After Decades, Advocates Await Justice in Prince George RCMP Probe

[Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of police violence and sexual violence.]

Three years ago, B.C.’s public safety minister promised answers.

Media coverage had revived decades-old sexual misconduct allegations against RCMP officers in Prince George and shed new light on a police watchdog investigation that found the force had “dropped the ball” when potential new evidence emerged years later.

In March 2023, the B.C. government announced an independent investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, also known as ASIRT, which examines potential criminal wrongdoing involving police in that province.

“The allegations of historic misconduct of members in Prince George are disturbing and our government takes these allegations very seriously,” then-public safety minister Mike Farnworth said in a statement.

But it was unclear how broad the ASIRT investigation would be — the sprawling allegations began in the late 1990s and continued with the suspicious disappearance of videotapes in 2006. When pressed for an update in 2024, the ministry declined to comment on the scope of the investigation, saying the information could jeopardize it.

Farnworth insisted that the investigation was ongoing and that ASIRT would ensure that “families get the answers that they deserve.”

But two people with ties to women who first alleged misconduct nearly 30 years ago said they have not been contacted by the Alberta-based team conducting the investigation.

“It adds to the insult and injuries,” said Bob Sandbach, whose daughter Celynn was among those who accused RCMP officers of wrongdoing. “They tell you what you want to hear and leave it at that. I’ve been told by many people that something would happen — and nothing.”

It remains unclear when the public might learn more about the RCMP’s initial investigation and the alleged mishandling of evidence that followed. ASIRT says it expects to provide a report to the B.C. government in the coming weeks but declined to say if, or when, its findings would be released to the public.

Allegations emerged from investigation into disgraced judge

Kara Myers was employed as a youth care worker in Prince George in the late 1990s when two girls in their early teens confided in her about alleged abuse by several local RCMP officers. The girls told Myers that the officers would pick them up off the streets under the guise of arresting them and solicit sex in exchange for not laying charges.

Myers reported the allegations to her superiors in 1998. It took another five years for police to investigate. When RCMP investigators finally visited Prince George in 2003, Myers acted as a liaison between the officers and the teen witnesses.

But she recently told The Tyee that she and others she remains in contact with haven’t been contacted by ASIRT investigators.

“They didn’t send anybody to investigate this,” Myers told The Tyee. She characterized the investigation as “a bunch of lip service” meant to “shut people up.”

“The most vulnerable people in our society need to know that it’s safe for them — and they’re not safe. The message that sends is that they don’t fucking matter and that their lives are worth nothing,” she added.

The allegations against police paralleled a similar investigation into a disgraced provincial court judge. David Ramsay pleaded guilty in 2004 to multiple counts of sexual and physical assault. Ramsay later died in jail.

The Ramsay investigation report also named four Prince George RCMP officers accused of similar acts. An investigation by the Prince George detachment that followed in 2002 heard about “various allegations” against up to 10 officers, according to a lawsuit later filed against the attorney general of Canada and B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General by one of the officers.

The RCMP launched a task force, dubbed Project E-Prevails, to investigate the allegations in 2004 and 2005.

In November 2005, investigators recommended charges against one officer, according to a statement of defence filed in response to the officer’s lawsuit against the provincial and federal governments. But special prosecutors declined to proceed, citing insufficient evidence.

When Celynn, who was a key witness, died in 2007 following a short illness, the RCMP abandoned its case. None of the allegations against the officers have been tested in court.

The Tyee requested, through access-to-information laws, that the RCMP provide the current status of each officer investigated by Project E-Prevails and any monetary settlements paid to members who sued the government over investigations into their conduct. The RCMP declined to provide the information, citing privacy and solicitor-client privilege.

Videotapes surface in Kamloops

The case might have ended there.

But in January 2006, Lisa Mackenzie was cleaning out the basement of the home she had previously shared with her ex-husband. At the time, both were RCMP officers and had recently relocated from Prince George to Kamloops. While Mackenzie was aware of the Project E-Prevails investigation, she didn’t realize that her ex was among the officers under investigation.

