sure, but this does not necessarly mean it's just a rumor.

anyway you're right, it should cite a trustable source, I'll mark it

In reply to this comment by doogle:
Darn - that source a) doesn't cite where they got that number and b) doesn't indicate if those 18 deaths from the past 5 years are due to the RCMP.

In reply to this comment by looris:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon#Controversies

In reply to this comment by doogle:
link please...

In reply to this comment by looris:
Isolated incident? LUOL?!?

In Canada alone there have been 18 reported fatalities as a result of the use of a Taser in the past 5 years.

luol? watsat?

Not clear is whether those supposed 18 deaths from Tasers were from the conduct of the RCMP. Were they?

Darn - that source a) doesn't cite where they got that number and b) doesn't indicate if those 18 deaths from the past 5 years are due to the RCMP.

In reply to this comment by looris:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroshock_weapon#Controversies

In reply to this comment by doogle:
link please...

In reply to this comment by looris:
Isolated incident? LUOL?!?

In Canada alone there have been 18 reported fatalities as a result of the use of a Taser in the past 5 years.

18 over 5 years?
NOT many.

18 RCMP officers have been killed in the past 5 years. Not typical either, I grant that, but I hope that puts into perspective. (source)

The taser incidents are high profile. So is the death of any RCMP officer or any civilian. And 18 is 18 too many. But 18 over 5 years is NOT a high number in a country of 30 million.

This incident is hugely embarrassing for me and my country. This video should not be supressed, nor the poster. There was no excuse for using a taser on that person, especially considering the situation. He had no idea what was going on. Those officers should be removed from the RCMP at the very least.

Tasers, photo radar (no, I am not trying to say speeding is OK or comparable to death), and the like are all tools being misused that separate the police from the citizens and encourage mistrust and abuse.

Just horrible.

Hey - can you please cite this? I'm very interested in reading that.
thankyouverymuch

In reply to this comment by gargoyle:
CBC today did a piece on the RCMP being the worst trained police force in Canada, and included comments about the physical size of officers getting smaller, which makes tasers an attractive weapon of choice.

This poor man was wandering around the secure area of the airport for 10 hours, and no one, no one, asked if something was wrong or if they could help. Where did basic humanity go?
CBC today did a piece on the RCMP being the worst trained police force in Canada, and included comments about the physical size of officers getting smaller, which makes tasers an attractive weapon of choice.

Im unsure of the RCMP rules on tasering, but shouldnt it have the same rules of use as using lethal force with a gun? YOu are telling me that 4 trained cops couldnt grab a defensless guy? Tasers shouldnt be about making the job easier for cops, it should be about not taking lives when beforehand lethal force wouldve been used....

This is an unfortunate outcome - but I do see the focus of this being on the handling from the RCMP (Canadian Federal Police).

There is a rapidly advancing shift of the use of Tasers -
To taser for submission, not remission, and that they're not necessarily the same thing.

"Could anyone give more details? I have very little idea of what the conflict is and who is on what side."

Sure - from CBC

Organizers of the protests at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello, Que., say they have video that shows police disguised as masked demonstrators tried to incite violence on Monday.

About 1,200 protesters were in the small resort town near Ottawa as Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at a two-day summit to discuss issues under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America pact.

The video titled Stop SPP Protest — Union Leader stops provocateurs, posted on YouTube Tuesday, was shown at a news conference held Wednesday in Ottawa by protest organizers, including Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, who appears in the video.

In the footage filmed Monday afternoon, three burly men with bandanas and other covers over their faces push through protesters toward a line of riot police. One of the men has a rock in his hand.

As they move forward, Coles and other union leaders dressed in suits order the men to put the rock down and leave, accuse them of being police agents provocateurs, and try unsuccessfully to unmask them.

In the end, they squeeze behind the police line, where they are calmly handcuffed.

"The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union believes that the security force at Montebello were ordered to infiltrate our peaceful assembly and to provoke incidents," Coles told reporters. "I think the evidence that we've shown you today reinforces the view."

Coles showed photographs of the masked men's and police officers' boots taken during the handcuffing, in which they appear to have identical tread patterns on their soles.

He also questioned why other activists have been unable to identify the three men whose images have been broadcast worldwide and demanded to know who the masked men were.

"Do they have any connection to the Quebec police force or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or are they part of some other security force that was at Montebello?" Coles asked, adding that he wants to know how the Prime Minister's Office was involved in security during the protests.

He suggested that the government might want to provoke violence in order justify its security budget for the summit and discredit protesters.

"They want to defuse our questions ... by trying to make it look like some radical group trying to create a confrontation," he said.

The RCMP has refused to comment, while Quebec's provincial force has flatly denied that its officers were involved in the incident.

It said it is not releasing any names as no charges were laid.
Retired police officer believes masked men were cops

Meanwhile, a retired Ottawa police officer who was formerly in charge of overseeing demonstrations for the force said he questions who the masked men really are, after viewing the video.

"Were they legitimate protesters? I don’t think so," said Doug Kirkland.

"Well, if they weren't police, I think they might well have been working in the best interests of police."

He added that if the situation was as it appeared, he did not approve of the tactic. "It's pretty close to baiting," he said.

On Wednesday, the mayor of Montebello thanked police and protesters, praising the fact that there wasn't a single report of damage during the two-day summit.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership pact, signed in 2005, is intended to forge closer trade and security links between the countries.

Opponents say negotiations about the agreement are secretive and undemocratic, and the treaty itself erodes Canada's control over its natural resources, security and defence.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/08/22/ot-police-070822.html

I don't think it does, but you can come in if you promise not to set fire to anything else!

In reply to your comment:
“I was tracked to Seward Alaska by the RCMP through a VIN number on the frame of a car I torched in BC......Does That count me in as a friend of Canada???”

I was tracked to Seward Alaska by the RCMP through a VIN number on the frame of a car I torched in BC......Does That count me in as a friend of Canada???

I agree that it is most likely faked, but it's a great video nevertheless. Makes me think of Dead Kennedy's "Night of the Living Rednecks" only woops, Jelo's got a gun now, suckers.

Not carrying a gun myself, I think I would have called somebody who does- the police. "Hello, RCMP? Yes, there is a pickup truck behind me that is driving very erratically, I think the driver may be drunk. Could you possibly direct me to the nearest patrol car? Thanks"