Results of an investigation by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP into the shooting death of Canadian military veteran Greg Matters should be ready by late summer, a spokesman said Friday.
In May 2013, the CPC's interim chair, Ian MacPhail, launched a "chair-initiated complaint" into the September 2012 incident in which a member of an RCMP emergency response team shot Matters on his Pineview property.
The CPC looks at public complaints lodged against the RCMP with the aim of correcting and improving police procedure when a concern is found to be legitimate.
However, Matters' sister, Tracey, has since said MacPhail is in a conflict of interest. In November 2010, Matters, who had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, had sent a threatening e-mail to McPhail for apparent inaction over a complaint he made about the RCMP in New Brunswick. The incident was one of a handful that led Matters being flagged on RCMP databases as a threat to police, a move the Matters' family has said was an overreaction.
CPC spokesman Tim Cogan said the commission is aware of Tracey Matters' concern and, in answer, said the report will be issued by an alternate to the chair, "because we certainly recognize that there is a perception of bias given the history between Mr. McPhail and Greg Matters."
Cogan also said that while McPhail launched the investigation, the actual work was carried out by commission staff. "He's not directly involved in the investigation in this particular file," Cogan said.
The report should be ready by late August or early September, Cogan said.
Tracey Matters could not be reached for comment Friday. She has called for a federal commission of inquiry into her brother's death "so that all relevant government agencies are held to account for the way this tragedy has been handled."
The provincial government's civilian-led Independent Investigations Office found no criminal wrongdoing following an investigation into the RCMP's actions leading up to Matters' death.
And after reviewing evidence presented at a coroner's inquiry, the IIO said earlier this month it once again found no criminal wrongdoing. The next day, the IIO said a Vancouver lawyer has been appointed to oversee an "administrative review" of how the IIO investigated the incident but not to re-open the investigation itself.
During the inquest, a discrepancy emerged over whether Matters was shot in the chest, as the IIO had concluded, or in the back, as a pathologist testified. The contradiction came down to unclear language, the IIO said, in deciding for a second time that no criminal charges can be pursued against the RCMP.
The coroner's jury made nine recommendations targeting police procedure and improved support for military veterans with mental health issues.
