Globe: Gary Mason - Dead man's MP fears challenging RCMP
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Dead man's MP fears challenging RCMP, Gary Mason, Globe and Mail, Thursday, May 11, 2006
VANCOUVER -- Nathan Cullen is the MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley. Among others, he represents residents of the small mill town of Houston, in northeastern British Columbia. Linda Bush is a constituent of his.
Mr. Cullen has spoken to Mrs. Bush about the death of her 22-year-old son, Ian, last October. The young mill worker was shot in the back of the head at the RCMP detachment in Houston after being confronted by a police officer for holding an open can of beer outside the town's arena.
More than six months later, the family is still waiting for answers about Ian's death. Police have said it may be months yet.
Mr. Cullen is 33 and has been an MP for only two years. He'd like to think he's got a long political career ahead of him. Which is perhaps why he's apprehensive about making a big stink over the length of time it's taking the Bush family to get answers.
He's worried about what might happen if he angers the RCMP.
"They say don't ever pick a fight with the police as a politician because they'll find you and show up in the middle of the night and pull your family out with television cameras and talk about that deck you had built," the NDP MP said in an interview from Ottawa.
(In March, 1999, the RCMP raided the home of B.C.'s then-premier Glen Clark in connection with allegations he had helped a neighbour who had built a deck for him get a casino licence. A television station was tipped off and was there to film the raid. Mr. Clark was later cleared of any wrongdoing in the affair).
Mr. Cullen went on.
"The police are a significant force in our world and I'm exposed and that's the nature of my job."
"But it's common parlance among politicians that taking on the police is an extremely dangerous thing to do. You can ruin your career.
"You can end up completely discredited."
Whether or not Mr. Cullen's views are justified -- and he acknowledges that he hasn't been threatened or intimidated by the RCMP regarding the Bush case -- this is how he feels.
And, judging by his comments, this is how other politicians feel, too.
And if that's the way he feels, if he's scared about challenging the RCMP in any way, then what hope is there for Linda Bush, who doesn't feel it's right that she has to wait a year or longer to find out how her son ended up with a bullet in his head?
In my opinion, not much.
To his credit, Mr. Cullen has made a few phone calls on behalf of the Bush family.
He phoned a top RCMP official in Vancouver and, among other things, asked where the officer involved in the Bush shooting was working these days.
Mr. Cullen was told, in so many words, that it was none of his business.
Mr. Cullen asked the RCMP official if the fact the officer involved in the Bush shooting was working elsewhere in the province didn't presuppose his innocence.
What if the RCMP's own investigation, he wondered, discovers otherwise?
What, in fact, if there is a criminal working in an RCMP detachment somewhere in the province who is carrying a gun?
Shouldn't the people in whichever community he might be in have a right to know?
Apparently not.
Meantime, in B.C., the province's Attorney-General is also frustrated with the RCMP.
Wally Oppal, who once conducted a royal commission into policing in B.C., said in an interview that there is a major roadblock in dealing with complaints.
It is the fact that the police force has refused to be part of the B.C. Police Complaints process.
The RCMP has its own complaints procedure, Mr. Oppal said, which is not nearly as transparent or rigorous as B.C.'s.
Mr. Oppal also agreed that there are potential image problems with the current investigation into Ian Bush.
These problems stem from the fact that the review of the RCMP's investigation of the October shooting is being conducted by a New Westminster police force which has publicly defended the actions of one of its own police officers who had been involved in a highly controversial shooting death of a civilian.
Given that, some have questioned whether the New Westminster team reviewing the Houston shooting can be completely unbiased.
"That's not an invalid concern," Mr. Oppal said.
"Perception is a big part of the equation as well.
"That is why if you had the RCMP as part of the B.C. complaints process the complaint commissioner would have the power to oversee all this. That's why I think it's important for the RCMP to be part of that process right now.
"Right now we have no real jurisdiction over the RCMP in the province even though we're paying for them."
Mr. Cullen, meantime, is carefully plotting what to do next in his quest to get answers.
He said he plans to speak about Ian Bush's death in the House of Commons in the coming weeks but that he knows he has to be careful.
"If I go down in a burning ball of flames [because the RCMP] pull up the fact that I got drunk in college and threw up on an officer or something and they say, 'Cullen is a drunken buffoon,' suddenly I'm no longer in the game.
"Suddenly, I don't have any credibility with which to advocate. I'm done.
"So I have to be smart.
