Polish Embassy "Extremely Shocked" At Taser Death

Since the 14 October 2007 incident at the Vancouver International Airport, which resulted in the death of the citizen of Poland, Mr. Robert Dziekański the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa together with the Consulate General of Poland in Vancouver has been engaged in responding to this great tragedy.

The Embassy expresses sincere condolences to the mother of the deceased, Mrs. Zofia Cisowski in these most painful moments of her life. The Consulate General has provided support to Mrs. Cisowski.

On 16 October 2007 we asked the Government of Canada to conduct a full investigation into the actions of the police and to provide the Embassy with its results. On 24 October the Embassy received the note from DFAIT with a short description of the incident that had been presented to DFAIT by RCMP and with the assurance that the Embassy will be advised of new information from the investigators as it becomes available. On October 29 the ambassador Piotr Ogrodziński met with Mr. Paul Kennedy, Chair of Commission for Public Complaints against RCMP and was informed that the Commission will examine the execution of the investigation pursued by the RCMP over death of Mr. Dziekański.

On 11-13 of November the lawyers from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Poland came to Vancouver to meet with the coroners and to be briefed on their investigation and on the further proceedings. Canadian Ambassador to Poland Mr. David Preston has been invited to the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs on November 19 to discuss ongoing investigation and possible legal co-operation between Polish and Canadian authorities.

The amateur video broadcast in the media on November 14 is extremely shocking. It affirms our presumption that the actions of the police were unsuitable under the circumstances, even excessive. Mr.