Justice minister cool to suggestion by top Mountie for justice system review

MONTREAL — Justice Minister Peter MacKay said he doesn't see the need for an in-depth examination of police and justice system protocols as suggested by the head of the RCMP after the recent shootings of two Mounties in Alberta.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said last weekend the fact the suspected shooter was let free despite having a violent criminal history including a series of overlapping firearm bans may spark a review.

"I don't think, in my view, in my experience, having some sort of a pause where we have a full-blown examination or royal commission or some sort of a study is really going to provide us the answers that we need," MacKay said Tuesday in Montreal.

"The answers that we need are the ongoing efforts to prevent crime, to deal specifically with individuals who are drifting, who are feeling disconnected and marginalized and to provide the police with the necessary support, tools and laws that they need to protect Canadians."

Const. David Wynn has been in hospital since he was gunned down early Saturday morning and is not expected to survive.

Auxiliary Const. Derek Bond was shot in the arm and torso and faces a long recovery.

"My thoughts are first and foremost with the two officers that were injured — one of them is from a community not far from where I grew up in Nova Scotia," MacKay said.

Wynn joined the Mounties in 2009 after working as a paramedic in Bridgewater, N.S.

MacKay noted that suspected shooter Shawn Rehn, 34, was known to police and had a fairly extensive criminal record.

Rehn was found dead in a rural home north of Edmonton Saturday morning, just hours after the two Mounties were shot at the nearby Apex Casino in the city of St. Albert.

Court and parole board documents revealed Rehn had a history of assaults, weapons convictions, break-ins and drug use going back to his teens.

MacKay added that it's not easy to determine if someone like Rehn poses an immediate danger.

"This is an individual who, I think, if someone was to try to examine his past criminal behaviour, wouldn't have led to the conclusion that he was necessarily going to be a cop killer.

"But what was happening at that moment in time and what was happening in his life (was) very difficult to predict."

MacKay made his comments in Montreal after announcing more than $220,000 in federal funding for a Montreal centre that provides programs to help young offenders reintegrate into society.