https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTED08lJGi0
MCC Day 55 – Cross Examination of Superintendent Campbell and Lisa Banfield’s Charges Withdrawn
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-qnlRpK3Q
Lisa Banfield's charges dropped, Darren Campbell is sorry - News Coverage Review
5 Comments
'We failed you': Senior mountie apologizes to families of mass shooting victims
Chief Supt. Darren Campbell says he promises RCMP will do better
As he broke down, Campbell said it was the first time he has cried in two and a half years.
"I apologize for failing," he said. "I'm truly sorry that we failed you, and I promise that we'll do better."
Campbell testified Monday and Tuesday before the Mass Casualty Commission leading the public inquiry into the rampage on April 18-19, 2020, when a gunman shot and killed 22 people over 13 hours in several communities throughout the province. The victims included a pregnant woman and an RCMP officer.
At the time of the shootings Campbell was the support services officer, which is one of the highest-ranking RCMP positions in the province. He handled most of the public briefings after April 19, 2020, and was in charge of bringing in critical incident resources like incident commanders and the emergency response team.
Chief Commissioner Michael MacDonald had one question for Campbell — something he said he has been struggling to wrap his head around. He wanted to know why RCMP members didn't find the bodies of five victims on Cobequid Court in Portapique, including the Tuck and Bond families, until the evening of April 19, 2020.
"Why was it that in your experience, and you've reviewed it all if you can help me understand, how it came to be that the priority for the threat seemed to have overwhelmed what was going on in Portapique?"
Campbell said he wasn't on the ground that day and could only speak based on his experience of more than 30 years.
"My experience is based on one or two scenes, not 16 scenes," he said. "In terms of the scope and enormity of the situation and the confusion that the perpetrator caused … to establish the fraction of awareness of the scope and magnitude would've taken some time."
Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulenchyn, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulenchyn, Sean McLeod, Alanna Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O'Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from top: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC)
Campbell said he "wasn't trying to make an excuse" but he does have some level of understanding of the pressure for members who were responding that day.
"I don't know if anyone else from that investigative team had experienced anything like this — I doubt that they ever had," he said.
"It's clear to me that many feel their efforts of trying their best was not enough. I would've hoped to have seen that we would've identified those additional crime scenes much, much earlier."
Campbell said there are many reasons to secure a crime scene as soon as possible. Besides informing families, he said it's also important to preserve evidence.
Other issues raised
During his testimony across Monday and Tuesday, Campbell agreed there were gaps that ideally should not have happened, which is one of the reasons he asked RCMP headquarters for an independent review into the force's actions across April 18 and 19, 2020.
He wrote a formal letter asking for this review, but Campbell said he got the sense Ottawa was wondering whether a review would be duplicating efforts of the Mass Casualty Commission.
Rob Pineo, a lawyer with Patterson Law representing most families, suggested it would have been helpful to interview Portapique resident Kate MacDonald, who was shot at by the gunman but wasn't injured — unlike her husband, Andrew, who was taken to hospital and survived.
Pineo said officers could have asked Kate MacDonald more about the possible back road out of Portapique, which is the way the commission suggested the gunman escaped before 11 p.m. AT on April 18, 2020.
"I agree, yes," Campbell said.
The gunman's replica RCMP cruiser that was used in the N.S. mass shooting was created with a decommissioned 2017 Ford Taurus. (Mass Casualty Commission)He was also asked about why police did not comprehend the possibility that the gunman was driving an exact replica of a RCMP cruiser, despite witnesses describing it as having lights and stripes within the first hour of the massacre.
Campbell said what likely happened was human nature, and "bias" created through experience, since a replica car would be so unrealistic. In the future, he said it would be helpful for dispatchers, call takers and RCMP members to all share the exact quotes from witnesses when there is confusion, so details aren't filtered through various interpretations like a game of telephone.
Also, once the mock cruiser was confirmed, Campbell said Tuesday he would have liked for the public to have been notified about it sooner.
The inquiry has heard that despite photos of the gunman and his vehicle going to the strategic communications team shortly after 8 a.m. on April 19, 2020, it wasn't posted on Twitter until more than two hours later at 10:17 a.m
Weapons charges against gunman's spouse, others withdrawn in case linked to N.S. mass shooting
Lisa Banfield, her brother and brother-in-law went through restorative justice
Three people who supplied ammunition to the gunman who killed 22 Nova Scotians two years ago have had their criminal charges dismissed.
