Probe into how RCMP handled Boushie death goes to commissioner

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP completed its investigation and report into the RCMP’S investigation of the death of Colten Boushie and delivered the report to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki last month.

In a statement, CRCC spokeswoman Kate Mcderby said the final report will be made public only when the RCMP’S response has been received, reviewed and the chair of the CRCC issues her final report.

The RCMP’S response will identify findings Lucki agrees with and the recommendations the service will act on, the statement said. If no action is to be taken on a recommendation, Lucki must provide reasons to the commission.

Boushie, 22, a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, died Aug. 9, 2016, when he was shot in the head on a property owned by Gerald Stanley. Stanley was found not guilty of second-degree murder in February 2018 following a jury trial.

Boushie’s family filed a public complaint to the RCMP about the conduct of 10 officers in the hours after he was killed.

The complaint pertained to concerns about the manner in which the officers surrounded the home of Boushie’s mother, that the way she was told about his death was insensitive, that the search of her home was illegal, that a media release RCMP issued about Boushie’s death characterized him as a thief and that a woman connected to the Aug. 9, 2016 incident was in the back seat of an RCMP cruiser during a vehicle pursuit.

A letter written by a Saskatchewan RCMP superintendent substantiated only the allegation about the vehicle pursuit. The officers involved received “operational guidance.”

Boushie’s family subsequently filed a request to the CRCC to look into the RCMP’S internal investigation. The CRCC, an agency independent of the RCMP, told the Starphoenix in 2018 it would review the RCMP’S investigation and could ask the RCMP to re-investigate the original complaint lodged by Boushie’s family, or suggest ways the RCMP could have done better.