In early July, NBASGA, along with member groups, Kent County Council of Canadians and Notre Environnement, Notre Choix, and our friends and allies from Kobit Lodge (representing Elsipogtog First Nation), sent letters to federal Minister of Justice Lametti concerning the final report of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC), which was investigating RCMP actions during a 2013 raid in Rexton, NB.
The report, released in 2020–seven years after the raid–was very disheartening to those in Kent County and Elsipogtog who experienced the violence of the raid. They felt it did not accurately reflect what they had lived, experienced and observed. At the same time, NBASGA was stunned to see that, although the Commission found that a number of RCMP actions violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, this finding was essentially brushed aside and ignored by the RCMP itself
At the time, NBASGA documented our concerns in a commentary on the NBMediaCoop website, but there seemed to be no further official process to appeal the results. With no other recourse, Kent County groups and Kobit Lodge felt that they must do something to document their disillusionment and continuing questions. Thus, it was decided to send letters to the Minister of Justice to register their viewpoints officially, even if there was no official process to follow.
What follows is a cover email to the Minister explaining the submission, a letter from Kent County groups and Kobit Lodge laying out their case that the investigation was mishandled and inaccurate, and a letter from NBASGA addressing our concerns about the constitutional precedents set when the RCMP was permitted to decide whether its actions were constitutional or not.
The email was sent on July 9, 2021. To date, we have not even received a perfunctory reply that the Minister’s Office received our email.