A majority of respondents welcome the decision to name a special prosecutor to review whether criminal charges are warranted.
Canadians agree with the conclusions of the Braidwood Inquiry and welcome the decision to appoint a special prosecutor to review the actions of four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers who used a taser on a Polish immigrant in 2007.
The judicial inquiry, headed by retired judge Thomas Braidwood, issued its final report on the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski on Jun. 18. The report concludes that there was no justification for RCMP officers to use a taser, and that Dziekanski did not pose a threat to the officers.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,009 Canadian adults, two-thirds of respondents (69%) agree with the conclusions of the Braidwood Inquiry.
In addition, three-in-five Canadians (61%) support the decision of British Columbia’s Attorney-General to name a special prosecutor to look at whether criminal charges should be laid against the four RCMP officers who used the taser on Robert Dziekanski.
In British Columbia, the level of agreement with the conclusions of the inquiry stands at 79 per cent, and support for the decision to name a special prosecutor reaches 78 per cent.
Views on Tasers
Two-thirds of respondents (68%) believe tasers should remain off limits for Canadians, while 28 per cent would allow the stun guns to be acquired and used by law-abiding residents. In addition, half of respondents (49%) support issuing a moratorium on the use of tasers by Canada’s law enforcement agencies, while 36 per cent disagree.
On both of these questions, the views of Canadians have not gone through a fundamental shift since May 2008, when 49 per cent of Canadians backed a moratorium and 74 per cent oppose the use of tasers by civilians.
Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
CONTACT:
Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com
From June 22 to June 23, 2010, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,009 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