Lawyers for all three — Lisa Banfield, James Banfield and Brian Brewster — appeared in Nova Scotia provincial courts Tuesday morning to complete the process.
All three had been charged with weapons offences, and all three opted to have their charges dealt with through restorative justice, meaning they didn't face a trial and have no criminal record.
Lisa Banfield was the long-time partner of the gunman. James Banfield is her brother. Brian Brewster is her brother-in-law.
Lisa Banfield asked the two men to use their firearms certificates to purchase bullets. The gunman was not legally allowed to possess weapons or bullets.
James Lockyer is a lawyer for Lisa Banfield, the partner of the mass shooter who killed 22 people in April 2020 across Nova Scotia. (CBC)
Police said when the trio was charged that none of them knew what the ammunition was to be used for.
"It's a big relief that they're over, for her," Lisa Banfield's lawyer, James Lockyer, said outside court Tuesday. "For me, too."
But Lockyer said he still has misgivings.
"I will go as far to say I was always disturbed by the fact the RCMP charged Lisa," Lockyer said.
Tom Singleton, who represented Brian Brewster, also has questions about the charges.
"I have serious misgivings about the fact the charges were laid in the first place and what type of investigation was carried on by the RCMP that actually justified laying the charge," Singleton said following court.
While Singleton said Brewster realizes that by going the restorative justice route he's unlikely to get the answers he wants, avoiding the stress of a trial was worth it to his client.
During the restorative justice process, Singleton said that Brewster and his wife had what he described as some rather informal meetings with counsellors from the restorative justice program.
James Banfield and his lawyer initially had misgivings about the process because they worried representatives of 21 of the families would get directly involved and it would become unwieldy. That didn't happen.
Neither Brewster nor James Banfield appeared in court in person Tuesday. Lisa Banfield was flanked by her two sisters, just as she was when she testified before the inquiry last week.
The inquiry has heard that the people in the United States who played a role in helping the gunman, Gabriel Wortman, obtain three guns from Maine have not been charged, and investigations into the firearm issue on that side of the border have closed.
Questions at commission about charges
Under cross-examination by Lockyer at the Mass Casualty Commission later Tuesday, RCMP Chief Supt. Darren Campbell testified that he supported the decision to charge Lisa Banfield, though he said he was not involved in the conversations with Crown prosecutors.
Campbell said there were two key issues he considered with other officers: the public interest in laying the charges and how the charges would be perceived.
He said the optics of charging Lisa Banfield were discussed at a meeting just before the charges were announced on Dec. 4, 2020.
"For example, in terms of domestic violence victims, victim-blaming, I thought that would be a significant issue that would need to be addressed," he said.
"In terms of the victim families and what their expectations were or weren't, how sympathetic they might be or non-sympathetic to Lisa Banfield, that was an area of concern for me."
RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell was the support services officer at the time of the shootings. (CBC)
Another factor Campbell considered, he said, was advancing the ongoing investigation into the provision of firearms used in the offences.
"Personally, I was weighing out optically how that would look. It's one thing to have a gun. It's one thing to have bullets. It's another thing to have guns and and bullets together, because then they can become lethal," he said.
Lockyer asked Campbell, "Did the optics include that it might be perceived as an attempt to divert attention from the responsibility of the RCMP for what had happened on the night of the murders?"
Campbell replied, "No. That actually never crossed my mind, personally."
Lockyer also questioned whether Campbell was privy to the RCMP's strategy of avoiding giving Lisa Banfield, James Banfield and Brian Brewster their "10B rights" before they were questioned about the transfer of ammunition. 10B rights are the right to retain counsel and prevent self-incrimination.
Campbell said he did not know what cautions or rights were provided to them.
Banfield re-enacted what she saw and experienced the night of the mass casualties for police investigators in October 2020, just weeks before she was charged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhUo0fv4pgQ&t=8s
Nova Scotia R.C.M.P. News Conference of the Killings should be updated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3L7aPtIFm4
RCMP say at least 10 people dead after N.S. gunman rampage
382 Comments
Nova Scotia shooting: RCMP release detailed timeline of 13-hour shooting rampage
GO FIGURE
R.C.M.P. news conference of Proffesor John McKendy murder.
