Canadian Mindscape Monitor

The inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver Airport after being Tasered 5 times by RCMP officers has exploded across the national and international media again following the testimony of Richmond Fire Capt. Kirby Graeme. Graeme called the RCMP officers “unprofessional” and said the RCMP officers even “obstructed” paramedics who wanted to [...]

Les Leyne has written a good column for the Victoria Times-Colonist about the decision not to press charges against the RCMP officers who infamously on video killed Robert Dziekanski while he was pleading for help in Polish in a Vancouver airport: “It’s easier to blame Robert Dziekanski”. Yes, that about sums it up, right down [...]

British Columbia police are pulling their X26 Tasers out of field use after BC’s Solicitor General also found, like many others before have found, that Taser shock levels can vary a lot and dangerously in actual field use. It’s little more than a show for the public, though — police will simply use other models [...]

CMM nearly died of a zap attack waking up this morning to an editorial in the Province, one of Vancouver’s two major daily newspapers.  Time to Zap the Taser flatly attacks police for committing “executions” on innocent people with the infamous pain-compliance mechanisms. Congratulations to the Province for its honesty and forthrightness, but they won’t [...]

Using an access to information request, the Toronto Star reports it has obtained a copy of a recent independent internal review of the RCMP’s use of tasers. According to the Star (and much to their credit, the Star has so far done much of Canada’s most incisive and critical writing on Tasers and manufacturer Taser [...]