Zofia Cisowski, the mother of Robert Dziekanski, reads a statement in Richmond, BC on Thursday. Mr. Dziekanski died after being tasered at Vancouver airport in 2007.Brett Beadle/The Globe and Mail
The mother of Robert Dziekanski admitted she was exhausted after trying for 2 ½ years to hold the RCMP accountable for their role in the taser-related death of her son at the Vancouver airport.
"My health is getting worse and I cannot sleep at night. I am very tired," Mr. Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, told reporters after announcing that she had accepted an apology from the Mounties and an out-of-court settlement with the RCMP, the Canadian Border Services Agency and the Vancouver Airport Authority.
"I have to close this chapter," she said. "I think I will sleep better, from today."
Ms. Cisowski said she was not upset with authorities for prolonging the process and not apologizing earlier. "I am not angry, but now it is over and I feel much better, from today," Ms. Cisowski said.
In a horrifying incident caught on video by another traveler, Mr. Dziekanski died on Oct. 14, 2007, after police tasered him five times. The Mounties were responding to a 911 call. Mr. Dziekanski was agitated after being in the airport for 11 hours after spending 20 hours in transit from Poland. He did not know his mother was waiting for him outside the airport arrivals area and did not figure out how to leave the area he was in. He was 40 years old. Ms. Cisowski filed a lawsuit last fall against the RCMP, the border services and airport authority.
Sitting next to Ms. Cisowski at a news conference yesterday, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass personally apologized to her. "On behalf of the RCMP, I want to apologize for our role in the tragic death of your son," he said. "Your son arrived from Poland eager to begin a new life here in Canada. We are deeply sorry he did not have that opportunity."
Deputy Commissioner Bass said he hoped that public confidence in the RCMP would be restored following the settlement of Ms. Cisowski's civil lawsuit and changes in RCMP policies, practices, training and reporting requirements related to the use of tasers.
"While none of our organization's changes, apologies and civil settlement can bring Robert back, it is our sincere hope that what we've learned from his death will help prevent future tragedies from occurring," he said.
He also said the apology was an acknowledgement that "the RCMP, along with many other people, had a part to play in the sequence of events that went on for many hours on that night."
The RCMP could have done things better, he said, but he refused to acknowledge mistakes were made. He declined to comment on the actions of police officers involved in the incident before the release of the report of retired B.C. judge Thomas Braidwood, who held a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the tasering of Mr. Dziekanski. The report is expected to be completed in June.
Ms. Cisowski said she accepted the apology, which she felt was more personal than the first one issued by the RCMP in May, 2009, in Ottawa. She was not looking for an apology from the officers who used the taser on her son, although she would like them to face consequences at their workplace. "That's all. I do not want them charged criminally. That's no help to me at all," she said in Polish-accented English.
Earlier, she had to stop speaking to the media as her eyes welled up with tears. "It has been 2 1/2 years since my son died at Vancouver airport. There was not a single day that I did not try and analyze what could be done to avoid this tragedy," she said. The settlement and apology "clears the path to my future," she said.
Ms. Cisowski also said she was pleased with changes in police use of tasers, but hoped there would be further independent research on the effect of the devices on the human body. "We will have to make sure what happened to my son Robert cannot be repeated," she said.
The terms of the settlement were to remain confidential to protect her privacy, Ms. Cisowski's lawyer Walter Kosteckyj told reporters. Only one aspect of the settlement was released: The RCMP agreed to contribute $20,000 to a scholarship that will be offered at the Thompson Rivers University based in Kamloops.
Paul Kennedy, former chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, said the Mounties were doing the right thing by making the apology and changing how tasers were used. "I'm glad it was done," he said. Mr. Kennedy had issued a scathing report on the RCMP's handling of the Dziekanski death, pressing for changes in the use of tasers and in the procedures for investigating actions of the police.
The RCMP resisted his proposals. "It was hard slogging," he recalled. "I don't think there was any doubt that police officers thought the taser was a very effective tool and they wanted to expand its use." However, some policies related to tasers and police investigations have been changed and compensation has now been paid to Ms. Cisowski. "Those are all things cumulatively that had to be done and were done," Mr. Kennedy said.