Wibbly-Wobbly Ramblings

RCMP officer gets 4 months in jail for assaulting homeless man | CBC News

A Campbellton RCMP officer who assaulted a homeless man during an arrest has been sentenced to four months in jail, a tougher sentence than

CBC

A Campbellton RCMP officer who assaulted a homeless man during an arrest has been sentenced to four months in jail, a tougher penalty than the Crown and defence recommended. Video of the incident in 2021, taken by a passerby, showed Const. Pierrick Caron pinning André Mercier to the ground and punching him 19 times. Caron was found guilty in February after a trial on an assault charge. On Thursday, Caron, who was put on administrative duties after the incident, sat in court next to his partner, who held her head in her hands and cried out when the jail term was announced. 

Some Quebecers reluctant spectators to human drama playing out after crackdown at Roxham Road | CBC News

Hours after border crackdown at Roxham Road, Quebecer witnesses RCMP detaining migrants just steps from her home.

CBC

Evelyne Bouchard was playing board games with her family on Saturday afternoon when she saw RCMP vehicles pull into her driveway.

Bouchard is used to the police presence. She owns a farm in Hemmingford, Que., along the U.S. border and just two kilometres away from Roxham Road.

But she says Saturday was out of the ordinary.

As of 12 a.m., police presence increased in the town after access to the illegal crossing was closed — this due to changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which now prevent migrants from claiming asylum after crossing at Roxham Road.

Later that same day, the RCMP came to inform Bouchard that agents were in the woods looking for migrants who crossed into Canada illegally and were on her property.

"A little while later we saw them escorting a family, two adults and two children, to their vehicle … We just saw them walking down the driveway with the agents," said Bouchard, adding that one of the children was so small, they had to be carried. [...]

Dani Cooper advocated to remove police from wellness checks. They were shot by police during their own crisis | CBC News

Dani Cooper died after police were called to perform a wellness check. Their family says they've been given few details about their final mo

CBC

Dani Cooper, 27, believed the world could be better. They spent much of their time jotting down poetry, writing and recording songs, and building a community around the social justice causes they were most passionate about.

Their guiding cause, according to Dani's father, Dennis, was the belief that armed police officers weren't suited to help people in crisis, whether they be homeless, in mental distress or part of another traditionally marginalized community.

On the evening of Nov. 12, 2022, Dani died after being shot by police outside the North Vancouver co-op where they were living. Family members say police were called by neighbours after Dani, who was experiencing psychosis and felt threatened, wielded a small knife in front of their mother.

In the weeks that have followed, Dani's family has had no communication with police about the moments leading up to their death. Dennis Cooper, for example, doesn't know how many times Dani was shot or whether there was an attempt at using non-lethal force to subdue them.

"We just contend that as a 90-pound, five-foot person, [police] should have been able to find another way to deal with it ... they could have been pushed off their feet just from this throw cushion," said Cooper, sitting in his North Vancouver home.

"So we have a hard time understanding why police officers with cut-proof leather gloves and armoured vests and jackets needed to resort to that, that quickly."