Federal government upset with Dziekanski 'apology'

June 17, 2010
By Chad Skelton and Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

One day before RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass publicly apologized to Robert Dziekanski's mother for the Mounties' role in her son's death after being Tasered, Bass e-mailed an RCMP member assuring him the apology did not mean the force was sorry for anything specific its officers did.

"Even though the word 'apology' worries some, we are not apologizing for the actions of specific members or saying anything about specific actions," Bass wrote in a March 31 e-mail to RCMP staff relations representative Brian Roach. "I am apologizing for the loss of her son and where the [RCMP commissioner] says we could have done better, from my perspective, that relates to the fact we had to revise our policy and training."

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said the government is troubled by Bass's e-mail.

"We're disappointed," said Sara MacIntyre, who contacted The Sun after a story about the e-mail appeared on vancouversun.com."The apology was obviously very important to his family and his mother. And we find the e-mail troubling."

Asked if Harper would be taking any direct steps with the RCMP to follow up on the e-mail, MacIntyre said: "We'll be looking at that."

Bass closes his e-mail to Roach with: "Let me know if I can explain any further as it is important the membership gets the right message as to what we are trying to do [here]."

The day after the e-mail was written, Bass appeared at a news conference to announce the RCMP had reached an out-of-court settlement with Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski of Kamloops.

"Your son's death is a tragedy and for the role the force played in this tragedy, we offer our sincere apology," Bass read from his prepared statement.

"There are no words to express how sorry the RCMP is about your son's death and the pain this has brought."

RCMP spokesman Insp. Tim Shields said Wednesday that Bass's apology at the news conference was genuine.

"The apology from ... Bass was heartfelt and sincere and reflected his sentiments as the commanding officer for all RCMP members in B.C.," Shields wrote in an e-mail. "To suggest the apology was not heartfelt is wrong. Period."

Bass's internal e-mail was released by the RCMP on Wednesday in response to an Access to Information Act request.

Another e-mail released Wednesday, from Assistant Commissioner Al MacIntyre to Bass, encouraged him to give his apology in front of Dziekanski's mother.

"I think hearing you say it in front of her will demonstrate the compassion/ caring/acceptance of responsibility and to seal it with a handshake/ respectful embrace would be appropriate," he wrote.

Meanwhile, the Braidwood commission of inquiry's final report on the death of Dziekanski will be publicly released on Friday at 10 a.m.

The report was completed last month and submitted to the attorney-general.

Copies have been printed and will be released during a news conference at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver.

The first report was released last year and examined the use of Tasers -- known as conducted energy weapons -- by police, sheriffs and corrections staff in B.C.

The second phase of the inquiry focused on the events surrounding the tragic death of Dziekanski, 40, at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, 2007.

Dziekanski, who spoke no English and had never been on a plane before, was unable to find his mother after arriving at the airport. He remained in a secure customs area for about 10 hours and then, appearing dazed and delirious, began throwing around furniture, prompting a 911 call reporting a violent drunk (no drugs or alcohol were found in his system).

Seconds after four RCMP officers arrived on the scene, Dziekanski was jolted five times with a Taser.

He died minutes after he was restrained and handcuffed face-down on the airport floor.

The incident was captured on amateur video, which resulted in an international public outcry.

Since his death, the RCMP has made a number of changes to its Taser policies, including restricting the weapon's use to incidents threatening officer or public safety, annual recertification for trained users and enhanced reporting on all use-of-force incidents by RCMP officers.

The most recent change was in May when it was determined Tasers should only be fired when a suspect is causing "bodily harm" or is about to do so.

The RCMP also changed their rules in June 2009 so that police could no longer use the weapon on suspects merely for their failure to cooperate. Their revised policy -- dictating that there must be a threat to the public or the police -- was widely criticized as being too vague.

RCMP's apology grudging, evasive

June 17, 2010
Suzanne Fournier, The Province

Two top Mounties show unwillingness to accept blame for Dziekanski death By Suzanne Fournier, The Province June 17, 2010 1:11 AM As Zofia Cisowski anxiously awaits the Braidwood Inquiry's final report on her son's death, she is "angry" that RCMP emails reveal the Mounties didn't intend to apologize for their role in her son's death.

And even the Prime Minister's Office has weighed in, saying: "We find the emails disturbing.