Darrell LaFosse, the RCMP's commander in New Brunswick!!
news conference by the New Brunswick R.C.M.P.!
RCMP's commander in New Brunswick Darrell LaFosse!!!
---------- Original message ----------
Subject: Fwd: You would after nearly six years somebody would ask me about what I did BEFORE the war in Iraq began
To: fencor@telusplanet.net, canesica@telus.net, cdlc@telusplanet.net, lisaandpaul@compusmart.ab.ca, LandAWiley@aol.com, alisaj@telus.net, brigidkemp@telus.net, margot@cow-net.com, marconf@nbnet.nb.ca, marcos@silk.net, "Harper.S@parl.gc.ca" Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, mackay.p@parl.gc.ca, leader@greenparty.ca
Cc: sberube@nb.aibn.com, jcbasque@clc-ctc.ca, contact@cindyforcongress.org, hannahhadikein@hotmail.com, surfacing1313@hotmail.com, gookmirth60@hotmail.com, gfritzel@jetstream.net, jim.senka@gems7.gov.bc.ca, ear@peacewire.org, iremac@shaw.ca, stewartm@island.net, wuc@okanagan.net, dddaigle@clc-ctc.ca, persan@auracom.com, hfxpeace@chebucto.ca, margaret.sagar@ns.sympatico.ca, jdmangle@ns.sympatico.ca, hjwiersma@sympatico.ca, cornwallantiwar@yahoo.com, november16coalition@hotmail.com, katacolor@hotmail.com, butterflybluelu@rogers.com, coulter@uwo.ca, ottawairaqaction@hotmail.com, morrieli@vianet.ca, kovacsl@vianet.ca, trkspk@sympatico.ca, jessdavi@georgian.net, anti_wartoronto@yahoo.com, windsorpeace@hotmail.com, aaronk@isn.net, juntaarbor@hotmail.com, sbouchard@alternatives.ca, peacecoalition_1@web.ca, reginapeace20032@yahoo.ca, sarahmc@altern.org, yukoner@yt.sympatico.ca
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008, 1:31 PM
FYI I know that a lot of these emails are no longer valid and I have sent a lot of you people several if not many emails before and was ignored. However I am up to something different and for the record just in case we meet in court I got these email addresses from this old web page that you folks published on the Internet when you cared about the oncoming war six years ago. I know that most of you will dismiss me as just another nut sending senseless spam. However perhaps you should Google your email address someday because I am posting this email on the web too amongst soem fairly interesting stuff. If ya don't like it sue me. Trust that I and a lot of ghosts will welcome the argument.
After all the local (like the preacher Berube did just now) and many a far flung anti war activists (such as Cindy Sheehan) have pissed me off over the past six years I am just checking to see if any of you give a good god damn about anything anymore. Who knows maybe I can pick a fight with whimpy anti war bullshitters and their hero Dizzy Lizzy May. Won't that be a hoot EH Stevey Boy Harper and Petey Baby MacKay?
http://www.acp-cpa.ca/february15thevents.htm
Veritas Vincit
David Raymond Amos
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Amos david.raymond.amos@gmail.com
Date: Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Subject: You would after nearly six years somebody would ask me about what I did BEFORE the war in Iraq began
To: sberube@nb.aibn.com, "forest@conservationcouncil.ca"
forest@conservationcouncil.ca
Cc: "oldmaison@yahoo.com" oldmaison@yahoo.co, Dan Fitzgerald
danf@danf.net, Richard Harris injusticecoalition@hotmail.com,
gypsy-blog gypsy-blog@hotmail.com, Byron Prior
alltrue@nl.rogers.com, "spinks08@hotmail.com"
spinks08@hotmail.com, "nb. premier"
nb.premier@gmail.com
http://www.acp-cpa.ca/february15thevents.htm
I doubt that you or many of your friends voted for me in 2004 just enough folks in Canada support the lawyer Rob Moore and his Neo Con party's lust for war. However I did contact a lot of your anti war
friends in "the Place to BE" over the years since then and all they have done is laugh at me or make false allegations against me. Do you know why Mr. Berube? I have called you before and like you friend Prof. McKendy and many others you have yet to return my calls. How come? Do you really believe what Chucky Leblanc says about me with attempting to judge me for yourself?
