New documents obtained by Ottawa Life Magazine from an ongoing investigation by the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada reveal information not disclosed or made available by the RCMP or CRPA during a four-month trial.
New documents have been obtained by Ottawa Life Magazine that were not disclosed or made available by the RCMP or the Codiac Regional Police Authority (CRPA) during a four-month trial earlier this year where the RCMP was charged with violating four provisions of the Canada Labour Code. The trial included testimony from former RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson.
The documents show that the CRPA approved a request in February 2012 in the interest of safety (for officers) and released funding for the Codiac Regional RCMP to purchase carbines and train members on their use. The RCMP did not implement the order.
In September, Judge Leslie Jackson found that the RCMP was guilty of failing to provide adequate use-of-force equipment and related user training to the Moncton Mounties who were killed or wounded while trying to stop gunman Justin Bourque in June 2014. However, Jackson found the RCMP not guilty of charges related to providing adequate training and supervision when responding to an active threat or active shooter event. He stayed a fourth charge against the RCMP related to ensuring the health and safety of its members because he said the first charge already encompassed that issue.
The trial examined whether RCMP officers were sufficiently armed when Justin Bourque went on a shooting rampage in Moncton on June 4, 2014, that resulted in the deaths of Const. Douglas James Larche, Const. Dave Ross and Const. Fabrice Georges Gevaudan. Two other officers were wounded.
The key issue was whether some of the deaths could have been prevented if the officers had been better armed, specifically with carbines. Carbines are high-powered, short-barrelled rifles that have longer and more accurate range than pistols or shotguns. The Moncton officers did not have access to carbines on the night of the shootings. The newly obtained documents are CRPA minutes that show they approved the funds for the RCMP in New Brunswick to purchase carbines and the requisite training in 2012, two years before the tragic events of June 4, 2014.
After the incident, the RCMP was charged with violating four provisions of the Canada Labour Code, each carrying a maximum fine of $1 million. The four charges were failing to provide RCMP members with appropriate use of force equipment and related user training when responding to an active threat or active shooter event; failing to provide RCMP members with the appropriate information, instruction and/or training to ensure their health and safety when responding to an active threat or active shooter event in an open environment; failing to provide RCMP supervisory personnel with the appropriate information, instruction and/or training to ensure the health and safety of RCMP members when responding to an active threat or active shooter event in an open environment; and
failing to ensure the health and safety at work of every person employed by the organization, namely RCMP members, was protected.
The documents are minutes of a meeting of the Codiac Regional Police Authority (CRPA) from February 8, 2012, and raise serious and troubling questions about the decision that found the RCMP not guilty of charges related to providing adequate training and supervision when responding to an active threat or active shooter event. The CRPA oversees the RCMP detachment in the area. Superintendent Marlene Snowman and other RCMP senior staff attended that meeting along with Nick LeBlanc, Chair, Leo Belliveau, Past-Chair, Deputy Mayor Don Lenehan, Deputy Mayor Kathryn Barnes and other board members. At an In-Camera session of the meeting, CRPA members approved the purchase of patrol carbines, including equipment, training and re-certification training for RCMP constables for three years at a cost of $76,699.96, including $16,399.60 for 2012.
In the minutes, Superintendent Snowman refers to the purchase as a safety issue. The CRPA Board accepted her recommendation to move ahead with the patrol carbine acquisition and training from 2012-2014, and the motion was carried. However, even though the budget was approved, the RCMP never bought the carbines or started the training until 2014, two years later and only days before the tragic incident that ended in the deaths of the three Constables.
It is unclear what the approved money was spent on since it was not spent on the carbines and training as directed by the CRPA. Further, it is unknown who in the RCMP management directed staff to not move forward with the carbine purchases and training. Ottawa Life Magazine has called the CRPA and asked for clarification on these two key points and has received no comment.
RCMP senior staff and Commissioner Bob Paulson did not bring this information to the attention of the court during the trial. Judge Leslie Jackson said in his decision that “almost all members of RCMP management who testified at trial said that safety of their members was a priority of theirs.”
The minutes show that even though they had budget and approvals, the Senior RCMP commanders did not follow through and carry out that CRPA directive. The question is, who at the RCMP cancelled this directive or failed to carry it through, and why?
Click the link below to see the documents.
http://www.ottawalife.com/admin/cms/images/large/minutes-of-february-08-2012-crpa-meeting.pdf
