficult issue… the conservatives aren’t necessarily comfortable looking at any of these reforms,” Cullen said. “We think we can be more mature than that and get this change done for the better.”
Cullen echoed Bush’s optimism on how police reform is being openly discussed and the need for reform is circulating around in many circles. While the roots of the discussion come from unfortunate circumstances, it’s time, Cullen said, for the issue to be dealt with and confidence in the RCMP restored.
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