The majority of police forces across Quebec are refusing to answer questions from investigators with the province’s independent police watchdog after a court affirmed the right of officers not to incriminate themselves.
The situation, first reported by The Globe and Mail, reflects an increasingly tense relationship between Quebec’s police forces and the body mandated to hold them accountable—and to help maintain the public’s trust in the institution of law enforcement.
Annick Charest, spokesperson for the Quebec federation of municipal police officers, says her organization never ordered its members to refuse to answer questions from investigators at the watchdog, known as the BEI, which is mandated to investigate whenever a citizen is killed or seriously wounded by police….