MacKay says no to family access to interim report on suicide

OTTAWA — Defence Minister Peter MacKay says he will not clear the way for the parents of Afghanistan war veteran Stuart Langridge to be involved in the final phase of the inquiry into their son’s suicide.

MacKay’s refusal brought an angry response Sunday from Langridge family lawyer Michel Drapeau, who accused the minister of ignoring the military family’s right to justice.

The public segment of the Military Police Complaints Commission inquiry into Langridge’s 2008 suicide at CFB Edmonton ended last week after sitting for 62 days and hearing from 92 witnesses.

The next step is the production of an interim report, followed by a final report that is unlikely to be published before the spring of 2014.

Crucially, under the National Defence Act only various arms of the military are allowed to see, or comment privately, on the interim report — essentially locking Langridge’s parents, Sheila and Shaun Fynes, out of that final phase. Nor does the law put any time limit on the military during this period.

Only MacKay could have allowed the Fynes and their lawyer access to the interim report and given them a role in secret discussions it will provoke between the MPCC and military.

His refusal to intervene means the Fynes will only get to see the final report and its recommendations the day it’s publicly released.

Drapeau told the Citizen that he intends to formally ask the minister to lift the restriction and allow the Fynes into the process as MPCC works towards its final report.

But a spokesman for MacKay told the Citizen at the weekend that the minister would not intervene.

“The Government has been committed to co-operating with the MPCC to the fullest extent possible including funding provided to the Fynes family for legal representation,” said the spokesman, “and the Minister won’t interfere with an ongoing process”.

The complaints commission public hearings were launched last March to examine the Fynes’ allegations that the military’s National Investigation Service (NIS) investigations into their son’s death was biased and flawed and intended to protect the military.

Drapeau says he fears the military brass will use its “unique and substantial advantage” of sole access to and use the interim findings to influence the final report and implement cosmetic measures in advance of recommendations that they will know are coming.

Retired army colonel Drapeau said Sunday that MacKay was rejecting a “simple plea for fairness and equity.

“I would have expected better, much better, from the Honorable Peter MacKay, a Minister of the Crown who, after all, is, first and foremost, an elected official accountable to the public — which includes the mothers and fathers of our brave soldiers — not the military brass,” he said.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: CHRIS COBB