Family of Ian Bush In Holding Pattern

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Houston resident, Ian Bush, worked at the local mill and loved the outdoors

It has been more than 15-months since 22-year-old Ian Bush was shot in the back of the head and killed by an RCMP officer, while in the process of being released from custody at the detachment in Houston.

So far, there has been no official confirmation of a date for a Coroner’s inquest to examine the circumstances surrounding that fateful October night, back in 2005.

Ian’s mother, Linda Bush, says the coroner has lined the family up for late May, but she says a July date was mentioned, should he have difficulty securing a venue or scheduling all of the witnesses.  B.C. Coroner’s service spokesperson, Terry Foster, says nothing has been confirmed at this point.  She says, out of fairness to the family, nothing will be announced until a confirmation notice with all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed is in front of her.

Linda Bush says it was helpful to attend the recent inquest into the police shooting death of Kevin St. Arnaud in Vanderhoof to get a sense of what to expect, but she says the more talk there is of Ian’s inquest, the more stressful it becomes for her.

The grieving mother says she’s just doing what she can to make it through, she says she’s leaving the rest to the "experts" because it’s too overwhelming.

Bush’s Vancouver lawyer is handling the civil lawsuit against RCMP Constable Paul Koester, the Attorney-General’s office and Solicitor-General. 

And, after having its original complaint against the RCMP in Bush’s death dismissed, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association has just announced it’s going to court over that...

BCCLA President Jason Gratl says, "We want to get a ruling that would prevent the RCMP from terminating complaints."  

"We regard the civilian complaints function as indispensible in ensuring that police misconduct has not occurred," says Gratl, "The RCMP’s current policy of terminating those complaints effectively leaves the public out of that investigation."

Gratl says he does believe the death of Ian Bush could be the impetus for change in the system.  "It’s already done much to raise awareness of the flaws with the current police complaints system."

But Gratl says, "It’s regrettable that a tragedy of this magnitude is necessary to raise that awarness." 

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