RCMP Watch

Andy Ivens (Vancouver Province) - An RCMP watchdog has launched a Canada-wide review of all cases in which Mounties investigated themselves in cases of serious injury or death since 2002.

Paul Kennedy, the chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, made the announcement yesterday while finding no fault with the RCMP in the shooting death of Ian Bush while in police custody in July 2005.

The 22-year-old mill worker was arrested with an open beer outside a hockey game after giving RCMP Const. Paul Koester a false name. Mr. Bush died from a single gunshot wound to the head after the two struggled in an RCMP interview room in Houston, B.C.

Mr. Bush’s mother, Linda, spoke to reporters yesterday after the commissioner’s final report was released.

“People talk about closure. I don’t understand closure. We’ve lost Ian forever and we can’t change it,” she said. “We’re never going to find answers and we were perfectly aware of that.

“At home, people thought we were going to get justice for Ian. That was the theme: justice for Ian. We quickly realized there’s no justice for Ian. And all we can hope to do is change how it works in the future.”

Ms. Bush said she still has faith in individual officers, but doesn’t have faith in the top-down RCMP system.

Mr. Kennedy said he plans to dig further into officer-on-officer investigations between April 1, 2002, and March 31, 2007, involving a person who was seriously injured or killed anywhere in Canada.

Mr. Kennedy released his final report into the Bush death with nine recommendations, which include installing automated closed-circuit TVs in every RCMP detachment where prisoners are held and released.

He also called for every detachment to have a secure cellblock area for handling prisoners. By law, Mr. Kennedy’s recommendations are not binding.

The review falls short of what some had hoped would be a recommendation to bring more civilian oversight of cases involving the RCMP.

Despite widespread public opinion to the contrary, Mr. Kennedy found the RCMP should continue to investigate members of the force in homicide cases rather than create an independent unit, as exists in provinces like Ontario.

He also concluded the RCMP’s northern B.C. major crime unit “conducted a highly professional investigation into Mr. Bush’s death and exemplified the best practices for major crime investigations.”

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day welcomed the report’s findings, according to his spokeswoman.

“Deaths of individuals in the custody of police forces require careful investigation and a high level of police accountability,” Mélisa Leclerc, said.

The RCMP also takes the findings “very seriously,” she said.

Commissioner William Elliot had no plans to comment on the public investigation, according to spokeswoman Sgt. Natalie Deschenes, although she said the force planned to co-operate fully with Mr. Kennedy’s investigation.