Maybe someday somebody with a little sand and a little integrity will quit making fun of me or ignoring melong enough check to see if I am liar or not. Everyone can't believe everything Chucky Leblanc says just because certain priests and questionable the lawyers such as Greggy Byrne, Kelly Lamrock, T.J. Burke or bloggers like Jody Coughlin, Anthony Baby Cooper and Danny Boy Fitzgerald and the CBC are fans of his. Or can they???
I am ok with my attempt to enlighten Jody after she asked me to expalin my concerns. However I was not surprised that she was merely baiting me so that her friends could slander me some more.
That said I truly hope somebody someday at least checks out the first few paragraphs of this comment in Jody's blog from me. Although I am nearly done with it my work can stand on its own now if anyone cares enough to use it in the future I will leave Hard Copy with Werner Bock 506 756 8687 if he is willing he may provide you with a copy.
http://jodycoughlin.blogspot.com/2008/11/just-dave.html
Whether anyone believes me or not I am a whistleblower about many
things including the wrongs of the US Treasury Dept and the RCMP.
First things first Jody. If you or any one else hates war and before
anyone gets bored with me please check these documents out.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3024745/Judgments
Obviously nearly six years ago I won some judgements in Yankee
lawsuits just before the War in Iraq began. In return and in an effort to cover up their many wrongs one of the Yankee judges made false allegations of a presidential threat against me and then Yankee Secret Service tried to use the Patriot Act against me and falsely imprison me in Cuba because I am a Canadian NOT a Yankee. Clearly that didn't
work out to well for the Yankees and not only did they fail to shut me up I attacked them back and actually got lucky enough to become
involved in an important hearing in the US Senate Committee on Banking in which the public record has since evsporated but I still have my copies of the transcripts.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3024834/FBI
RCMP admits error, orders probe into slaying of Fredericton professor
The New Brunswick RCMP have ordered an independent review into the slaying of university professor John McKendy, after the province's top Mountie admitted the force erred in discussions of e-mail threats made by the accused killer.
The body of McKendy, a sociology professor at St. Thomas University, was found in his home just outside Fredericton on Oct. 31. His son-in-law, Nicholas Wade Baker, 27, was charged with first-degree murder, but was found dead on Saturday in the parking lot of a Moncton hotel. Police ruled out foul play in Baker's death.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Darrell LaFosse told reporters on Thursday that a statement by the police earlier in the week saying they did not know about threatening e-mails from Baker was not true.
LaFosse said the RCMP investigation on Baker only dealt with credit-card theft, a stolen vehicle and fraud. However, a family member had in fact spoken with a Mountie on Oct. 27 about the e-mails.
The RCMP confirmed on Thursday that the family did raise concerns to the police for the possible safety of one family member. That statement, LaFosse said, was not immediately put into the RCMP file.
And when asked by the CBC earlier this week, a RCMP spokesperson said the police were aware of e-mails but nothing that insinuated physical threats.
"For this, the RCMP apologizes to the McKendy family for any perception the family did not bring forward concerns to the police," Lafosse told reporters.
"Although no specific threats were made, and all involved believed Mr. Baker was in the United States, a member of the McKendy family did make the RCMP aware that there were concerns about one family member's safety."
Sylvia Hale, a sociology professor at St. Thomas University, was a colleague of McKendy's and she was the first person to publicly discuss how the family passed along the e-mails to the Mounties.
Hale said the family was told by the RCMP that the wording in the e-mails didn't constitute a death threat.
"Yes they owe a big apology and it's more than, 'Gee, we had gap between our communication,' Hale said. "They were not handling this case appropriately."
LaFosse is ordering an independent review into the files surrounding Baker and the McKendy family. The investigation is aimed at finding out whether the police took appropriate action and the RCMP have indicated it will be made public.
The P.E.I. RCMP will oversee the investigation.
Outsourcing the investigation to another police agency is not sitting well with Michael Boudreau, an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at St. Thomas University.
"For me, the police investigating the police is highly problematic and in my mind that is not independent. This needs to be passed on to the minister of public safety or independent legal counsel," Boudreau said.