"We're disappointed to learn of the emails. The apology was very important to the Dziekanski family and particularly to his mother," said Stephen Harper's press secretary Sara MacIntyre.

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass publicly apologized to Zofia Dziekanski's mother for the Mounties' role in his death after he was Tasered.

But yesterday, a raft of internal RCMP emails was released through an Access to Information Act request showing that the April 1 apology was a carefully-crafted script designed not to blame any RCMP member.

On the day before the staging of the apology, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass reassured RCMP staff relations supervisor Brian Roach that their "apology" to Cisowski did not mean they were apologizing for anything specific that any of their officers had done.

"Essentially, even though the word "apology" worries some, we are not apologizing for the actions of specific members or saying anything about specific actions.

"I am apologizing for the loss of her son, and where the Cmmr (RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott) says we could have done better, from my perspective that relates to the fact we had to revise our policy and training."

Cisowski said yesterday "this just shows that the RCMP even when they apologize to me, they coverup. They want to apologize, but they don't lay charges against the four RCMP and they're still working, nothing happens to them."

She said she was distraught at the time she accepted the RCMP apology and undisclosed financial compensation in settlement of her planned civil suit against the RCMP, border and airport officials.

"I hope justice will prevail," she said.

Former B.C. Supreme Court Justice Tom Braidwood will release his report Friday into Dziekanski's death. He died after being repeatedly Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, 2007.

The emails reveal dozens of drafts of the RCMP "apology," including a suggestion that RCMP top brass should appear alongside Cisowski for the statement and "seal it with a hand shake/respectful embrace."

But the emails also reveal two key paragraphs that were axed from Bass's public "apology."

"Robert's death is a tragedy and for the role the Force played in this tragedy, we have offered Ms. Cisowski our sincere apology," was cut.

So was: "There are no words to express how sorry the RCMP is about your son's death and the pain this has brought."

Cisowski's lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj, said yesterday: "I welcome the attention of the PMO to this matter, finally. My client was pursuing civil litigation against three federal bodies but the position of the federal government never was made clear."

Kosteckyj said that Cisowski is bound by law not to discuss the terms of her financial compensation.

The thorough investigation into Dziekanski's death by the Braidwood inquiry made a civil suit by Cisowski unnecessary, said Kosteckyj.

The RCMP paper trail involved federal Justice senior lawyer Mitch Taylor, as well as union representatives of the four Mounties involved and Insp. Tim Shields, head of "strategic communications."

Shields yesterday defended the apology.

"I was with Gary Bass before the [April 1] news conference and I can say the apology was very heartfelt and it was sincere."

Shields added: "A public apology coming from the government of Canada is examined in excruciating detail by lawyers who are extremely mindful of civil litigation and attentive to mitigating potential litigation that arises from an apology."

Kosteckyj agreed that the text of the RCMP apology was provided beforehand to Cisowski, who also provided a statement of what she would say on April 1.

Shields said he hopes the public understands that the RCMP paper trail reveals that "Department of Justice lawyers have a different mandate than those of us in communications."

Cisowski said she agreed to drop her civil suit against the Mounties for her son's death in exchange for the financial settlement and a Kamloops university scholarship in Robert's name.

Dziekanski, 40, was emigrating from Poland on Oct. 14, 2007, to Canada to start a new life. He became distraught after wandering the Vancouver airport for hours.

Four RCMP officers responding to a 911 call at the airport Tasered Dziekanski within a minute of meeting him, and restrained him face down.

He was dead by the time first-responders got to the airport.

The RCMP has since made changes to its Taser and public-complaints policies.

Watchdog to put RCMP under tighter scrutiny

June 15, 2010
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service

The Harper government has acted on a long-standing promise to create a new and more powerful independent watchdog to keep an eye on the RCMP.

The new complaints body would replace the existing Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, which has been repeatedly decried as toothless because it depends on the force's voluntary cooperation for investigations.

The civilian oversight mechanism will have authority to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to surrender information for investigations and hearings.

"This commission would have significantly enhanced investigative powers over the existing body," said federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who introduced a bill Monday to create the new Royal Canadian Mounted Police Review and Complaints Commission.

The new oversight body would also be empowered to conduct policy reviews.

The government has promised the new review body for years, but it has said it is awaiting the report from a public inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing.

The report, which is expected to advocate change to the country's security and intelligence operations, will be released Thursday.

