Notes for 09 JUN 04

2009-06-04 Email sent to Phil in reply to his request for a copy of CONLIN’s concluding memo. He wants to give the material to Les ROSE in his office, the DOJ lawyer. Have sent this off previously to him, but guess it didn’t get through.
2009-06-30 Email from Phil with the comments of Les ROSE. He thought that the rebuttal presentation was excellent (except for the last paragraph), but that he felt Ottawa had closed its file and would likely not answer the rebuttal. He encouraged me to pursue the matter outside of the Force. Phil said to light the fuse. Well, four have been lit, and looking at more.
The following is the result of an ATIP request for all communications between the Department of Justice and the RCMP regarding the CBC's The Fifth Estate - 'The Untold Story'

Obviously, Les felt it was serious enough to contact his people in Ottawa with a "Heads Up". My understanding was that he recommended to Ottawa Dept. of Justice that they pay attention to my complaint, that it was serious and legitimate. What he said to them in this message dated 2007 OCT 01, along with all the following messages, has been redacted at source as lawyer - client privileged information. His message generated considerable interest in Ottawa considering the complaint had initially gone to the RCMP. The following redacted messages dated 08 NOV 07 have been received.

It's interesting that the DNA Databank comes up, as this brings in members of the RCMP's Crime Lab, which is part of the RCMP's Forensic Identification Services. Ron Forney (CC in the following message) was head of the DNA unit at the RCMP's Crime Lab, and was instrumental in setting up the DNA victim identification process for Swissair 111. At this time, I don't know why he is involved in this, except that it would seem this establishes contact between the Dept of Justice and the RCMP.

So it was thought to be serious enough to have a meeting the very next day, 2007 NOV 09.

Thirty pages of the received material have been exempted due to legal restrictions, however they originated by fax from Montreal fax # 514 939 8483, destined to Carole Bidal.

It seems that they take a break for a period, then on the 09 NOV 19, the following.

After all the discussions, I finally received an answer back from the Attorney General on 2010 AUG 24. He is the Minister responsible for the Department of Justice.

My original inquiry had been sent on 2010 JUL 24

I had also gone to Mr. Peter Stoffer, NDP member for a Halifax area riding. He too had contacted the Minister of Justice. The Department of Justice simply pushed the matter over to the Minister for Public Safety, who was responsible for the RCMP. In additon, a formal complaint was lodged, but again, nothing came of it.

During the leadup to the CBC program 'The Fifth Estate', 'The Untold Story', the CBC requested a recorded interview with someone in authority regarding the file. The Force provided their response, well discussed and prepared by senior managers on and after 2011 AUG 19. Of note, B. Hayduk who signed the Conlin Report was actually a Superintendent, or a senior commissioned officer of the RCMP.

So they all knew of the program, and of course, the Commissioner, Bob Elliot, would have been informed. That would have been necessary as he would have to then brief his Minister, Vic Toews, or at least the Deputy Minister.

It would seem that someone was trying to lend an air of legality and officialdom to a weak arguement. This is especially so by including the following:

41.3.Human Deaths 1.1. All reportable deaths occurring within RCMP jurisdiction must be treated as suspicious and thoroughly investigated.

Who determines if a death is suspicious? During twenty-seven years as a Forensic Identification member and attending more than a thousand sudden deaths of all types, I found that in nearly every case I was the one to determine if the cause of death was natural, suicide, accidental, or 'suspicious' as in a homicide. It was never the person sitting behind a desk who had no idea of the scene artifacts. What's more, it was never another agency who had neither the expertise, the experience, nor the legal right to determine the nature and cause of the death. I n most of the cases where I was the scene investigator, either the local coroner relied on my judgement, or he/she never attended the scene and simply relied on a phone call from the Detachment investigator. Usually, the local coroner had no forensic training, and did not wish to view the scene.

What really irks me is that they spent more time and money trying to cover their backsides that they did in investigating the wrong doing of so many RCMP members, and finding the links into the Prime Minister's Cabinet of the time.

Let me just include this as a portion of the mandate for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada

No finding of the Board shall be construed as assigning fault or determining civil or criminal liability

&

The findings of the Board are not binding on the parties to any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.

So how can the RCMP legally stand by and wait for the TSB to determine if a criminal act has occurred since no TSB member can give evidence in criminal court. Remember that they were not trained as criminal or forensic investigators.

I assume by the words of the message that the CBC had likely phoned to inquire about an interview with Conlin or someone senior. The response was provided in writing at the same time as the CBC was drafting this email.

What is put forward by the CBC makes complete sense, except that the mention of mercury should have been magnesium. After all, they are journalists, not scientists.

Barb Hayduk, as a Superintendent, was the person who signed the 'Conlin Report'.

It interesting that they redacted large portions of the report, even though they originally provided me with the complete report, received on 2009 MAR 25.

The complete report can be read by going to the link for 09 MAR 25 on the TIME LINE page.

The next batch of pages are a complete disgrace. Somehow the RCMP believes this to be open and transparant.

What is shows are the names of the individuals and there position, especially as legal advisors.

However, the problem is that they read only what is presented to them - the Conlin Report. They start from that, not from the true facts of the matter.

It can be seen that this matter generated considerable interest by the legal advisors for the Force.

One can only wonder why as, after all, as far as the RCMP's management was concerned, the cause of the fire was accidental.

Therefore, there should be nothing to be concerned about. Unless of course, there is something to hide from the public!

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