Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon.
My name is Michael Scott. I'm a partner at Patterson Law in Halifax.
As the committee members are likely aware, we just finished a public inquiry in Nova Scotia into the worse mass killing in Canadian history. In the context of that inquiry, my colleagues and I were tasked with representing those who were most affected, those being the families of the victims.
In the course of its work, the commission examined a number of police-related issues, and I can say that among those issues were the complaints process and specifically Bill C-20.
Civilian oversight is essential to ensuring public confidence in law enforcement, and we would suggest public confidence in the legitimacy of the complaints process is, to a significant degree, dependent on two essential elements. The first is independence in the investigation of complaints, and the second is timeliness in the handling of those complaints.
Leon Joudrey was a resident of Portapique, Nova Scotia. In the early morning hours of April 19, 2020, RCMP members attended to his house to extract the perpetrator's wife, or common-law spouse, Lisa Banfield. As a result of his interactions with the RCMP, a formal complaint was filed. While the details of that complaint aren't really relevant to the conversation we're having today, the way in which Mr. Joudrey was handled very much is.
The handling of Mr. Joudrey's complaint was anything but independent. Despite a specific recommendation from the CRCC chair that the matter should be referred out of H Division, it was in fact assigned to the direct supervisor of the officers who were under investigation.
The handling of Mr. Joudrey's complaint was anything but timely, inasmuch as he told the Mass Casualty Commission in May 2022, almost two years after the complaint was filed, that all he had received were form letters advising him that there was “no news”. Indeed, on October 4 of last year, counsel for the RCMP, in response to specific questions that were raised about Mr. Joudrey's complaint, advised the Mass Casualty Commission that the matter was still under investigation, and they were unable to provide any indication, even estimated, as to when that matter might be concluded.
Later that month, in October 2022, Mr. Joudrey died.
Mr. Joudrey's story is emblematic of the CRCC's critical weakness, and that is our overreliance on having the RCMP investigate the RCMP. As it stands, the process involves complaints being submitted to an independent civilian oversight authority, which then in turn hands that matter back to the very organization that is the subject of the complaint.
Bill C-20 offers an excellent opportunity to change that model. Unfortunately, the bill, in its current form, simply transposes the CRCC model from the RCMP Act into its own legislation. In substance, all that changes is the name.
The president of the National Police Federation, Mr. Brian Sauvé, appeared before this committee, I believe last week. In the context of the Mass Casualty Commission, I can tell you that families of the victims and the NPF found lots of things to disagree about, so it is notable that I find myself in the position today of being able to advise you that I actually agree almost entirely with the NPF's position as regards Bill C-20.
I think Mr. Sauvé's comments and recommendations on behalf of the RCMP members' union are insightful and worth this committee's consideration. I would urge the committee to recognize that if Bill C-20 is to serve its intended purpose, it will require more than minor amendments. It will require moving past the existing model and its overreliance on police investigating police.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.