Critics have highlighted the case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after he was Tasered by RCMP officers at the Vancouver International Airport, as a reason that stronger RCMP oversight is needed.

The Mounties have been under intense public scrutiny in recent years, arising from their use of Taser stun guns, their involvement in the Maher Arar affair, and a pension scandal that rocked the force's upper echelons.

In the 2010-11 federal budget, tabled in March, the government set aside $8 million over two years for the new oversight mechanism.

Paul Kennedy, the former head of the RCMP public complaints commission, has said that a stronger review body should have access to all RCMP files and be empowered to subpoena documents and compel people to testify. "This appears in principle to be going in the right direction," Kennedy said Monday. "The big problem was our access to information."

Canada's new civilian watchdog of the RCMP, Ian McPhail, has also called for enhanced oversight powers to help eliminate the RCMP's "credibility challenge."

In December 2006, Justice Dennis O'Connor -- who led the inquiry into Arar's deportation to Syria from the United States, after the RCMP passed on faulty intelligence to the Americans -- recommended that the complaints commission be renamed and given power to review all RCMP national security activities. Arar, a Syrian-Canadian, was put on a plane and sent to Damascus after being arrested during a stopover at a New York airport.

Sgt. Greg Cox, spokesman for the RCMP, said the proposed changes "will strengthen public confidence and trust, and contribute to the modernization of the force."

McPhail, the interim chair of the RCMP complaints commission, said he welcomes the bill and he said he will review the document before commenting "at an appropriate time and venue."

The new review body follows an announcement in February that the Mounties would no longer investigate themselves in cases involving severe injury or death of suspects. The bill also enshrines that policy into law.

The RCMP, under the proposed law, would refer such files to outside forces or provincial bodies responsible for investigating police incidents, which exist in Ontario and Alberta. A special investigation unit also is being established in Manitoba.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen called on the government to establish a national special investigations unit to probe cases involving injury or death of suspects.

"This is a bigger watchdog that still has no teeth," said Cullen.

EDITORIAL: A final jolt for RCMP reform

December 12, 2009
The Toronto Star

The Mounties got their man, all right, when they subdued Robert Dziekanski in a fatal melee at Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, 2007. But not in a way that reflects credit on the once-proud police force.

The four Mounties didn't approach the agitated Polish traveller with a "measured, coordinated and appropriate response," says Paul Kennedy, the outgoing head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police public complaints commission, who released a deeply troubling report on the Dziekanski case this week. They made "no meaningful attempt to de-escalate the situation." They issued no warning. Their use of a stun gun was "premature" and "not appropriate." So were the multiple jolts they gave him. They didn't give adequate medical care. He died.

Disturbingly, Kennedy also found the officers' accounts of the event to be unreliable, full of "considerable and significant discrepancies" when compared to a bystander's video record.

And he faulted the RCMP for feeding the media incorrect information on the case, then failing to correct "known errors" (that put the Mounties in a good light and Dziekanski in a poor light) while improperly holding onto the video that would have disclosed the truth.

In short, Kennedy's report is a blistering indictment of RCMP blundering, lack of credibility and media manipulation.

And RCMP Commissioner William Elliott's response was as predictable as it was inadequate. He complained that Kennedy's decision to release his report was not "appropriate," and he won't comment until Justice Thomas Braidwood's broader British Columbia provincial inquiry issues its findings next year. Meanwhile, three of the four officers are in court trying to prevent Braidwood from making findings of misconduct against them.

This is just the latest bad press for an iconic institution. The RCMP has been flailed for bungling the Air India investigation, putting Maher Arar's life at risk, misusing stun guns, punishing whistleblowers, feuding with security services, and mismanaging its pension fund.

Bottom line? Kennedy's findings should spur Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring in long-promised but never-delivered reforms.

There's no shortage of proposals for bolstering oversight. Justice Dennis O'Connor, of Arar fame, called for an Independent Complaints and National Security Review Agency. David Brown, who headed a task force for Harper, called for an Independent Commission for Complaints and Oversight. Either would be an improvement.

For his part, Kennedy wants Dziekanski-type cases – deaths, serious injuries or sex assaults – referred to an independent civilian agency such as Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, or to other police forces.

Whatever course Harper adopts, he ought to ensure that the Mounties no longer investigate themselves. That should be a given. Anything less would betray Robert Dziekanski, and the public trust.

