RCMP Complaints Commission exonerates cops; passport office has some explaining to do.
by Stephen Kimber
It’s been an unsatisfying week for the be-seen aspect of that justice-being-done-and-being-seen-to-be-done shibboleth. The more we learn, the more clear it is we still don’t know all we need to know about two high-profile court cases to satisfy ourselves justice has been served.
Let’s start with the report of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.
In January, the Supreme Court stayed charges against Nicole Doucet for trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband, Michael Ryan, in part because of the “disquieting fact that… it seems that the authorities were much quicker to intervene to protect Mr Ryan than they had been to respond to [Ms Doucet’s] request for help in dealing with his reign of terror over her.”
Since neither Ryan nor the RCMP was called to testify about Doucet’s allegations of spousal abuse and police failure to act, how could so many courts so mindlessly accept those allegations as proven fact?
The 41-page report is specific and detailed; its conclusion raises a troubling question. Since neither Ryan nor the RCMP was called to testify about Doucet’s allegations of spousal abuse and police failure to act, how could so many courts so mindlessly accept those allegations as proven fact?
The report is silent on that question, which is beyond its mandate. And that is exactly the reason we need a full public inquiry into this case.
Another botched case, another report: this one by Nova Scotia’s Public Prosecution Service into the Fenwick MacIntosh case.
In April, the Supreme Court refused to consider a lower court’s dismissal of sexual assault charges against MacIntosh because of a 15-year delay between allegations and trial.
The prosecution service owned up to its failures and noted changes it’s made to prevent such unconscionable delays in the future. But Ottawa so far has failed to explain why it renewed MacIntosh’s passport twice even after he’d been charged.
Another internal inquiry won’t cut it. We need a broader, independent inquiry into what went wrong and why.
Justice won’t be seen to be done until then.
About Stephen Kimber
Stephen Kimber is the Rogers Communications Chair in Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax. He is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster.
His writing has appeared in almost all major Canadian publications including Canadian Geographic, Financial Post Magazine, Maclean's, En Route, Chatelaine, Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the National Post. He has written one novel — Reparations — and six non-fiction books. Website: http://www.stephenkimber.com.
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