Wagmatcook chief demands release of police report into fatal shooting
Wagmatcook Chief Lester Peck speaks at news conference in Halifax on Oct. 13, 2009. Photo by RadioGoogoo.ca
The chief of the Wagmatcook First Nation says it’s taking too long for the RCMP to release its report into the shooting death of band member John Simon in December 2008.
“It’s pretty hard for the family and the community,” Chief Lester Peck said at a news conference held in Halifax on Tuesday. “It’s been real hard and everybody’s been asking us questions and we got no answers,” he said.
“Why he got shot? It’s that simple,” Peck said.
Peck called the news conference, which was held at the law office of the band’s lawyer, to also renew calls for a public inquiry into the events leading up to an RCMP officer shooting Simon, 44, inside his home on the night of Dec. 2, 2008.
RCMP officers had responded to a 911 regarding a domestic dispute at a home on the Wagmatcook First Nation, located 15 kilometres west of Baddeck, N.S. The shooting happened after a 90-minute standoff with Simon who was alone in the house at the time.
Halifax Regional Police were immediately called in to investigate the RCMP shooting death of Simon.
Since then, band officials have been hearing conflicting reports on the status of the investigation, Brian Arbuthnot, director of operations for Wagmatcook, said.
“The council wants to get some answers,” Arbuthnot said at the news conference. “This underlines the main reason that we’re here as well to raise the matter of the public inquiry around the shooting of John Simon,” he said.
Chief and council were supposed to learn the results of the investigation in June. Then two weeks ago, a Halifax Regional Police official told the band the 2,000-page report was handed over to the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Services nearly two months ago.
“I mean, it just seems to me that if, god forbid, the roles had reversed and it was a police officer that had been shot, it wouldn’t have been before a decision was made on whether to lay charges. It would have been ten days.” Gary Richard, lawyer for the Wagmatcook Band, said.
The RCMP shooting has affected the community’s confidence in the police force and its ability to serve Wagmatcook, Peck said.
“There’s a lack of trust now with the police in my community,” Peck said during the news conference. “Nobody even wants to get involved with the policemen,” he said.
Chief and council with the Wagmatcook First Nation are looking into terminating their policing agreement with the RCMP as a result of the December 2008 shooting, Peck said. Band officials plan to meet with Cape Breton Regional Police on Oct. 20 to discuss taking over policing services for the community.
“This matter has been hanging over the community and that’s just causing pain and suffering that may leave permanent scars,” Richard said. “The longer it festers, I think, the longer the recovery. And I think that’s what everyone’s concerned about,” he said.