RCMP review is disgraceful indictment

March 14, 2009
By BILL KAUFMANN, Edmonton Sun

I thought we'd hear something mitigating from those Richmond, B.C., Mounties, at least a few words to cast a shred of doubt on the damning video.

Naivete springs eternal.

As an indictment, their words almost equal Paul Pritchard's video, which would capture an Oscar if such a category as "honest non-fiction" existed.

Three of the officers seem allergic to truth, peddling make-believe tales suitable for some parallel universe.

It's clear from Pritchard's handiwork the four burly Mounties were not threatened by Polish arrival Robert Dziekanski.

On point after point, the Mounties either lied or were grossly mistaken. Const. Kwesi Millington can't even recall how many times he shocked Dziekanski with the Taser, as if it was too casual an act to count.

One cop suggested Dziekanski raising his hands - a universal sign of surrender - constituted a threat.

The stapler has now taken its place in crime-busting lore with Millington's description of the one wielded by Dziekanski as menacing him in "the open position."

One can only wonder if the stapler's safety was off.

When initially hit with the Taser, Dziekanski crumpled in writhing agony, but Millington insists he shocked the doomed man several more times, fearing the device wasn't working.

He also recalls being "scared" by the outnumbered, unarmed and non-lunging Pole. Earlier that night, an apparently unfrightened woman approached Dziekanski - even as he brandished a piece of furniture.

Millington insisted he acted according to training, which is terrifying enough. And a B.C. Crown report, explaining why no charges would be laid against the four, concludes the "actions of the officers were consistent with RCMP policy and training."

Granted, there is nonchalance in Pritchard's video, as police arrive and unhesitatingly fell their bewildered quarry. As Pritchard told reporters: "They all look like they should be having a coffee or a cigarette."

The B.C. attorney general's office concluded their conduct was "reasonable and necessary in all circumstances." That those who came to these conclusions apparently watched the same video is shocking.

We can only surmise virtually any circumstance would justify a multiple 50,000-volt onslaught.

The report tellingly notes the officers attempted to use hand signals for a whopping "several seconds" before turning on the juice.

It falls back on witness descriptions of Dziekanski's earlier belligerent demeanour, notably absent once the Mounties had arrived.

Ironically, Dziekanski's actions alone are described as "bizarre and aggressive." Absent the video, Canadians would have to accept the curiously consistent, bogus word of these Mounties.

If part of the Crown's intention was to reassure Canadians and newcomers to this country, they've failed.

The honesty of police officers throughout the country - most of whom serve admirably - has now been thrown into question. Whenever currently serving cops defend the actions of the Richmond four, it's yet more reason for alarm. No one's interests would be better served by harshly condemning these Mounties' actions than other police forces.

Predictably, a tone-deaf RCMP is doing nothing to help its image, keeping the officers on its payroll while hiding behind a laughable B.C. Crown report.

The silence from our law-and-order, get-tough federal politicians has been just as deafening.

‘RCMP has been terribly damaged’: former police officer

By Suzanne Fournier, Canwest News Service

The stark contradictions between the videotape of Robert Dziekanski’s death in RCMP custody — after he was repeatedly Tasered at Vancouver International Airport — and key parts of RCMP officers’ evidence at the Braidwood inquiry could have serious repercussions once the inquiry ends.

The four officers may have gone into the inquiry believing they would never face criminal charges — as decided by the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch last Dec. 12 — but that decision could change, “especially given the public outcry at evidence from the inquiry,” notes Robert Gordon, head of Simon Fraser University’s criminology department.

“I don’t think anyone in my network, or in most comments I hear, is convinced the officers are telling the truth.”

Gordon says the officers could still face criminal charges, “and it looks increasingly like the RCMP should proceed with internal discipline. Does the RCMP have the stomach for that? It looks now like they don’t have a choice.”

But Gordon says it would be “much easier and quicker to proceed with civil litigation” against the RCMP, or even other government or corporate agencies that harmed Dziekanski, failed to assist him, or failed to act to save his life.

“As in the O.J. Simpson case, the burden of proof is far less, and a civil suit could provide Mr. Dziekanski’s mother with more comfort and compensation,” said Gordon.

Gordon says “the public may call for its pound of flesh” but said he doesn’t think, “with all due respect to the Dziekanski family, that there is much to be gained by dragging the four officers through the criminal courts.”

