VANCOUVER - The mother of the man who died at Vancouver's airport wants her son's death to be the last following Taser use by a police officer and she's hoping an inquiry starting today will force police to stop using the weapon.

Zophia Cisowski's lawyer, Walker Kosteckyj, will be delivering her message at both phases of the inquiry.

"Look, there ought to be a moratorium on this weapon until there's enough information about it,'' Kosteckyj said in an interview.

"And clearly this weapon has caused problems and her son should have been the last tragedy and it shouldn't have been a tragedy to begin with.''

Retired B.C. Appeal Court justice Thomas Braidwood will open the first half of a two-part inquiry into the use of the conducted energy weapons.

Phase One of the inquiry will focus on medical evidence, police use of the weapon, training and other general issues around the weapon and Braidwood will make recommendations on the appropriate use of the shock device.

The second stage of the inquiry will ask those who testify to swear an oath and fill in the blanks around the circumstances of Robert Dziekanski's death in October last year.

Millions of people around the world watched a bystander's video of an RCMP confrontation with Dziekanski, prompting a public outcry and more than a dozen investigations Canada-wide into the use of the Taser by police.

The would-be Polish immigrant had been wandering around Vancouver's airport for hours confused, thirsty and hungry and waiting for his mother to arrive.

Police were called when he began throwing computer equipment and within seconds of their arrival, Dziekanski had been jolted with a Taser twice.

The video showed him screaming and writhing in agony before four officers pinned him to the floor in front of horrified onlookers.

Kosteckyj said he and his client have had the video analyzed and Cisowski believes her son -- who had just taken his first-ever airplane flight -- was in fear for his life in those last few moments.

"When they pulled the Taser, he actually thought that was a weapon, appears to have thought it was a gun.''

Kosteckyj said Dziekanski was saying things in Polish like `have you lost your minds, what are you doing.'

"He would not have known what a Taser was, so to him it would have appeared like a weapon.''

While Braidwood hasn't reached any conclusions about what he will present to B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal about the inquiry, he expects there will be some change from his recommendations.

"It could include don't use (the weapon) anymore. But it's hard to continue as it is because each police force have different criteria.''

Much of the three weeks of the public input in the first part of the inquiry will focus on the medical and scientific aspects of the weapon's use.

"The obvious thing is that you know what happened to Mr. Dziekanski out at the airport,'' Braidwood said.

"And there's other examples of death. We want to see whether the only consequence (from Taser use) could be death or is there also any other harmful effects and then try to craft criteria with that in mind.''

Oppal had given Braidwood until the end of June to hand in his report on the first phase of the inquiry, but Braidwood said he's asked for an extension to October.

The second phase of the inquiry and a coroner's inquest into Dziekanski's death have been put on hold while the Crown prosecutor makes a decision on possible criminal charges in connection to the death.

Kosteckyj said Cisowski firmly believes that if police hadn't used the Taser on her son that night he would still be alive.

"Yet no one seems to acknowledge the Taser carries a danger with its use. She wants people to understand that you know when you shock somebody with 50,000 volts it doesn't matter whether it's lower amperage ... it's a dangerous weapon.''

He said police have been pushing this weapon as a safe device, yet there are no major, independent studies into the weapon's safety.

Braidwood's inquiry has no jurisdiction over the RCMP because the force is federally regulated, however he said Mounties are fully co-operating and opening files to him.

The president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police said in a statement after the provincial government announced the inquiry that the chiefs enthusiastically support the inquiry.

"We recognize that public interest is at record high levels and that public interest can only be well served by the most open and transparent inquiry, full disclosure and detailed communication of the results,'' said Supt. Gord Tomlinson of the North Vancouver RCMP.