In the basement, she discovered several videotapes. She previously told The Tyee that she watched a portion of one tape, which showed her ex-husband and another officer, neither of them in uniform, pulling their vehicle up to a young Indigenous girl that Mackenzie recognized from her time in Prince George. The men asked to see the girl’s breasts, she said.

Another tape contained footage of her ex’s previous partner, apparently recorded without her knowledge, Mackenzie said. That tape she set aside, intending to return it to the woman. She reported the other tapes to a local RCMP staff sergeant. He told her to put them back and not tell anyone, she said.

The following day, while Mackenzie was at work, she got a call saying that her ex had broken into her house. Days later, she realized the videotapes were missing — except the one she’d set aside. Mackenzie reported the break-in to the detachment where she worked. The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP later found that nothing was done in response to Mackenzie’s report.

In 2011, Mackenzie shared the story of the break-in and missing tapes with Garry Kerr, a senior officer with Kamloops’s serious crime and drug units. That December, the pair travelled to Vancouver, where they provided statements to the RCMP and handed over the remaining videotape. They believed it could contain evidence related to Project E-Prevails.

Kerr retired in 2012. But in the years that followed, he continued to push for accountability. He contacted then-RCMP assistant commissioner Craig Callens, followed by then-RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson and finally the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, which investigates public complaints about RCMP members. In 2018, the commission’s scathing report determined that the RCMP had done nothing to investigate the break-in or missing tapes. It called on the force to investigate possible criminality “without delay.”

The report remained with Brenda Lucki, who was by then RCMP commissioner, for three years. It was only when Kerr requested an update from the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission that it was provided to him.

After years of inaction, Kerr leaked the report to the media. He told The Tyee that the report “eviscerates the RCMP from top to bottom.”

But Kerr did not live to see the outcome of the ASIRT investigation. He died last December.

Mackenzie declined to comment for this article, citing legal concerns. But she confirmed that she has been interviewed for the ASIRT investigation.

It’s unclear what happened to the videotape Kerr and Mackenzie handed over to the RCMP in 2011 or if it was provided to investigators. ASIRT declined to comment while its investigation continues.

Where the investigation is at now

Since the investigation began, ASIRT has been brought under Alberta’s newly created Police Review Commission, which was formed in December to investigate complaints, including those of a non-criminal nature, involving police.

In a statement to The Tyee, Police Review Commission interim CEO Michael Ewenson said the ASIRT investigation is ongoing.

“Work to date has included a review of the previous investigations into this matter, as well as additional investigative steps taken by ASIRT,” Ewenson wrote. “Although we can’t provide a precise date for when ASIRT will release its findings, we appreciate the community’s need for answers and can say that ASIRT’s work is nearing completion.”

Last week, The Tyee contacted the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General with questions about the status of the investigation. Before the report is published, it will be forwarded to the provincial government, The Tyee has confirmed.

“The province expects to receive the report from ASIRT in the coming weeks and will have more to say at that time,” a spokesperson wrote in response. The spokesperson confirmed that B.C.’s director of police and law enforcement services will review the report once it’s complete.

The BC First Nations Justice Council also has a representative on the investigation team, having pushed for involvement upon learning about the investigation after it was announced.

In 2024, council director Cloy-e-iis, Judith Sayers, told The Tyee that the representative wouldn’t be able to share investigation details with the council but would offer broad assurances that the investigation was moving ahead.

Last week, a spokesperson said the council was “unable to provide an update or speak on the matter publicly at this time to respect the confidentiality of the process” but that it expects to receive more information in the coming weeks.

Speaking with The Tyee, Sandbach recalled his daughter sobbing in his arms as she shared stories of the abuse she said she had suffered — stories he said he would have readily shared with investigators. He said that justice for Celynn “would mean the world.”

Decades after he first learned about the allegations, he said he no longer gets his hopes up for fear of being let down again.

“We keep being told that things are going to change, but it never does,” he said. “How many children have been harmed since then?”

If you have a story tip, contact reporter Amanda Follett Hosgood in confidence via email.