Boudreau said he isn't calling into question the credibility of any officer hired to do this study but he believes it would offer the family closure to this tragedy if the investigation would be handled by an outside party.
Boudreau said the RCMP apology should have come sooner and he is also questioning whether this mea culpa would have been made in the absence of public pressure.
This latest embarrassment for the national police force could further harm their reputation with the public, Boudreau said.
"I think it should give people pause and to ask, 'Are they doing everything in their powers, especially around issues of domestic violence," Boudreau said. "It may not tarnish their image, but it may undermine public confidence."
Wait continues for RCMP report into Fredericton professor's murder
Four months after St. Thomas University professor John McKendy was killed in his home outside of Fredericton, his friends and family continue to wait for a report on the RCMP's handling of the case.
The popular university sociology professor was killed in October 2008, and the only suspect in the case was Nicholas Wade Baker, his son-in-law, who was found dead in a car two days after McKendy's death.
The RCMP called for the review after questions were raised about how the force handled events leading up to the deaths.
As the wait for the police report continues, friends and family continue to tell stories and remember McKendy.
Charlie McKendy said he prepares himself for Quaker services, to hear the many stories about his younger brother John.
He knows there is public interest in his brother's case because it's an unusual one of domestic violence. He said family members are still dealing with a very personal loss.
"We're still coming to terms with the loss of a loved one," McKendy said.
"And we don't have an axe to grind, with the system or with the authorities. That's not to say we endorse everything that took place but we don't have an axe to grind."
Colleagues hope for RCMP changes
Michael Clow, a sociology professor at St. Thomas University and a colleague of McKendy, said he remembers the good times too but hopes lessons will be learned from the police review.
"It has to make a difference in policy," Clow said.
"We can't just leave people who have a good likelihood of being hurt or killed by others to take their fate and then be satisfied with picking up the pieces with the [RCMP] and the bloody criminal law. That isn't sufficient."
Clow said there has to be lessons in the violent death of man who dedicated his life to peace.
Malcolm Miller, another sociology professor, said he hopes the review makes some fundamental changes in the policing system.
"I hope it has some light in this sense, that I think that the function of a police force is to protect us — you, me, John, everyone else," Miller said.
"John was not protected, neither was the man who killed him. He also needed to be protected. We lost two lives in that thing."
RCMP refuse to say when review will be public
The New Brunswick RCMP ordered an independent review after admitting they erred in discussions of email threats made by Baker.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Darrell LaFosse told reporters in November that a statement by the police after the killing saying they did not know about threatening emails from Baker was not true.
LaFosse said the RCMP investigation on Baker only dealt with credit-card theft, a stolen vehicle and fraud.
However, a family member had in fact spoken with a Mountie on Oct. 27 about the emails.
The RCMP confirmed that the family did raise concerns to the police for the possible safety of one family member. That statement, LaFosse said, was not immediately put into the RCMP file.
The P.E.I. RCMP were asked to handle the investigation. They are not saying when the report will be released.
Conflict of interest concerns force RCMP to replace N.S. mass shooting inquiry liaison officers
An e-mailed statement from the force says Chief Superintendent John Robin is departing as leader of the team, as he is married to Halifax RCMP Chief Supt. Janis Gray.
Retired RCMP Staff Sergeant Mike Butcher, husband of Nova Scotia Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman, is also now off the team.
The force says Chief Supt. Michael O’Malley will assume leadership of the project team in August, adding that Chief Supt. Robin and Staff Sgt. Butcher have “asked to step away.”
The inquiry into the rampage of April 18-19, 2020, includes a mandate to probe in detail what happened during the 13-hour killing spree, including the police response and communication with the public and the families of the 22 people killed by the gunman.
The RCMP say they had assigned Chief Supt. Robin and Staff Sgt. Butcher to the team because of their qualifications and experience, but they say concerns were later raised about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
After an internal review, the force says the two officers stepped away to ensure the Mass Casualty Commission “remains a defendable, credible and transparent process.”
Staff Sgt. Butcher’s wife, Assistant Commissioner Bergerman, recently announced she will retire in early October, days before the Mass Casualty Commission begins public hearings.
The hearings are scheduled from Oct. 26 until Dec. 10, with an interim report due in May, 2022, and a final report six months later.
