Refusing to testify is either a law or a new fad in Canada.
Two local and important cases illustrate the point, and the frustration of those citizens watching from the sidelines.
The B.C. Supreme Court has upheld an arbitrator's decision allowing two BC Ferries employees to be suspended without pay for not testifying before an inquiry into the sinking of the Queen of the North ferry.
Their reasons for not answering questions are spurious and self-serving. People died because of someone's negligence, most likely their own. Let us find out, please.
In the shameful case of the taser death of Robert Dziekanski at YVR last year, the judge has now been forced to threaten the RCMP with subpoenas. How ironic and disgusting is that?
The second part of Thomas Braidwood's inquiry -- into the events surrounding the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport -- has twice been delayed because RCMP officers won't testify before they know whether they face any charges in the incident.
A Crown decision on charges has not been made because the RCMP has not provided information requested by prosecutors.
Since when do people get to bargain with the judge about the "pre-conditions" of testimony?
This reads like an old vaudeville routine with Runyanesque criminals refusin' "to testify on da grounds dat it maybe could implicate me, or sumptin' like dat."
And this comes from the RCMP. How happy would they be to see some scofflaw pulling the same nonsense?
The RCMP is quickly embarrassing itself out of a legitimate role in this country.
