Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here today. This must be incredibly difficult, because every time you have to retell your story or rehear your story, it's like living it one more time. So thank you for doing that. But since you are here to share information, then I would be pleased to ask a couple of questions.
We have heard as we've travelled the country many things, which Mr. Kosteckyj has also said and which we've heard from the Bagnell family, about the importance of public oversight, not just concerning the use of tasers, but in a more general way as well. We've also heard the discussion about where a taser fits in a continuum of force, which is a very puzzling discussion, because it seems to vary, depending on where we have the discussion and who we have the discussion with.
First, if I might, Mr. Kosteckyj, I have a question for you. You called this in some ways a “benign neglect” death. I think that was the phrase you used. In my personal opinion, this death is about a much broader range of factors than only a taser. I'd also like to ask you a different kind of question, if I might.
We visited the airport. We're often moved by different things, or we learn by seeing different things. We're just different by nature in how we absorb information. I think I may have shared this with you, but I stood at the top of the escalator that Robert would have been on--because they are the same stairs that go around and around--thinking of all of the hope that he would have had as he was standing on the top of that escalator and, as that escalator went down, how much further removed that piece of hope and that dream were. For me, that was probably the most powerful part of the tour, aside from the concrete information I learned.
I'd like you to answer for me if you can, please, Mr. Kosteckyj, first, how the airport could be different. I'm talking about the CBSA and the airport part. If you could wave your pen or whatever, how would you make that different so that this could not happen again?
I have a question for the Bagnell family. When I looked at your website, you had a reference on it that all of us have been quite frustrated trying to find information about. It was about the research that can link taser deaths. I noticed that on your website, when you talked about the numbers of deaths, you cited 30 as being either somehow related or causal to the use of the taser. I'd be thrilled if you could share where you got that research. We keep asking the manufacturer of taser and others, “Can you prove any relationship?”, and everybody says, “No. Coroners' reports all say no, so we can't, no.” I'd be thrilled to have that and hear a bit about what's on your site.
Mr. Kosteckyj, I'll go to you first on the difference to an airport.