The RCMP Failed Canadians at Kamloops

Retired Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht, a Senior Fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, is the author of the opinion piece on the other side of the paywall. Giesbrecht carefully describes what he argues was the RCMP’s failure to fully investigate alleged crimes resulting in the burial of 215 children next to their Kamloops Indian Residential School.

In particular, Giesbrecht asks:

Why did the RCMP stop their investigation, and then allow the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc, formerly the Kamloops Indian Band, to conduct its own do-it-yourself murder investigation?

His answer is possible political interference at the highest levels of Canadian society.

But there is another more likely answer Griesbrecht doesn’t consider, namely that the RCMP conducted its typically quiet investigation into these allegations, perhaps beginning decades ago when they were first made, and once more concluded they were groundless.

If my guess is correct, why didn’t the force release their findings to the public?

My even more grounded answer is Canadian police departments, including the RCMP, rarely release the results of investigations of the countless silly or mischievous accusations of criminal conduct brought to their attention on a daily basis.

Whether I am correct or not, Giesbrecht’s opinion piece is nonetheless worth careful reading and reflection. Please do so.