The RCMP and the Killing of Robert Dziekanski

I don't know what exactly happened in that Vancouver airport lounge, but from what I've read, and from what I saw .... and heard.....on that ghastly video, it looked to me like legalized murder.

The dying screams of Robert Dziekanski will be heard around the world. Many people will be shocked to see such well known symbols of Canada acting like brutal thugs.

But we should know better. We should know that the reputation of the once revered force has been going south for a long long time..

From the days when they hunted homosexuals with their so-called fruit machine.

Or looked for communists at the CBC.

To more modern times and other scandals.

And let's not forget how they completely bungled the Air India investigation. The biggest mass murder in Canadian history.

Or their disgraceful role in the deportation and torture of Maher Arar.

Or the sleazy way the high command handled the pension fund.

Or the way they all but elected Stephen Harper and his Conservatives by publicizing a dubious complaint against the Liberals in the middle of an election campaign.

The cold hard facts are that the RCMP is a ridiculously old fashioned force with anachronistic military style training, a corrupt and cliqueish command structure, and an antiquated mentality that needs to be completely overhauled and brought into the modern age.

It's not a question of rotten apples....the whole tree is twisted and sagging of old age. The problem is systemic. And many ordinary officers are also victimized by it.

And I'm not saying that there aren't many good and dedicated ones trying to do their best. Because I know there are.

But as for the RCMP as a whole...surely what happened in that airport lounge to a poor, hungry, tired and confused man like Robert Dziekanski ...whose only crime it appears was that he couldn't speak English and was feeling lost and desperate....has to be the last straw.

Because if the Mounties are going to be a national symbol, not just here but all over the world, we better make damn sure that the force can live up to our Canadian standards and values.

If we want to be proud of them.

Instead of ashamed of them as I am now..

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P.S. Dr Dawg and Chet Scoville, Unrepentant Old Hippie and Bruce at Canuck Attitude have more on the story.

So does the Western Standard. And so does Aaron Unruh.

Isn't it nice to see people put aside their differences ....if only for a day.... in these hyperpartisan times?

And faced with a shocking act of violence.

Just act like....um....Canadians...