The RCMP have been “terribly damaged” by the inquiry, said Gordon, but “they’ve already dug their own grave by insisting their officers acted appropriately. They refused to acknowledge problems in how their officers responded and handled Mr. Dziekanski. As a former police officer myself, I can confidently say it was atrocious police work.”

Walter Kosteckyj, lawyer for Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, has confirmed that his client will consider civil litigation, but said the federal government, which is responsible for the RCMP, the airport, and the Canada Border Services Agency, has rebuffed a bid to get Cisowski an apology and compensation, in lieu of a painful civil trial.

Kosteckyj notes Dziekanski’s mother, a Kamloops janitor, “has suffered terribly and is enduring a significant loss; he was her only son and would have been the mainstay of her life. . . . She’s unable to work.

“The people of Canada expect that it is time for sanity to prevail. Our national government did not treat this man in a fair manner at all, nor have they been fair to Zofia Cisowski.”

Kosteckyj said compensation and an apology by Ottawa is preferable to “dragging my client through a civil trial.”

The Braidwood inquiry is to resume March 23 for two more weeks, with testimony from pathology and medical witnesses, Cisowski herself, and the fourth officer, RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson.

Commissioner Tom Braidwood, a former judge, is to report to B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal by June 30.

Neil MacKenzie, Crown counsel spokesman, said the decision last Dec. 12 not to charge the officers was based on the police investigation by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).

“It’s always open to us to have the matter reviewed and resubmitted,” said MacKenzie, noting, “It’s not uncommon for us to return a file to police.”

Gordon noted that, because the IHIT had the benefit of the Pritchard video to compare with the officers’ statements, yet didn’t recommend charges, it might be necessary to get a special prosecutor or independent police investigation, all of which would be time-consuming and costly.

“Certainly, if the Criminal Justice Branch felt criminal offences were committed and they lacked confidence that IHIT was able to do a thorough investigation, they are able (after the Braidwood inquiry) to request another investigation,” said Gordon.

“A special prosecutor could be appointed if it’s decided that an independent decision is required . . . and that’s always the prerogative of the attorney general.”

RCMP need government oversight

March 8, 2009
By Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun

The jarring testimony that has been presented at the Braidwood inquiry suggests it's time for greater government oversight of the RCMP.

The inquiry, currently on a two-week break, isn't just a test of the four officers whose actions led to the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007. The reputation of the 136-year-old national police force hangs in the balance.

It had been hoped the RCMP turned a corner in 2007 when the Harper government named William Elliott as the force's first civilian commissioner.

A turnaround certainly was in order after the Maher Arar debacle and tales of RCMP pension fund abuse. Controversies involving the RCMP in B. C. alone were enough to cause consternation.

Former justice Ted Hughes, following a 2001 probe of RCMP actions during a 1997 meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Vancouver, criticized unnecessary pepper-spraying of demonstrators, unwarranted arrests, improper removal of protest signs and intrusive strip searches.

The spotlight was back on the RCMP in B. C. in 2005 when Ian Bush, a 22-year-old Houston, B. C., mill worker, was shot -- in the back of the head.

He'd been arrested for having an open beer outside a hockey game and giving a false name. Const. Paul Koester -- five months out of RCMP training -- never faced charges; he was deemed to have acted in self-defence.

Now, testimony before former Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood is revealing that armed RCMP officers in bulletproof vests were so fearful of a guy with a stapler that, within 30 seconds of arriving on the scene, they Tasered Dziekanski five times in 31 seconds. He died of cardiac arrest.

They watched him drop, cry out in agony and go blue in the face -- but they didn't offer him CPR.

And in their oral recollection of events and written recordings, the officers got it all wrong.

Without a bystander's video, the public never would have come within a country mile of the truth. How in future can courts be expected to rely on RCMP testimony and incident reports?

To date, none of the officers has admitted to serious misjudgment.

Nor has the RCMP made any gesture to atone for the tragedy.

The RCMP, on its web-site, still maintains Tasers -- implicated in 20 Canadian deaths -- are "another means to obtain compliance from resistant or combative subjects when police must arrest them. The tool allows police at such times to protect the public, and the subjects themselves, from harm."

But Tasers also allow police to get lazy. Four RCMP officers should have better means of subduing a lone suspect than to immediately Taser him.