Murder convictions overturned for alleged Hells Angels hit man
Leslie Douglas Greenwood has been tried twice over the deaths of Kirk Mersereau and Nancy Christensen
Nearly 22 years after Kirk Mersereau and Nancy Christensen were murdered in their Nova Scotia home, the man accused of killing them is facing the prospect of a third trial on two charges of first-degree murder.
In a decision released Tuesday, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned the latest conviction of Leslie Douglas Greenwood, a reputed Hells Angels hit man.
Mersereau and Christensen were found dead in their home in Centre Burlington, N.S., on Sept. 9, 2000. They had been shot. Their infant son was lying unscathed in another room.
Initial conviction overturned
Greenwood was initially tried and convicted in a jury trial in 2012. But that conviction was overturned on appeal.
Greenwood was retried in January 2019. Jurors in that second trial were told about the first trial, but not the guilty verdict. So much time had passed, that some of the witnesses from that first trial had died and recordings of their testimony were played in court. That included Ruby McKenzie, the neighbour who discovered the bodies.
According to evidence in the various trials, all four murders were ordered by a Nova Scotia man, Jeffrey Albert Lynds, who has since died in prison.
The Crown's key witness against Greenwood in the Nova Scotia murders was Michael Lawrence, who had already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in their deaths.
In statements he made to police, Greenwood admitted to driving Lawrence to the scene of the murders but he said he did not go inside.
Fatal errors
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal said there were fatal errors in the trial judge's instructions to the jury, including on the question of whether Greenwood knew ahead of time that the plan was to murder Mersereau and Christensen.
"Based on the charge to the jury, they may have been left with the impression they could convict Greenwood of first degree murder because he drove Lawrence to the Mersereau home and assisted him in getting access to the house where Lawrence committed the murders without it being proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Greenwood knew that Lawrence had planned and deliberated on the murders," Justice David Farrar wrote for the three-member appeal panel.
A decision on whether to proceed with a third trial is up to the Crown, which is still studying the Court of Appeal decision.
Greenwood remains in a federal prison serving a sentence for two murders in Quebec. Kirk Murray and Antonio Anesi were killed in 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kabjXiUBdCU
RCMP Sergeant Bridgit Leger Discusses Homicide Investigation
http://www.cacole.ca/confere-reunion/2021/MichaelOMalley.shtml
Superintendent Michael O’Malley
Michael O’Malley has been the Director of the RCMP National Public Complaints Directorate since November 2018. His postings include locations in the Maritimes, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, back to the Maritimes and now in the National Capital Region. He was appointed to Commissioned Officer in 2005. Michael has been a detachment and district commander. He was responsible for provincial, regional and national programs. The majority of his RCMP service has been in operational Divisions. He has significant experience in Aboriginal Policing, Restorative Justice, working with Elders and local Justices of the Peace to address social problems from my eleven years living in indigenous communities. Michael served multiple terms on the Board of Directors for the New Brunswick Canadian Mental Health Association.
cacole.executivedirector@gmail.com
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/n-b-rcmp-will-be-reminded-of-parking-rules-1.875156
N.B. RCMP will be reminded of parking rules
Photos show cruisers in handicap spots
Ashley MacNeil said she took a photograph of an RCMP cruiser parked in a handicap parking spot at a gas bar and agency liquor store in Barnesville, N.B., in June 2009.
"Just as we were pulling away from the pumps, I said, 'you know what, I'm just going to take a picture of this.'"
MacNeil said she had forgotten about the photo until today, when she saw a similar one on CBC.ca.
That photo showed an Oromocto RCMP squad car in a handicap parking spot in Fredericton Junction last weekend.
Behind the car is a small sign with the blue and white handicap parking logo.
The resident who took the photo told CBC News that the officer backed into the spot, in no apparent rush.
Christyne Allain, the executive director of the Premier's Council for the Status of Persons with Disabilities, said the police should be setting a better example for the public.
"Law officers should be the ones showing a good example to other citizens of New Brunswick, so I was really shocked to see that there was an RCMP [car] parked in that disabled spot," Allain said.
An Oromocto RCMP cruiser is parked in a handicap spot reserved for people with disabilities in Fredericton Junction. The sign is smaller than the recommended Canadian standard. ((Photo submitted))
"The member was very embarrassed," O'Malley said.
