VANCOUVER - The long-awaited report from a public inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death will be released Friday, offering what will likely be the most complete public accounting of what happened the night Dziekanski died on the floor of Vancouver's airport.
The final moments of the would-be immigrant's death in October 2007 were caught on video by a bystander, and the images of him writhing in pain as he was shocked by an RCMP Taser prompted a public outcry.
A report from the first phase of retired B.C. judge Thomas Braidwood's inquiry, which looked at use of the shock weapons in general, concluded that they can kill and led to policy changes within the RCMP and other police forces on their use.
Then Braidwood spent much of last year on the second phase, hearing evidence specifically about Dziekanski's death, from his interaction with airport staff and customs officers during his 10 hours in the airport to the arrival of firefighters and paramedics.
But it was the actions of the four RCMP officers that received the most attention.
The Mounties were summoned after several people in the international arrivals area phoned 911 reporting a man throwing furniture.
Within seconds of arriving, one of the officers fired his Taser. As Dziekanski fell to the ground, the officer pulled the trigger again and again -- five times all told, the inquiry heard.
The final report will attempt to explain what happened and why, and will make recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy in the future. Braidwood can't assign criminal or civil blame, but he warned the officers last year he has the power to make allegations of misconduct.
All four officers testified at the inquiry, saying they used the Taser because Dziekanski had picked up a stapler and they felt threatened.
The RCMP's complaints commissioner released a report late last year that concluded the four officers' use of the Taser was "inappropriate" and their subsequent explanations weren't credible.
Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, settled a lawsuit against the RCMP this past April after the force apologized. Details of the settlement have never been made public.
In response to an Access to Information request, the Mounties released internal emails on Wednesday that revealed concern within the force over the use of the word "apology" to describe the settlement.
The documents stress that the RCMP were not apologizing for anything the officers did.
Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass noted those concerns in an email the day before he appeared alongside Cisowski to deliver the apology.
"Essentially, even though the world 'apology' worries some, we are not apologizing for the actions of specific members or saying anything about specific actions," Bass wrote in an email to a senior member of the force's labour relations program.
"I am apologizing for the loss of her son and where (RCMP Commissioner William Elliot) says we could have done better, from my perspective that relates to the fact that we had to revise our policy and training."
And Bass didn't deviate from that message at the April 1 news conference, where he said the force "could have done things better."
He only used the words "apology" and "sorry" when referring to the fact that Dziekanski died, not in relation to the officers' response and use of the Taser.