Consider: if the officers were freaked out by the appearance of an exhausted traveller wielding a stapler, imagine the message they sent Dziekanski by barrelling on to the scene, four-strong and with hands on their weapons.

The Harper government has been mostly silent on the Dziekanski incident. In 2007, then-public safety minister Stockwell Day requested a review of protocols on Taser use. More recently, Peter Van Loan, his successor, insisted Tasers are a useful alternative to deadlier options.

However, Commissioner Elliott revealed last month that officers now are advised Tasers can cause death and should be used more restrictively, only in circumstances involving danger to the public or the officer.

That said, the assortment of inquiries into police conduct in B. C. should give pause.

The Braidwood testimony comes as a $900-million security budget for the 2010 Olympics is about to be handed over to the RCMP for management.

The RCMP story, of course, is not one-sided. Mounties often get cited for heroism and do plenty of good work. But they aren't the source of national pride they once were.

Beyond the scarlet serge and shiny boots lurk obvious problems that call for greater scrutiny. One good option would be a permanent parliamentary oversight committee.

Decision not to charge in taser case stands on ever more shaky ground

March 7, 2009
GARY MASON, Globe and Mail

Recent allegations of fraudulent statements and a planned cover-up are leading to loud calls for a new look at the December decision by the B.C. Crown counsel's office to clear the four RCMP officers involved in the tragic encounter with Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski.

Citizens who were outraged when the decision was made not to press charges against any of the officers are even more incensed after hearing three of them testify at a hearing into Mr. Dziekanski's death. They learned that notes and verbal statements the officers gave to investigators weren't an accurate reflection of what happened that night.

At the inquiry, a lawyer acting for Mr. Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, and another representing the government of Poland, suggested the officers lied to cover up actions they knew were excessive and inexcusable. A charge the officers deny.

Attorney-General Wally Oppal has been deluged with letters and e-mails urging him to reopen this case. Canadians have also written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Public Safety Minister Peter van Loan asking them to intervene.

We now know the information upon which B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch based its decision to clear the officers was erroneous. Just consider this one sentence in the statement issued by the branch in announcing its decision on Dec. 12:

"At this juncture, the evidence of independent witnesses, police officers and digital video were materially consistent in relation to the events which followed."

This is a fairly important aspect of the Crown's rationale for not proceeding with charges - everyone agreed as to what happened. One problem though: it's completely false. Many of the details the officers provided to justify their actions were not true, we have recently learned. In fact, the litany of inaccurate or misleading statements the officers gave RCMP investigators is long and disturbing.

They didn't have to taser Mr. Dziekanski a number of times because he refused to go down, as they told investigators. The victim wasn't tackled to the ground by officers because the taser wasn't working on him. The man collapsed in a writhing, yelping heap after he was blasted the first time - and before he was jolted four more times.

Mr. Dziekanski wasn't yelling and wielding a stapler above his head as he moved towards the officers - as they suggested in notes and interviews. He held a garden-variety stapler in his hand at waist height, while not yelling or advancing in a menacing manner.

And those are just a few of the inconsistencies in the officers' statements that have come to light. But they are important because they go to the heart of the central question in this case: did their actions constitute excessive force under Section 26 of the Criminal Code? And crucial to answering that question is determining the circumstances leading up to any confrontation between a police officer and a civilian in the first place.

I tried to find out whether the Criminal Justice Branch was aware of the problems in the officers' statements when it made its decision to clear them. A spokesman for the branch said: "The evidence was the evidence available to the Crown at the time. I don't want to engage in a disagreement with any element of it."

Whatever that means. In other words, the branch doesn't want to say. Why? It might be because the Crown based its decision on the investigative work of the RCMP. What is the likelihood that the RCMP pointed out the enormous problems inherent in the verbal statements and written reports given by its own officers? Did the RCMP report to the Crown mention that many of the officers' statements simply did not jibe with the video evidence? Did that raise alarm bells anywhere?

I also asked the branch spokesperson what it would take for the Justice Department to take another look at this case in light of the testimony given by the officers in the past two weeks. He said it would take the original investigative agency - the RCMP - coming forward with new information that changes the complexion of the case and warrants the Crown taking another look.

What are the chances of that happening?

