John Colebourn (Vancouver Province) – Calls for an independent agency to review internal RCMP sexual-harassment complaints continue following a senior Mountie’s promise to clean up the force’s treatment of women.
B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director David Eby said Tuesday that the announcement that the RCMP will train 100 officers to investigate internal sexual-harassment complaints still amounts to the Mounties investigating them-selves.
“I think there should be an independent body of some kind to handle these complaints. You need someone outside the [RCMP] organization for a critical and unbiased look,” said Eby. Continued…
Categories: Abuse By Mounties, Abuse Of Mounties, Broken Force, Harassment within the RCMP, Senior Management.
Sidhartha Banerjee, Montreal, Quebec (Canadian Press) – Federal lawyers say a high-profile Quebec corruption inquiry can’t compel the RCMP to sift though, and share, a treasure trove of information on the Mafia.
Lawyers representing the Mounties were in a Montreal courtroom Wednesday fighting off demands for information from Quebec’s Charbonneau inquiry.
Lawyers for the inquiry want access to the massive amount of evidence gathered during Operation Colisee, a police probe that concluded in 2006 and is considered the largest such investigation into the Mob in Canadian history. Continued…
Categories: Attempted Cover Up, Broken Force, Shoddy Investigations.
Curt Petrovich (CBC News) – Last year, while Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs publicly insisted it was trying to aid a Canadian held for more than two years by the Taliban, it was privately telling the RCMP to stop investigating the crime.
Beverley Giesbrecht, a former businesswoman from Vancouver, was abducted in November 2008 while working as a fixer and journalist in Pakistan after she converted to Islam and adopted the name Khadija Abdul Qahaar.
In May 2011, the Department of Foreign Affairs revealed to CBC News that it believed Giesbrecht had died in captivity sometime in 2010, but a spokesperson added that it was continuing “to pursue all appropriate channels” to determine what happened. Continued…
Categories: Attempted Cover Up, Political/Government Interference or Involvement.
Kathy Michaels (Kelowna Capital News) – A retired Mountie accused of killing his common-law wife in 2011 will have his upcoming trial relocated to Kelowna from Penticton.
Supreme Court Justice Alison Beames granted a change of venue application filed on behalf of Keith Wiens Wednesday, finding that pretrial publicity in Penticton may have tainted the limited jury pool, making it difficult for the defendant to get a fair shake in court.
Wiens allegedly shot and killed his common-law spouse Lynn Kalmring, 55, in their Penticton home Aug. 16 2011. Both were longtime residents of the South Okanagan with deep roots in the community, and Kalmring’s death prompted a significant outpouring. Continued…
Categories: Ex-Mounties.
(CBC News) – Several municipalities in British Columbia are raising the alarm over what they say are completely unexpected pay raises the federal government has mandated for the RCMP, but in a statement issued Friday, the federal government said they knew it was coming.
Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender said Thursday that he only learned this week that the RCMP were given permission to seek raises in last week’s federal budget. Continued…
Categories: Broken Force, Lack of Resources.
(Edmonton Journal) - A man facing charges related to shooting and injuring two RCMP officers near Sedgewick in February is in court for a bail hearing Tuesday morning.
Sawyer Clarke Robison, 27, is facing numerous new weapons charges as well as two counts of attempted murder in relation to the shooting of Constables Sheldon Shah and Sidney Gaudette. The two officers were wounded Feb. 7 while attempting to serve a search warrant on a property 10 kilometres southeast of Killam.
Robison’s uncle, Brad Clarke, was killed during the same incident. Continued…
Categories: RCMP.
Mike Raptis (Vancouver Province) – A Mountie has landed himself in hot water after his loaded service pistol was allegedly lost and found in a crowded B.C. Ferries cafeteria.
The incident, which occurred on the morning of March 21, is being investigated by the Delta police after a ferry worker found the gun – sitting unattended in a satchelstyle bag with an extra ammunition clip by its side – and notified Delta police, in the hopes an external investigation would take place.
Delta police Const. Ciaran Feenan confirmed the incident Friday and said his detachment is looking at possible repercussions under the Criminal Code. Continued…
Categories: Dudley Do-Right, D'oh.
Heather Polischuk Regina, Sask. (Regina Leader Post) – Norquay-area residents have launched a lawsuit against the RCMP in relation to property searches and seizures that occurred in 2010.
In a claim filed March 26 — two years to the day after Lorne and Colleen Robinson’s property was allegedly searched for the first time — the plaintiffs allege contraventions of their rights by the RCMP and a number of named officers stationed at the Kamsack detachment at that time.
A statement of claim contains allegations that haven’t been proven in court. It wasn’t immediately clear whether a statement of defence has yet been filed. Continued…
Categories: RCMP Sued.
(Victoria Times Colonist) - The jury at a coroner’s inquest into the RCMP shooting of Alvin Wright has ruled that the 22-year-old father’s death was a homicide.
The verdict points to his immediate cause of death as a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
The jurors were tasked with determining the cause of death but can’t assess blame or vindicate anyone in the death.
Coroner Vincent Stancato, in his summary to the jury, suggested the jury “give serious consideration” to a finding of homicide, a “neutral term” that indicates the person was killed by someone else. Continued…
Categories: Death While In Custody, External Reviews.
Douglas Quan (Edmonton Journal) – As it faces a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, the RCMP is moving swiftly to find ways to boost female representation in its upper ranks.
But in a candid interview Thursday, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said he’s also got to make sure such efforts aren’t perceived as mere token appointments.
“If it is, then I’m dead in the water,” he told Postmedia News. Continued…
Categories: Abuse By Mounties, Abuse Of Mounties, Commissioner of the RCMP, Harassment within the RCMP, Lack of Resources.
Recent Comments