A provincial court judge wants all police forces in Alberta to consider recommendations from reports into the conduct of police in two major cities following the shooting death of a 30-year-old man in Edmonton.
Judge Jody J. Moher wrote the recommendations after a public inquest into a death held in May and June in Edmonton. The report was made public on Wednesday.
Sterling Ross Cardinal was shot multiple times by the Edmonton Police Department officer. Christopher Clark on the night of August 18, 2018, after Cardinal was ordered to surrender.
Earlier in the night, Cardinal was driving a stolen vehicle involved in a hit-and-run with another vehicle in the area of 66th Street and 123rd Avenue.
Cardinal, who was in possession of a rifle, did not surrender and exchanged shots with the Constable. He died on the spot after being shot several times.
Toronto, Calgary recommendations
In April this year, CBC News gathered statistics to show that more people had been shot by police in Edmonton than in any other city in Canada.
In his report, Moher makes two recommendations for all police forces in Alberta, including EPS.
Moher’s first recommendation calls for a review of past reports of police conduct by former Deputy Attorney General of Canada Frank Iacobucci in Toronto and retired Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Neil Wittmann in Calgary.
Iacobucci’s 413-page report, released in 2014, included 84 recommendations for the Toronto Police Service following the murder of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim.
The report details changes to police training and equipment to better deal with people in crisis.
He stressed the need to achieve zero fatalities in interactions between the public and the police.
Wittmann’s 389-page report was released in 2018 after Calgary police shot civilians in 10 separate incidents two years earlier.
Five of these incidents were fatal. That year, Calgary police recorded the highest number of shootings of any major city.
Wittmann’s report detailed 65 recommendations, which Calgary police accepted for implementation.
The recommendations focused on provincial oversight, officer recruitment, officer education and training, use of force and incident management, mental health issues, police culture and strategic management.
Moher’s second recommendation calls for more resources to develop evidence-based policies and procedures to deal with “criminal robbery occurrences,” whereby an officer perceives a driver as evading police.
Family impact
Cardinal was an Aboriginal man and father of three from Calling Lake, Alberta, more than 200 kilometers north of Edmonton.
Members of Cardinal’s family attended the inquest virtually or in person. Towards its conclusion, they talked about the impact of Cardinal’s death.
His sister, Julianna Laroche, described him as “one of the broken people” and a “good boy”, according to the report.
She also spoke about Cardinal’s struggle with addiction and how she feels her brother didn’t receive any meaningful support or treatment during his time in the correctional system.
The survey also notes that “the intergenerational effects of residential schools showed up in his upbringing.”
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