Bray weighs options amid push to release RCMP review

Chief Evan Bray says he is considering options after more calls were made to publicly release the RCMP’S review of the Regina Police Service (RPS) investigation into Nadine Machiskinic’s death.

An outspoken advocate for the family, Machiskinic’s aunt Delores Stevenson, spoke to the chief and others present at the monthly Board of Police Commissioners meeting Wednesday morning.

The meeting came just two days after the RPS announced it would not release the report, saying there was nothing in the review that wasn’t already discussed in the coroner’s inquest.

For the sake of transparency and accountability as well as a step toward reconciliation, Delores called on the RPS to release the findings of the review as well as the recommendations.

“This is not something that’s been done before,” said Bray of the review, which was done at the request of the RPS.

“I’ll take it under consideration and see if we can get to a point where it satisfies what people are asking for.”

Machiskinic was 29 years old when she was found dead in Regina’s downtown Delta Hotel in January 2015. The RPS has been criticized for a number of delays and missteps in its investigation.

According to Bray, the RCMP’S report isn’t very long. He said it consists of an executive summary of the review, with some recommendations attached to it. He’s not sure what a compromise might look like, but said releasing parts of the report may be something to consider.

“Let’s look at those recommendations and see if that’s something that we can share with the family and publicly,” he said.

Bray has previously said the review includes major case-management techniques that are sensitive, and releasing the information could jeopardize future investigations.

Stevenson is advocating for the report to be released in its entirety, but is also open to compromise.

“At the end of the day, when I’m talking about reconciliation and I’m talking about building a relationship and building trust, I think that goes both ways,” she said. “Anything is better than being in the dark about it all.”

She said if the findings and recommendations aren’t released to the public, at the very least they should be shared with her and her family.

Bray said the decision not to release the report was not made lightly and is not an attempt to hide behind anything.

In addition to his initial meeting with the family, he said he has spoken to representatives from Machiskinic’s First Nation, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), the province, coroner’s office, the provincial public complaints office and the mayor to inform the RPS’S decision.

“There’s lots of internal review processes that we have at the police service that we don’t make external,” he said, adding this particular scenario is uncharted territory for the police.

Bray said the review has resulted in positive changes that will go a long way toward preventing similar delays in future cases.

“That’s a really good part of this story that I would critically say hasn’t really been told,” he said.

Richelle Dubois also attended the meeting, again calling for an inquest into the death of her 14-year-old son, Haven, who on May 20, 2015, was found in a ravine in east Regina.

Since her son’s death, Dubois has been searching for answers and has not been satisfied with information received from police and the coroner’s report.

She asked Chief Bray to reach out to provincial chief coroner Clive Weighill and request an inquest.

“I don’t think I’m in a position necessarily to commit one way or the other,” said Bray. “But I will take a look at the case.”

Bray said he would have to review the case to make sure a potential inquest would be done for the right reasons.