December 03, 2009
Custody deaths focus of MP’s bill
The Province
Canwest News Service
A B.C. New Democrat MP has introduced a private member’s bill that proposes the appointment of an independent watchdog to investigate any cases of people dying while in RCMP custody.
Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) said the bill would create a “civilian investigation service” modelled after Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, a civilian agency that looks into all Ontario Provincial Police in-custody deaths.
“The trust that the RCMP has lost over the last number of years has been tragic . . . This could help reverse that trend,” said Cullen.
Currently, RCMP officers helm investigations into all of the force’s in-custody deaths.
A number of high-profile in-custody deaths, such as that of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport in 2007, have brought the practice of “cop-on-cop” investigations into question.
Cullen said the bill was inspired by the death of Ian Bush, 22, who was shot in the head by an RCMP officer at the Houston, B.C., RCMP detachment in July 2005.
The officer involved was not charged.
