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 death.

There are indeed many other burning questions about the incident. Dziekanski, a Polish man hoping to immigrate to Canada to live with his mother, had spent 15 hours travelling to Vancouver. He arrived at about 3 p.m. on Oct. 14, proceeded through customs without incident, picked up his bags, and waited by the baggage carousel as his mother, Maria (also known as Zofia) Cisowski, had instructed. Unfortunately, neither of them knew that the carousel was in a secure area, so she waited outside, not more than 40 metres from her son.

Cisowski says she asked airport officials repeatedly to help her locate her son, but they apparently couldn’t find him. She finally headed home to Kamloops about 10 p.m. after being told that he wasn’t in the airport.

But of course Dziekanski, who spoke no English, was still there. And he remained there for another 31/2 hours, growing more and more agitated, until, apparently in a state of panic, he began yelling and threw a computer.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrived, and within what Cisowski’s lawyer claims was just 24 seconds, Tasered Dziekanski. Within four minutes, he lost consciousness and died.

Now we do need to know if the Taser was a factor in his death. We also need to know whether the circumstances necessitated the use of the Taser or whether the police were trigger happy.

But there are other pressing questions that need to be answered. For example, how could airport staff not locate Dziekanski when he had apparently been sitting in the baggage area for 10 hours? And how exactly did the staff handle Cisowski’s pleas for help?

Dziekanski had been cleared through customs, so the agents knew who he was and that he spoke no English. Did they alert anyone else that he might need help navigating his way through the airport?

Surely the airport staff are used to dealing with immigrants and tourists who are unfamiliar with the airport and the country and who might not be able to communicate in English. One would think this is an everyday occurrence at a major international airport like YVR.

The staff must also know how stressful it can be for someone in that situation, who has just travelled for many hours, and who can’t find his loved ones. Since they knew from Cisowski that her son spoke no English, did they find a Polish speaker to look for him, or send a message in Polish over the airport communications system?

Needless to say, had Dziekanski been located, and had airport staff not erroneously told his mother that he was not in the airport, we would not be asking questions about the appropriateness of Taser use.

We like to think of Canada as being open to immigrants, and we are aware of their importance to the economy. Yet when an immigrant can spend 10 helpless hours lost in an airport, while his mother waits for him a few feet away, all our talk about welcoming them is called into question.

For the sake of Dziekanski’s family — and for the sake of Canada’s international reputation — we need to find out exactly what went wrong here, and ensure that it never happens again.