SASKATOON -- Sask. RCMP say they are committing to implementing recommendations of a watchdog report examining the RCMP's investigation of the death of Colten Boushie.
In a Saturday news release Sask. RCMP says it has implemented 16 of the 17 recommendations.
"We are on track to complete the remaining recommendation by April 1, 2021 which is when all Saskatchewan RCMP employees will have successfully completed the Cultural Awareness and Humility course," said Sask. RCMP Acting Commanding Officer, Chief Superintendent, Alfredo Bangloy.
Some of the recommendations in the report include giving some officers more guidance to interviewing witnesses and cultural awareness training be provided to all RCMP employees.
Boushie, 22 at the time of his death, was a Cree Indigenous man of the Red Pheasant First Nation. He was killed August 2016, while sitting in an SUV which had been driven onto the farm of Gerald Stanley near Biggar, Sask.
Gerald Stanely was acquitted in Feb. 2018 for the death of Boushie.
The report was completed by The Civilian Review Complaints Commission (CRCC), an independent agency that examines the conduct of the RCMP.
In response to the CRCC's report, the National Police Federation (NPF) said the report dismisses or "outright ignores central facts and evidence."
NPF also questions the CRCC's expertise and methodology used to develop "such a definitive finding on the subject of discrimination."
"This is typically reserved for a Human Rights Tribunal which falls outside of the CRCC's scope," NFP said in a Saturday news release.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says in Feb. 2018 it asked CRCC to conduct an independent review of its employee's actions as they executed their duties during the investigation of Boushie's death.
"We believe thorough, independent review of our actions plays a valuable role in ensuring our accountability and transparency," Lucki said in the release.
Sask. RCMP also acknowledges in the release that systemic racism exists in the RCMP.