"It was not done out of lack of respect or lack of courtesy, it's just [that] the member did not see the sign."
Undersized sign
The sign marking the parking spot for disabled persons in Fredericton Junction is no bigger than 10 centimetres square, which is smaller than a CD case.
The sign is much smaller than the recommended Canadian standard for marking parking spots.
The recommended standard also includes a one-metre logo on the ground, which is missing from the parking spot in Fredericton Junction.
Ashley MacNeil says that's not the case in Barnesville.
"Well this one, he would have had to have literally get out of his car and put his foot down on the bright blue paint. I mean you couldn't miss it," she said.
MacNeil said the officer did not appear to be responding to an emergency.
"The officer backed in. He got out of his car. He had some paperwork in his hands. There was no rush or anything, so I don't believe there was any emergency."
Unacceptable behaviour
An RCMP spokesperson said this behaviour is not to be tolerated.
"The officer should not have been parked in that space. It's not acceptable for a person from the public to do so, and it certainly isn't acceptable for a police officer to do so," said Const. Chantal Farrah.
She said RCMP officers across the province will now be reminded to pay closer attention to parking signs.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/n-b-storm-creates-treacherous-conditions-1.1084967
N.B. storm creates treacherous conditions
A snowstorm is blasting southern New Brunswick and police are warning motorists to drive with caution on the bad roads, or stay home if they can.
It's the third storm to hit the province in the last two weeks, with roughly 20 centimetres of snow predicted to fall, causing problems throughout the area.
Saint John police have responded to a few accidents because of the poor driving conditions, Sgt. Stephen Wilson said Friday.
"The road conditions are absolutely horrendous. They are snow-packed, slippery and visibility is very poor," he said.
"For the response vehicles, we're going to be utilizing some four-wheel drive vehicles. Despite the winter tires on the emergency vehicles, we're still having an extremely difficult time getting around."
In Sussex, a pickup truck went off of Highway 1 eastbound, near mile marker 200, RCMP Const. Marie-Claude Cellard said.
"The roads are extremely slippery, so I would say to everybody to drive with caution and really to stay home if they don't have to go out," she said.
In the Oromocto area, RCMP Insp. Mike O'Malley said there were about eight accidents in the afternoon — mostly single vehicles that went off the road.
He said there weren't any injuries but he said drivers should slow down.
"People tend to want to drive at the speed limit even though the road conditions are poor, and there is an offence under the Motor Vehicle Act for driving in excess of what the road conditions allow," O'Malley said.
"If people are trying to go at the speed limit when visibility and road conditions are poor, and they're involved in a collision, or even if they're not involved in a collision, they can still be ticketed for driving in excess of the road conditions," he said.
Much of province hit
The Department of Transportation was reporting slippery and snow-covered highways across much of the province.
As well, the Transportation Department said visibility was poor on the Trans-Canada Highway near Fredericton and on Highway 7 from Fredericton to Finnegan Hill.
Motorists were warned to "proceed with caution" on Highway 1 outside of Saint John.
Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for the entire central and eastern parts of New Brunswick.
Weather forecasts had been predicting a winter storm since Wednesday and the storm is predicted to bring 20 cm of snow and northeastern New Brunswick is also preparing for 90 km/h winds.
Even before the snow started falling, schools in many parts of the province closed for the day or planned to shut down early.
Ann-Marie West, a Saint John mother, said she was shocked that schools were closed despite the fact the snow hadn't started to fall.
"I don't understand why schools have been closed — the public school — the primary level only goes until 1:30 p.m.," West said.
"At 12 p.m., if the snow starts, it's not going to dump 20 centimetres."
William Bourque, a meteorologist with Radio-Canada, said Charlotte County and Grand Manan will get the worst of the snowstorm.
"Saint John is likely to see 15 centimetres or so. I would look for probably 10 to 15 in southeastern New Brunswick and then maybe five [cm] once the [storm] is gone through," he said.
Bourque said after this storm passes, New Brunswick can expect its first spell of bitterly cold weather.
https://bccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2020-04-02-Canada-Affidavit.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POvbJq6WTPM&ab_channel=LittleGreyCells
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