Civil Liberties Group Sued RCMP Commissioner for Delay in Responding to Civilian Complaints

Civil Liberties Group Sued RCMP Commissioner for Delay in Responding to Civilian Complaints

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

[ad_1]

A civil liberties organization took RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki to court, arguing that the time she spent responding to public complaints undermined the police’s sense of responsibility.

In court documents filed on Friday, the federal government believes that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is doing better in responding to complaints-the BC Civil Liberties Association case should be ruled out.

Although the Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair has repeatedly promised to introduce a deadline for legislation, the Minister of Justice of Canada also opposed the establishment of a strict timetable on behalf of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to respond to the Commissioner’s complaints.

The case started in early 2014, when the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) first filed a complaint with the Citizens Review and Complaints Committee (CRCC)-an independent monitoring agency is responsible for reviewing public complaints against RCMP-Allegations that the Mounted Police are monitoring indigenous people and environmental The protesters opposed the proposed northern passage pipeline.

During a demonstration in Vancouver, British Columbia, pipeline protesters were silhouetted while carrying salmon cuts. The lawsuit began in early 2014, when the British Columbia organization filed its first complaint with the Civilian Review and Complaints Committee, accusing the Mounted Police of illegally monitoring the northern gateway pipeline for indigenous and environmental protesters opposed to the species. (Darryl Dyke/Canada Press)

CRCC’s survey results, Pointed out the gaps in the supervision policy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Only released at the end of 2020.

This spring, BCCLA filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that Lucki did not respond in a timely manner, denying the organization’s constitutional rights, and undermining public confidence in the appeal process.

BCCLA lawyer Paul Champ told CBC News: “We believe this shows disrespect for the process and does undermine Canadians’ confidence in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the proper performance of their duties.”

When CRCC investigators are dissatisfied with the civilian complaints handled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or disagree with the force’s initial investigation, they will send the so-called “temporary report” to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner for review. Only after the commissioner responds, the watchdog can release its findings and recommendations.

Therefore, the bottleneck of the Commissioner’s Office may delay the release of the interim report. Some of these reports involve serious criminal complaints.

The BCCLA lawsuit cited other CRCC interim reports that have not yet been released-one of which involved an investigation of alleged minor sexual assaults.

“In another disturbing case, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police spent nearly four years responding to an interim report from CRCC. The incident involved a woman who was abandoned, naked, and injured her arm without receiving medical care. Because the officer thought she was “pretending” to hurt.” BCCLA’s lawsuit said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police does not have any statutory timetable to respond to the CRCC interim report. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act simply says that the commissioner should respond “as soon as possible.”

In 2019, the force signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CRCC, the latter being an intervener in the case, to respond to public complaints filed with regulators within six months. The agreement is not binding.

“It doesn’t mean that anything happened”

The lawsuit will examine what “as soon as possible” actually means.

Champ said: “Say “as soon as possible” means full compliance with regulations, it does not mean that anything will happen.

“Commissioner Luki is actually the third RCMP commissioner since we filed the complaint. When Parliament introduced “as soon as possible” in the RCMP Act to mean the country, it was certainly not the intention of Congress. After a few years, we must solve it.”

The Canadian Minister of Justice, on behalf of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, argued in his court documents that the “as soon as possible” standard needs to be flexible.

The department wrote: “For example, the complexity of the report, the need for internal consulting, available resources and competing priorities are all factors that affect the time it takes for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to respond to the interim report.”

“Avoid strict timetables to ensure that the commissioner is not hindered and forced to respond hastily due to lack of too much detail and consideration, which is not in line with the statutory goals of public accountability and transparency.”

Public Security Minister Bill Blair said the federal government is considering passing regulations or legislation to set a binding timetable. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canada Press)

However, earlier this month, a Blair spokesperson said that the federal government is considering passing regulations or legislation to set a binding timetable.

Minister’s spokesperson Mary-Liz Power said: “These delays are unacceptable. Canadians should be subject to the police department responsible for them.”

The Minister’s Office stated that its position has not changed.

Lawyers for the Attorney General of Canada also argued that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has accelerated the pace by increasing the number of hires.

The government stated in court documents that between June 2020 and February 2021, Lucki made 71 responses to the CRCC’s interim report, one of which was related to the strategy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2013. The complaint was related to the shale gas protest in New Brunswick in 2013, and the other was related to Mounties’ behavior. The person shot and killed 22-year-old Colten Boushie, a Red Pheasant First Nations resident, in 2016. survey.

The Commissioner submitted 18 responses to CRCC throughout the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

Since CRCC released the final report on the protests in December, Champ and BCCLA requested “declarative relief”-a formal statement from the court that Lucki violated the duties under the RCMP Act.

Since the 2014 protest report was released, the federal government has been calling on BCCLA to file a complaint.

Kai Nagata is the communications director of the Dogwood Initiative, one of the community groups protesting the pipeline. He said that he hopes this case will help other community groups in the future.

He said: “The members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Board seem to have only apparently adopted a procrastination strategy, that is, just sitting on a report to prevent any bad news headlines, thereby avoiding any solution or closure of the person being monitored. action.”

“I think that the complaint resolution process is just a small step towards creating an environment in which the police are responsible for their actions, and the public who pays for their toys and tools have an understanding of how to use them. Tools are the window to combat peace. They are law-abiding citizens across the country.”

Champ said he hopes to request a hearing sometime this week.

[ad_2]

Source link

More to explorer