I'm afraid this case is just another example, number 7,340, of why the police should not investigate themselves. The public doesn't trust the police, and especially the RCMP, to do a proper job. And the information that has recently come to light in the Robert Dziekanski case is precisely why.

"At this point, the decision is the decision," the Criminal Justice Branch spokesman told me.

My guess is that could change. The provincial government has been embarrassed by this matter, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Attorney-General did something about it once the Braidwood inquiry wraps up.

Former adviser to Prime Minister Harper and Public Safety Minister Day lobbies for Taser International

December 19, 2007
Winnipeg Free Press

... [Stephen] Harper fulminated against Liberal partisans earning big bucks for touching up who they knew in the Prime Minister's Office. Now, one of Harper's oldest and closest political allies, Ken Boessenkool, a co-signer with Harper of the 2000 Alberta "firewall" letter, has become Taser International's lobbyist in Ottawa.

Close to Harper, Boessenkool is even closer to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, having worked for him when Day was Alberta finance minister. Day is in charge of the RCMP -- and its Tasers.

As CanWest Ottawa columnist Don Martin penned last Saturday: "(Boessenkool) has only been severed from Mr. Harper's office since 2004 ... and he'll be peddling Taser's influence down two corridors of power (Harper's and Day's) where he commanded considerable influence as a policy wonk."

December 14, 2007
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - A Tory election strategist and former adviser to both the prime minister and public safety minister became a lobbyist for Taser International soon after use of its stun guns came under intense scrutiny. Consultant Ken Boessenkool registered the Arizona-based Taser maker as a client on Nov. 28, two weeks after the videotaped death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski unleashed international outrage. "I'm not authorized to speak on behalf of my client to the media," Boessenkool said when reached Friday. "I'd refer you to the Taser media line." No comment from Taser International was immediately available.

Boessenkool, of the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, was a senior adviser in opposition to now Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He played key strategic roles in the 2004 and 2006 Conservative election campaigns, and was a policy adviser to Stockwell Day - now public safety minister - when Day was treasurer of Alberta. Boessenkool lists Day's department and the RCMP as potential points of contact in his filing with the Registrar of Lobbyists.

Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh pounced on Boessenkool's past links to the current government. "It explains all sorts of things. If you look at the approach Day has taken, he's essentially been absent from the debate about Tasers and related concerns." Dosanjh has assailed Day for brushing off demands for a national public inquiry into Taser use. Instead, the minister called for an internal RCMP review along with a report from its watchdog commission.

Dosanjh also cited Boessenkool's lobbying links to pharmaceutical firm Merck Frosst, which benefited from a surprise $300-million fund in the last federal budget to vaccinate girls against cervical cancer. "Obviously his lobbying is very effective," Dosanjh said in an interview. "This is a clear case of Taser being able to exercise influence behind the scene so that we really don't have a government that's on the up and up in terms of addressing the issues around Tasers."

A spokeswoman for Day said Boessenkool "is entitled to seek employment in any capacity he chooses. "Minister Day has not met with Mr. Boessenkool nor any representative of Taser International," Melisa Leclerc said in an e-mailed response.

The RCMP watchdog recommended this week that Tasers be classified as impact weapons and drastically restricted to the most threatening combative situations. Such changes are needed, said the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, to curb what it called "usage creep." It has, for example, criticized the RCMP for zapping a drunken woman with a 50,000-volt Taser even after she was handcuffed.

The Mounties stopped short of the watchdog's recommendations, however. They announced Friday they'll more clearly define use-of-force terminology and limit Tasers to cases where "a subject is displaying combative behaviours or is being actively resistant." Critics said that still leaves Taser use open to broad interpretation and possible abuse.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott conceded at a news conference that the stun guns haven't always been wielded appropriately. About 2,800 of the electronic weapons are being used by more than 9,100 RCMP members across the country.

Dziekanski was recorded as the 18th person in Canada to die in recent years after being Tasered. The Mounties have been embroiled in controversy since Nov. 14 when amateur video was released of officers repeatedly zapping the man and pinning him to the floor at Vancouver International Airport.

Taser International stresses that its devices have never been directly blamed for a death. It has vigorously and successfully defended them in several lawsuits. The stun guns are also popular with police, who say they're a safer alternative to batons or pepper spray. Amnesty International cites at least 280 deaths in the United States after suspects were Tasered. It says the weapons should be suspended pending an independent, comprehensive study of their effects.

Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch is waging a court challenge of how federal lobbying rules are interpreted and enforced. "You wouldn't have Boessenkool going into the Conservative war room for their election campaign and then coming out and being a lobbyist if the (Registrar of Lobbyists) was properly enforcing the Lobbyist's Code of Conduct. But you do have it. And it's going on and on and on. The revolving door of lobbyists moving in and out of government is spinning as much as it ever has with this government."

When Harper first introduced the idea of accountability legislation just before the last election, he warned candidates, their workers and party staff alike that "politics will no longer be a stepping stone to a lucrative career lobbying government." "This exercise will be meaningless unless our government is different," Harper said at the time.

The lobbyist regulations in the Federal Accountability Act still haven't been posted, however, more than a year after Harper's showpiece legislation was passed. A five-year cooling off period for public officials who want to lobby government is already in force under federal conflict-of-interest rules but exemptions abound, says Conacher.

A parade of well-connected Tories continues to join various lobbying and government relations firms - including some who made the leap directly from senior positions in ministers' offices.

Harper crowd looks bad in its mishandling of airport death

November 21, 2007
Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun

The Harper government has proven itself wholly inept in dealing with a snowballing crisis of confidence in both the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.

Even as controversy flowing from a video of the Oct. 14 airport death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski is damaging Canada's international image, even as it has revealed deficiencies in national rather than provincial agencies, it has fallen to the B.C. government to pick up on demands for a full public inquiry.

B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal struck just the right chord this week, expressing deep distress about the Taser death and puzzlement about why Ottawa has not been forthcoming with answers.

Stephen Harper appears not to understand the depth of emotion that now surrounds this issue and has gone to ground, saying as little as possible.

He has left explanations to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who has announced a review of Taser use. It's unclear how this review will differ from other, previously announced probes.

Last weekend, Day demonstrated gratuitous insensitivity to the Dziekanski death by questioning why more Canadians aren't upset about drunk drivers.

Federal mishandling of the matter is all the more damaging because the Harper crowd is such a vigorous champion of law and order, and has worked so hard to bolster the image and might of Canada's police and military.

Before B.C.'s announcement Monday of its own public inquiry, no fewer than five investigations had been announced in scattergun fashion.

None was assigned to determined blame and none constitutes an independent body exclusively reflecting the public interest.

They included: A B.C. coroner's inquest; an OPP external review; an investigation by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP; a review by Day's Public Security department, and separate studies of Taser use and technology by the Canadian Police Centre and the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police.

At this point, taxpayers are bound to look askance at any police reviews, especially those involving self-scrutiny by the RCMP.

In fact, damaged confidence in the RCMP might be why the past two federal governments have looked to public inquiries instead of the national police force to investigate fishy federal situations.

An inquiry was struck to address the sponsorship scandal. And, more recently, Harper has agreed to an inquiry into allegations about Brian Mulroney made by Karlheinz Schreiber.

Public trust in the RCMP was eroded, certainly in B.C., after the 2005 death of Ian Bush, shot in the back of the head by a member of the force while the young man was in custody.

It was further eroded by the RCMP's initial statements in October regarding Dziekanski's Taser death, statements that depicted a wildly different situation than what video taken by an airport bystander later revealed.

People can only wonder how seriously they should take recounts by the RCMP, and about all the Taser incidents that have not been videotaped. What they don't know about those incidents is nearly as frightening as what they do.

Is it possible that the Harperites see the Dziekanski tragedy as a B.C. rather than a national issue because the RCMP doesn't constitute provincial police forces either in Quebec or Ontario -- where most Commons seats are?

The fact is that Taser deaths have occurred in all parts of the country. The fact is that public confidence in the RCMP has been lost nationally. The fact is that the border services agency operates in airports from one coast to another. The fact is that Dziekanski's death is being covered by news agencies globally. Even Al-Jezeera is on it.

A federal public inquiry should be struck to examine RCMP Taser use and recent deaths of those taken into custody. Such an inquiry should be mandated to review protocols used by border services agency at airports, and to scrutinize airport deficiencies in orientation services provided for international passengers. Separately, an independent Crown prosecutor should be considering charges against those involved in Dziekanski's death.

And while all this transpires, the 2,000 to 3,000 Taser guns currently at the disposal of Canada's police forces should be placed under lock and key.