RCMP senior management under investigation by the OPP

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Like it says at the end of this article, This is all stunning and ground-breaking stuff. "



RCMP senior management under investigation by the OPP

The national police force in charge of enforcing the law was found to be in breach of the law, not once, but seven times.

BY LEO KNIGHT
AUGUST 16, 2021

https://tnc.news/2020/08/16/rcmp-senior-management-under-investigation-by-the-opp/

In the past year, official complaints of obstruction of justice have been laid by two RCMP members – one retired and one still serving – against the Commissioner of the RCMP, the former Commanding Officer of “E” Division (BC) and various other senior officers who were involved in the decision making process following the death of Robert Dziekanski at YVR in October of 2007.

The two RCMP members started their quest for justice in 2013 after one of them, former Cpl. Monty Robinson, served 8 months in prison on a perjury conviction. Since then, they have been filing Access to Information requests and showing dogged determination to get at the truth.

The officers know they acted appropriately in their dealings with Polish traveller Dziekanski. They know they followed all proper procedures and yet, after a public inquiry, the Braidwood Commission and the assignment of a Special Prosecutor, the four officers who attended the YVR incident found themselves charged with perjury.

The allegations resulted from an assumption made by Braidwood that he had no business or justification to make.

It was perpetrated by the Special Prosecutor and two of the four trial judges resulting in jail sentences against two of the four officers. The other two officers were acquitted. None of the circumstances changed. The two judges who convicted the officers “inferred” something not in evidence to convict the two officers. It was a travesty of justice.

But internally, the RCMP leadership of “E” Division knew the members acted appropriately but neglected to speak out publicly allowing the members to be scapegoated. The two members believe that constitutes an obstruction of justice. Had that information been provided to Braidwood and then the courts, all four members would have been exonerated.

In the intervening 7 years, Cpl. Monty Robinson and Cst. Gerry Rundel have received thousands of pages of emails and reports and associated other documents. But it was also clear to them that some documents were being withheld despite the duty of the RCMP to comply under the Access to Information legislation. They fought back and complained multiple times to the ATIP Commissioner who investigated and thus far, has made seven findings against the RCMP for breaching the act.

The national police force in charge of enforcing the law was found to be in breach of the law, not once, but seven times.

As they have fought for the truth, retired member Cpl. Robinson and Cst. Rundel have upset more than a few apple carts along the way. They forced the issue internally within the RCMP. A Professional Standards investigation was conducted out of Alberta’s “K” Division. The two officers pushed back hard when they didn’t get the answers they wanted and now the whole matter has been assigned to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to investigate a criminal complaint against the Commissioner of the RCMP and several other senior officers.

The matter was reviewed by Assistant Commissioner Eric Stubbs and he found there was enough information to warrant a third party investigation of the allegations. OPP Inspector Dan Nadeau has been assigned to conduct the investigation and it now looks as though matters are moving ahead. It’s been a long, arduous process for the members who were just doing their job when they found themselves in a political sausage grinder – as described by Curt Petrovich in his book Blamed and Broken.

The former Chair of the RCMP’s Civilian Review Board Shirley Heafey, who has fought her own battles with the senior leadership of the RCMP, had this to say about the news that the OPP had been appointed to investigate the allegations:

“A/Comm Stubbs appears to have, so far, accomplished something unheard of insofar as attempting to make the top leaders of the RCMP, past and present, accountable for their neglect and failure to meet the lawful responsibilities they were sworn to carry out for the membership and the Canadian public.  The scapegoating of the four members involved in the YVR tragedy where Mr. Robert Dziekanski died is unconscionable.  The leadership must be made to face the consequences of their serious failures and, ultimately, their criminal conduct.  This would be an historical first and long overdue.”

This is all stunning and ground-breaking stuff.

 

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MSM (CBC) version ...
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is investigating the actions of top RCMP brass following Robert Dziekanski's death in 2007 to determine whether frontline officers involved were adequately supported in the aftermath of the heavily investigated incident.

Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died after being tasered by an RCMP officer in Vancouver International Airport. The incident sparked a series of inquiries, with the four officers involved becoming the subjects of internal investigations and the Braidwood Inquiry conducted by Justice Thomas Braidwood.

All four officers were charged with perjury, but only two of them — Monty Robinson and Kwesi Millington — were convicted. Two Mounties, Bill Bentley and Gerry Rundel, were found not guilty of perjury.

The officers involved have stated repeatedly that they felt scapegoated by the RCMP and called for an investigation of the RCMP's most senior officers, past and present, including current Commissioner Brenda Lucki, in the alleged coverup.

In December 2019 the RCMP agreed to open a file into allegations that mounties involved in Dziekanski's death of were unfairly treated by their bosses. And in July the RCMP asked the OPP to investigate the actions of the senior bosses, including alleged criminal complaints that key documents were withheld.

Issues go back 'over a decade'

Journalist and author Curt Petrovich, who covered all the aspects of the case and eventually published his findings in a book, said it was "remarkable that 13 years later there are criminal allegations being considered against the RCMP for what it did or didn't do in this case to either assist its members or not."

"Clearly they felt that this had to be done — if for no other reason than to be seen as having done everything it could to investigate serious allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the senior managers," he said.

Dziekanski's death, captured on video by bystanders, and the aftermath of the incident, has been the subject of over a dozen investigations over 13 years. The OPP was originally seconded to determine whether the officers involved were investigated properly in the aftermath of the incident. Now the agency will investigate whether senior RCMP brass, through willful or negligent action, failed to give the four officers all the information needed to defend themselves at the time.

"The complaints deal with issues related to how their managers supported them during the early days of the investigation, [and] how senior RCMP officers either did or didn't provide proper information to the criminal defence lawyer — so the OPP is looking into issues that go back over a decade but are still playing out," said Petrovich, who called the saga "the story that will never end." ...
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