RCMP
RCMP to test uniform-mounted cameras
Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau The Star
Senators’ report echoes NDP proposals for reforms to the RCMP
OTTAWA – New Democrat Public Safety Critic Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway) is welcoming a report by Liberal Senators that outlines ways to improve leadership, accountability and morale at the RCMP.
“I’ve been working in Parliament for months to secure long-overdue changes to the RCMP,” said Davies. “So far the government has failed to act, despite calls from the NDP, other opposition parties and independent agencies. We hope that this position paper from these Senators will finally show that Canadians are concerned about reform in the RCMP.
Whitehorse man blames RCMP for apartment blaze
A Whitehorse man says he wants to sue the RCMP for a fire that started in his apartment hours after police had arrested him in a drug raid.Steven Marada, 40, claims investigators' actions led to all of his belongings, including a number of rare Yukon antiques, being destroyed in the early Thursday morning blaze at the two-storey log skyscraper on Lambert Street.
Marada, who had been living on the building's second floor, was arrested after Whitehorse RCMP executed a search warrant on his apartment around 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday.
Police have said they seized cocaine and marijuana from the apartment.
Marada was in custody when the apartment caught on fire around 2 a.m. Thursday.
Two RCMP officers investigated for sexual assault
CTV NewsTwo former members of the 2010 Olympic security force are being investigated for sexual assault, CTV News has confirmed.
The two alleged assaults happened aboard a cruise ship where out-of-town security force members are residing during the Games.
The suspects are RCMP officers. The alleged victims are also police officers.
The alleged incidents were apparently fuelled by alcohol. While military officers are forbidden from consuming alcohol on the ships, police officers are not.
The Vancouver Police Department is overseeing both investigations.
RCMP needs stronger oversight: Liberals
By LAURA PAYTON, Calgary SunOTTAWA – The RCMP must face an agency that can independently review its officers' conduct, subpoena witnesses and lay charges if necessary, six Liberal senators say in a position paper released Monday.
The senators, led by former National Security and Defence committee chair Colin Kenny, say RCMP Commissioner William Elliott's plan to refer serious cases to federal or provincial oversight bodies, announced Feb. 4, is “full of half-measures that won’t do the job.”
“The RCMP is now at a watershed point that will determine whether the reform process falters or gains steam,” the senators write in the report's introduction.
Senate poised to call for major RCMP overhaul
Report expected to be the last from security committee led by Liberal Colin KennyDaniel Leblanc, Globe and Mail
As their domination of the Senate comes to an end, the Liberals are set to call for major changes to the RCMP in a “position paper” that the Conservatives are already depicting as anti-Mountie.
In what is likely his last stint as the chair of the Senate committee on national security, Liberal Senator Colin Kenny and his colleagues will offer their remedies for what ails the national police force.
RCMP reform still falls short
Toronto Star (TheStar.com)
Rebuilding public trust in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police won't be an easy matter. The Mounties' proud image took a beating following the deaths of Robert Dziekanski and Ian Bush while in custody. And the force faced withering criticism for bungling the Air India case, putting Maher Arar's life in jeopardy, feuding with the security services, punishing whistle-blowers, and misusing stun guns.
Against that background, Commissioner William Elliott's announcement Thursday that the Mounties plan to get out of the controversial business of investigating themselves is a welcome step forward, albeit a belated one.
RCMP to stop investigating itself: commissioner
Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service OTTAWA -- The RCMP will no longer allow Mounties to investigate themselves in cases involving serious injury or death of suspects, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said on Thursday.
The Mounties will refer cases to outside police forces, or provincial or federal review agencies, Mr. Elliott told a news conference at RCMP headquarters.
"The RCMP must strive to be as open and transparent as possible and fully accountable for its actions," Mr. Elliott said.
Medical marijuana user in fear of law
By Craig Pearson, The Windsor Star"Sarah" puts her lips to the vapour-filled bag, inhaling medicine and worry in one intoxicating breath.
The 52-year-old Windsor woman, who did not want her real name used, is a Health Canada-approved medical marijuana user. Or, at least, she used to be.
Right now she lives in limbo, largely shutting herself in at home alone with a federal medical marijuana card that expired at the beginning of December, with no explanation why her renewed exemption hasn't arrived. And with fears about the law.
Iqaluit pot activist released from custody
By. CBC NewsIqaluit marijuana activist Ed Devries was released from police custody Monday after RCMP raided two local residences late last week.
Devries, 51, a self-described healer and founder of the Qikiqtaaluk Compassion Society, was arrested after RCMP found 0.9 kilograms of marijuana and $7,200 in cash in a search of his home and the Iqaluit marijuana club on Friday afternoon.
He was charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.
Devries's release from custody, which came with a number of conditions, drew applause from about 40 supporters at the Nunavut Court of Justice on Monday afternoon.
