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Braidwood inquiry set to resume Tuesday

The Braidwood inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski will resume at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 22, nine months after it began.

According to the inquiry's website, the scheduled witnesses will include RCMP Chief Superintendent Dick Bent, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al MacIntyre, RCMP Superintendent Wayne Rideout, United Airlines employee John Jubber, interpreter Gracie Churchill-Browne, and Inspector Benny Nesset.

The hearings will continue on Wednesday and Thursday, "and may continue thereafter, Mondays to Thursday."

According to a report by The Canadian Press, the new round of hearings was required after the release last spring of an email casting doubt on the truth of the testimony of the four RCMP constables who tasered Robert Dziekanski:

In the email from November 2007, Chief Supt. Dick Bent and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre were discussing media strategy for releasing the now-infamous amateur video of the officers stunning Dziekanski several times with a Taser.

Bent told Macintyre that the officers decided while on the way to the airport that they might use the Taser - information Bent said he received from Supt. Wayne Rideout, who was in charge of investigating Dziekanski's death.

The CP report also says the inquiry will look at new documents gathered by Mitchell Taylor, the federal government lawyer who has replaced Helen Roberts. Roberts apologized last spring for not submitting the email sooner, and has since asked to be reassigned.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.

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