Jury recommends mental health education for RCMP members following B.C. inquest

A coroner’s inquest jury is recommending that the RCMP make changes to mental health programs for its officers and their families after the death by suicide of a sergeant in 2013 who was involved in a case in British Columbia that resulted in criticism of the department.

The inquest heard three days of testimony before the recommendations were made Thursday. Much of it focused on Pierre Lemaitre’s role as the RCMP’s media spokesman after the death of a man who was in a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport in 2007.

The inquest heard Lemaitre released inaccurate information about the case of Robert Dziekanski that his superiors wouldn’t let him correct. Lemaitre’s former family doctor and psychologist testified he had post-traumatic stress disorder from dealing with victims of crime, but the incident involving Dziekanski increased his depression and anxiety.

Atoya Montague, a former media strategist for the RCMP, said Lemaitre was used to tell a false story about the death of Dziekanski, a Polish man who couldn’t speak English and became agitated after wandering around the airport arrivals area for 10 hours.

After the incident, Lemaitre told reporters that officers approached a combative man and jolted him twice with a Taser, but two days later a video emerged that showed Dziekanski was relatively calm when the Mounties arrived and that they used the stun gun five times.