'Wait-and-see' approach in N.S. as probe into RCMP actions in Assoun case is stalled

Glen Assoun stands outside the Supreme Court in Halifax on Friday, July 12, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX -

Nova Scotia's justice minister has adopted a "wait-and-see" approach on what to do about an investigation into potential RCMP wrongdoing that has been stalled for nine months.

Brad Johns was referring Thursday to the case of the late Glen Assoun, whose wrongful murder conviction prompted the province in 2021 to ask the police oversight body in British Columbia to determine whether the Mounties broke the law when they destroyed evidence in the case.

After two years of investigating, the Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia dropped the case last April because its workload had become unmanageable amid a sudden spike in police-involved shootings.

Johns said he was waiting to hear from the head of Nova Scotia's police oversight body, Erin Nauss, who confirmed Thursday she is still trying to persuade another agency to finish the job.

"It's really unfortunate that B.C. could not continue to do the work," Johns said after a cabinet meeting in Halifax.

Johns was asked if he had considered offering additional funding to another oversight body to ensure it had the resources to do the work.

"I'll wait and see whether or not (Nauss) comes forward with that as a request or not," he said, adding that it was important to have an agency from another province involved. "That presents the best transparency and accountability for it."

However, an expert on police oversight says that to prevent the investigation from dragging on, it would make more sense for Nova Scotia's police watchdog, the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), to take on the task, and then have an outside body review their work.

"I don't know why they just don't do it (because) they have the resources to do a good job," said Erick Laming, a criminology professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. "There's ways to investigate this and be transparent with the public."

Nauss, SIRT's interim director, issued a brief statement Thursday saying she is "considering all options."

Laming, who specializes in policing and criminal justice, said he was surprised Nova Scotia asked B.C.'s agency to conduct the investigation because its caseload is typically larger than any other province, except Ontario.

As well, he said his research has shown most of the oversight bodies in Canada are understaffed.

Part of the problem is that police watchdogs are relatively new in Canada, he said. Ontario was the first to establish an independent, civilian-led organization in 1990. Saskatchewan joined the club only last year.

"In terms of giving them the resources necessary to do the job, we aren't there yet," Laming said in an interview.

Meanwhile, Johns said he has sympathy for the frustration felt by Assoun's relatives, but he said it's important for the investigation to be completed by an outside organization to ensure transparency and accountability.

Claudia Chender, leader of Nova Scotia's opposition New Democrats, said that before Assoun died last June, he called for a public inquiry to investigate how the Mounties handled evidence.

"If SIRT can't handle this, an (inquiry) might be something we need to look at," Chender said. "The fact remains it does need to be addressed and in a very timely manner, which is ironic to say after the passage of so much time."

Last month, Assoun's youngest daughter said the Nova Scotia government should make the investigation a priority. "I feel that Dad has once again been railroaded, like he has every step of the way," Amanda Huckle said at the time.

Huckle said a public inquiry could make recommendations to prevent similar miscarriages of justice. But unlike police watchdog agencies, public inquiries are prohibited from alleging criminal wrongdoing.

In September 1999, a jury found Assoun guilty of second-degree murder in the 1995 death of his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Anne Way. He was sentenced to life in prison and his bid to appeal the conviction was rejected in 2006.

In 2014, Assoun was released from prison after the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted persuaded the federal Justice Department to conduct an assessment of his case. The assessment found the RCMP had chosen not to disclose an investigator's theories about other suspects in the murder case, and that the Mounties had destroyed most of this potential evidence.

In March 2019, a Nova Scotia court acquitted Assoun of the murder charge.

After spending almost 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Assoun received a compensation settlement from the federal and provincial governments.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2024.

-- With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax.

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