"It's a risk, I'll be frank about that. I know where the balance of power lies and it's not with me."
VANCOUVER -- Nathan Cullen is the MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley. Among others, he represents residents of the small mill town of Houston, in northeastern British Columbia. Linda Bush is a constituent of his.
Mr. Cullen has spoken to Mrs. Bush about the death of her 22-year-old son, Ian, last October. The young mill worker was shot in the back of the head at the RCMP detachment in Houston after being confronted by a police officer for holding an open can of beer outside the town's arena.
More than six months later, the family is still waiting for answers about Ian's death. Police have said it may be months yet.
Mr. Cullen is 33 and has been an MP for only two years. He'd like to think he's got a long political career ahead of him. Which is perhaps why he's apprehensive about making a big stink over the length of time it's taking the Bush family to get answers.
He's worried about what might happen if he angers the RCMP.
"They say don't ever pick a fight with the police as a politician because they'll find you and show up in the middle of the night and pull your family out with television cameras and talk about that deck you had built," the NDP MP said in an interview from Ottawa.
(In March, 1999, the RCMP raided the home of B.C.'s then-premier Glen Clark in connection with allegations he had helped a neighbour who had built a deck for him get a casino licence. A television station was tipped off and was there to film the raid. Mr. Clark was later cleared of any wrongdoing in the affair).
Mr. Cullen went on.
"The police are a significant force in our world and I'm exposed and that's the nature of my job."
"But it's common parlance among politicians that taking on the police is an extremely dangerous thing to do. You can ruin your career.
"You can end up completely discredited."
Whether or not Mr. Cullen's views are justified -- and he acknowledges that he hasn't been threatened or intimidated by the RCMP regarding the Bush case -- this is how he feels.
And, judging by his comments, this is how other politicians feel, too.
And if that's the way he feels, if he's scared about challenging the RCMP in any way, then what hope is there for Linda Bush, who doesn't feel it's right that she has to wait a year or longer to find out how her son ended up with a bullet in his head?
In my opinion, not much.
To his credit, Mr. Cullen has made a few phone calls on behalf of the Bush family.
He phoned a top RCMP official in Vancouver and, among other things, asked where the officer involved in the Bush shooting was working these days.
Mr. Cullen was told, in so many words, that it was none of his business.
Mr. Cullen asked the RCMP official if the fact the officer involved in the Bush shooting was working elsewhere in the province didn't presuppose his innocence.
What if the RCMP's own investigation, he wondered, discovers otherwise?
What, in fact, if there is a criminal working in an RCMP detachment somewhere in the province who is carrying a gun?
Shouldn't the people in whichever community he might be in have a right to know?
Apparently not.
Meantime, in B.C., the province's Attorney-General is also frustrated with the RCMP.
Wally Oppal, who once conducted a royal commission into policing in B.C., said in an interview that there is a major roadblock in dealing with complaints.
It is the fact that the police force has refused to be part of the B.C. Police Complaints process.
The RCMP has its own complaints procedure, Mr. Oppal said, which is not nearly as transparent or rigorous as B.C.'s.
Mr. Oppal also agreed that there are potential image problems with the current investigation into Ian Bush.
These problems stem from the fact that the review of the RCMP's investigation of the October shooting is being conducted by a New Westminster police force which has publicly defended the actions of one of its own police officers who had been involved in a highly controversial shooting death of a civilian.
Given that, some have questioned whether the New Westminster team reviewing the Houston shooting can be completely unbiased.
"That's not an invalid concern," Mr. Oppal said.
"Perception is a big part of the equation as well.
"That is why if you had the RCMP as part of the B.C. complaints process the complaint commissioner would have the power to oversee all this. That's why I think it's important for the RCMP to be part of that process right now.
"Right now we have no real jurisdiction over the RCMP in the province even though we're paying for them."
Mr. Cullen, meantime, is carefully plotting what to do next in his quest to get answers.
He said he plans to speak about Ian Bush's death in the House of Commons in the coming weeks but that he knows he has to be careful.
"If I go down in a burning ball of flames [because the RCMP] pull up the fact that I got drunk in college and threw up on an officer or something and they say, 'Cullen is a drunken buffoon,' suddenly I'm no longer in the game.
"Suddenly, I don't have any credibility with which to advocate. I'm done.
"So I have to be smart.
"It's a risk, I'll be frank about that. I know where the balance of power lies and it's not with me."
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