When opinion polls in December showed that public confidence in the RCMP had dropped by a third nationally — and by almost two-thirds in B.C. — in the last two years, the reason was clear.
The public was disgusted with the cavalier way four Mounties had quickly decided to taser the disoriented and agitated Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport in October 2007, and deeply dismayed by subsequent attempts by the four officers involved to distort what had happened in the incident, which ended with Dziekanski’s death.
“We get the message loud and clear,” said an RCMP spokesman, referring to the poll results.
Perhaps they do.
But that didn’t stop three of the four officers involved from continuing to legally push to stop the Braidwood public inquiry’s final report from having the right to make findings of police misconduct.
The three were challenging, as individuals, former justice Thomas Braidwood’s jurisdiction in the matter.
Last week, the B.C. Supreme Court of Appeals reminded the Mounties that the provincial inquiry’s legitimate mandate was to examine how public confidence in the administration of justice had been affected by what had happened.
In unanimously rejecting the Mounties’ appeal of a lower court ruling that upheld the inquiry’s power to find misconduct, Madame Justice Mary Saunders pointed out that “the response of the police officers in this situation is a significant consideration” in assessing whether justice was done.
Though neither the government nor the RCMP was a party in this case, the individual Mounties’ legal bills are being covered by taxpayers.
And in a final submission to the inquiry in October, Ottawa maintained — despite widespread condemnation of police actions based on a bystander’s video of what happened — the officers applied an “acceptable” level of force to subdue the Polish immigrant, who spoke no English, with repeated Taserings less than a minute after arriving on scene.
The Mounties had argued former justice Braidwood would be infringing on federal oversight over the RCMP and deciding on criminal activities if he delved into allegations against the officers.
The appeal court would have none of it, for good reason. The former judge leading the inquiry understands the boundaries of his jurisdiction, the appeal court said.
Barring further appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada, the day of reckoning for these officers approaches. The inquiry’s final report is expected by March.
This editorial was by staff at the Halifax Chronicle-Herald.