RCMP Const. Greg Wiley is scheduled to testify Tuesday afternoon, but in a decision released Friday afternoon, the Mass Accident Commission ruled that his video link testimony will not be broadcast as either audio or video via the regular webcast.
“In order to obtain the best possible information from Cst. Wiley, we have ordered that Cst. Wiley’s testimony not be broadcast online and that a copy be posted on the website,” the panel wrote in her decision.
The Attorney General of Canada applied for accommodation for Wiley, citing personal health reasons.
Wiley is the officer who visited the gunman’s home in Portapeak 16 times in the years before the deadly April 2020 rampage.
He told investigators in an interview that he never saw anything alarming.
Accommodation provided for “better information”
The gunman had a cache of illegal weapons and a replica RCMP cruiser, which were used to kill 22 people. The committee also plans to question Wiley about his involvement in the Susie Butlin casea Tatamagouche woman who was killed by her neighbor in September 2017 after she reported him to the RCMP for sexual assault and harassment. When Butlin called the RCMP in August 2017 to report harassing messages from her neighbor, Wiley was named lead investigator. He discussed the messages with Butlin’s and decided there was no basis to lay a criminal charge. The committee would not be taking questions Friday afternoon, but committee senior counsel Emily Hill released a video statement, noting that the public and media could still attend proceedings Tuesday. “The difference in this case is that the video will not then be posted on our website or released by the media or the public,” they said. “This is in response to an accommodation request … accommodations are being granted to ensure the committee receives the best information from witnesses.”
Other accommodations
Hill said the request involved personal health information and the committee could not discuss specifics. This is the most significant adjustment the committee has made for every witness who has testified. In May, the commission allowed two senior RCMP officers to answer questions in recorded sessions instead of testifying in front of a room full of panelists and lawyers. Some lawyers representing the victims’ families boycotted the commission’s proceedings because they were not allowed to directly question Andy O’Brien, now retired, and Staff Sgt. Brian Rehill. None of the sessions were streamed live.
