Justice and Public Safety
August 31, 2016

The following statement was provided today by the Honourable Andrew Parsons, Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General regarding the review by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) into the shooting death of Donald Dunphy:

Earlier this year, upon being notified that the RCMP had concluded its investigation into the shooting death of Mr. Dunphy, I took action to retain the services of the ASIRT to conduct an independent and impartial review of the RCMP investigation to ensure public confidence in the investigation. The request for the review was done on behalf of the RCMP as ASIRT requires ministerial permission.

I have been advised today that the ASIRT has completed its review and the report has been submitted to the RCMP. The RCMP are now reviewing the report and will be determining next steps.

The ASIRT review is independent of both the Department of Justice and Public Safety and the Attorney General's office which has no influence or control over its contents or its public release. The department has not been provided a copy of the report as it would be inappropriate to do so.

Maintaining the independence of the enforcement agency from direct political control is fundamental to our system of law enforcement.

I remain committed to holding a public inquiry into this matter, which will be informed by the RCMP investigation and the ASIRT review. I expect to determine appropriate timing to conduct the inquiry in the weeks ahead.

- 30 -

Media contact:

Jacquelyn Howard Director of Communications Department of Justice and Public Safety 709-729-6985, 689-2624 jacquelynhoward@gov.nl.ca

2016 08 31                              5:25 p.m.