By James Keller, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER, B.C. - A single sentence contained in an email between RCMP
brass in the weeks after Robert Dziekanski died has derailed a public
inquiry, raising questions yet again about the testimony of four police
officers and prompting calls for further investigation of the national
police force.
As closing arguments were set to begin on Friday, a lawyer for the
inquiry revealed a previously unreleased email that suggested the RCMP
officers developed a plan to use a Taser before they arrived at
Vancouver's airport.
All four insisted in their testimony that they did not.
The email was met with a tearful apology by the RCMP's lawyer for
not releasing it sooner and denials from lawyers for the four officers
and one of the senior Mounties referenced in the note.
All claimed the contents of the email were the result of a simple misunderstanding.
Commissioner Thomas Braidwood chided the RCMP for coming up with the
email so late, and put the inquiry on hold until Sept. 22 so its
contents can be investigated.
"I find the delay in disclosing this material to the commission to be appalling," said Braidwood.
"At the very least, it should have been disclosed to the commission before those officers testified."
The delay means the inquiry could still be hearing new evidence from
senior RCMP officials and additional testimony from the four officers
nearly two years after Dziekanski died on the airport floor.
Braidwood's final report - which will serve as a public record of
what happened and include recommendations to prevent future tragedies -
will be put off even longer.
And in the meantime, the RCMP, whose image appears to have already
been damaged by the Dziekanski affair, has been forced to explain both
the contents of the email and why it was kept from public view for so
long.
The email was written in November 2007, just weeks after Dziekanski's confrontation with the Mounties.
In it, Chief Supt. Dick Bent and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al
McIntyre were discussing their media strategy for the release of the
now-infamous amateur video of the fatal confrontation.
Bent recounted a conversation with Supt. Wayne Rideout, who was in charge of the investigation into Dziekanski's death.
"Spoke to Wayne, and he indicated that the members . . . . had
discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply,
that they would go to CEW (Taser)," wrote Bent, whose email was read in
court on Friday.
The inquiry heard that the email was contained on a CD that the RCMP
gave its lawyers in April, but government lawyers didn't look through
its contents until this week.
Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts apologized for not finding
the email sooner, which she called an "oversight," while casting doubt
on the email's contents.
"Canada continues, as it has all along, to fully support the work of this commission," a tearful Roberts told the commissioner.
Still, Roberts said government lawyers have interviewed Bent,
Rideout and McIntyre and concluded Bent's email may have simply been
wrong.
"It is our conclusion from these interviews that Chief. Supt. Bent
must have misunderstood information provided to him by Supt. Rideout,"
she said.
Lawyers for the four Mounties each stood up and said Bent's email was wrong.
But that wasn't enough for the commission.
While inquiry lawyer Art Vertlieb acknowledged the email was
second-hand hearsay, he said the commission must determine whether or
not Bent's comments are accurate - and whether there are any other
documents that have yet to be seen.
"The RCMP have had this for a long, long time - it should have been out," Vertlieb told reporters.
The force released a statement insisted it has "co-operated fully" with the inquiry.
"Unfortunately in an exercise of this magnitude, such an oversight can occur," the statement said.
"The RCMP is as disappointed as all of the parties involved in this
inquiry that there will be a delay in the completion of the inquiry."
Vertlieb also pointed out that it's not clear if prosecutors saw the email before making their decision on charges.
"One of the other questions is: Did the attorney general's office and the charge approval see this? And we have no idea."
Crown prosecutors announced last December that they wouldn't be
charging the officers, but the officers' testimony prompted loud calls
for that decision to be reconsidered.
The attorney general at the time said they could re-open the case if
they hear new evidence, although the current attorney general wouldn't
say whether the email would fit the bill.
Mike de Jong, who was sworn in as attorney general last week,
declined to comment about the contents of the email or whether
prosecutors may have seen it, and said any further decisions would wait
until after the inquiry.
"It will be for Mr. Justice Braidwood to assess the evidence, assess
its relevance and make appropriate findings," de Jong said in an
interview.
"I will say this: Commissions like this and in fact our system of
justice, rely on the fact that all witnesses who give evidence under
oath, that they provide truthful and honest answers."
Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, who has long demanded that the
officers be charged, said she doesn't believe Bent was mistaken in the
email.
She said she believes Braidwood will get to the truth of what really happened.
"I have to wait patiently, because what can I do?" she said. "I want
to know everything about this case and that helps me to slowly
understand."
The four RCMP officers' lawyers are also in the middle of their own
legal manoeuvres unrelated to Friday's surprising developments.
Earlier in the week, they lost a court challenge in a B.C. court,
where they argued Braidwood shouldn't be able to make findings of
misconduct against them.
Ravi Hira, one of the officers' lawyers, said he and the others are
considering launching an appeal, although he wouldn't say if the latest
delay gives them more time to do that.
"We're certainly looking at that (an appeal)," said Hira.
Ujjal Dosanjh, a former B.C. premier and the federal Liberals'
public safety critic, used the furor over the undisclosed email to call
for a "comprehensive federal review" of the RCMP and its policies on
Tasers.
"It should look at whether or not . . . the culture of the RCMP is
broken and whether or not it is in need of a major overhaul," Dosanjh
said in an interview.
"And if it is, what are the recommendations for that overhaul."
The inquiry resumes on Sept. 22.
