Richard Foot, Halifax, NS (Canwest News Service) – More than a year after a native man was killed by a Mountie in Cape Breton, the mysterious shooting of John Simon continues to haunt the RCMP in Nova Scotia — and may become the subject of a high-profile public inquiry in the new year.
Simon was a 44-year-old commercial fisherman who lived in the small Mi’kmaq community of Wagmatcook, N.S. On Dec. 2, 2008, three RCMP officers arrived at his home, responding to a 911 call from his neighbour, who said Simon was home alone — drunk and suicidal.
A standoff developed and a police emergency response unit was called in, but before it arrived one of the local Mounties climbed through an open window into Simon’s house. Moments later the officer fired three shots at Simon, who died later in hospital.
Despite a yearlong police investigation, the tragedy has spawned more questions than answers and has mushroomed into a public relations disaster for the RCMP, which now faces a possible inquiry into the affair as it copes with the fallout of other scandals — such as the Dziekanski Taser inquiry — elsewhere in Canada.
Patsy MacKay, Simon’s common law widow, alleges that her husband was “murdered,” and says the only thing the RCMP have offered up since the shooting is “damage control.”
She says she’s considering filing a wrongful-death lawsuit against the force. Her band council, the Wagmatcook First Nation, will also formally ask for an inquiry during a meeting with Nova Scotia’s justice minister in January.
“I want the officer to face criminal charges and lose his job — but that’s not ever going to happen,” says MacKay. “So I’ll be filing a lawsuit to let them know they just can’t get away with having no repercussions whatsoever.”
The RCMP says it regrets the tragedy, and will co-operate with an inquiry if one is called. RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Brigdit Leger says the constable who shot Simon is still employed by the force elsewhere in the country, but won’t say where. She says the RCMP hasn’t taken any disciplinary action against the officer, but may do so in the future.
An investigation of the shooting, led by the Halifax Police, concluded that the constable should not face criminal charges. The report has not been made public, but Simon’s family and the Wagmatcook band were briefed on its findings.
Band lawyer Gary Richard says the officer who shot Simon was never ordered to enter the home. Peering through an open window — and seeing the distressed man unarmed, but knowing there were guns in the house — the officer decided to climb through the window in a bid to personally defuse the situation, Richard says.
Richard says the officer got caught in either a curtain or a couch as he stumbled into the house.
“As the officer entered he got stuck. John Simon was startled. He headed toward the kitchen where his gun cabinet was, because he saw an intruder coming in his window, and it was then that the shooting took place,” says Richard.
Police told Richard that they have forensic evidence showing Simon was holding an unloaded rifle — pointed at the officer — when he was shot, but neither the band nor the family have been allowed to see the forensic reports.
Even more troubling than the lack of disclosure, says Richard, is that investigators took 11 months to finish their work.
“Why it took a year (to investigate) is beyond me,” he says. “If it had been a member of the Wagmatcook band that assaulted a police officer, the investigation would have been wrapped up in 11 days, not 11 months.”
Band and family members were also surprised to learn that the RCMP played a major role assisting Halifax Police with their probe. RCMP officers were even present during some or all of the interviews conducted during the investigation.
“We were under the impression it was an independent investigation,” says MacKay. “We only found out the day they released their findings, that there had been RCMP officers investigating the RCMP.”
Sgt. Leger disputes that assessment, saying the Mounties “had no input in the final outcome of the investigation at all.”
Late this year, the RCMP revealed that the Halifax Police concluded the Mounties should review their policies on entering the homes of potential suicide cases, and also improve their incident command training, which the RCMP has agreed to do.
But Richard says a public inquiry — or failing that, a court trial — is necessary to solve the many questions that still surround the case.
“The band believes only a public inquiry can answer the questions left not only in the wake of the shooting, but also in the wake of the investigation, about the conduct of the RCMP.”
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