RCMP considered probe into false Crime Stoppers tips that led to fatal shooting

Nova Scotia RCMP considered a public mischief investigation of the Crime Stoppers tips that led to Bathurst police shooting and killing Michel Vienneau almost five years ago.

That's revealed in thousands of pages of records from the RCMP investigation of the Jan. 12, 2015, shooting obtained by CBC News through an access-to-information request.

Notes from daily meetings of the Nova Scotia RCMP officers who investigated the shooting show the force's criminal operations unit "officers want us to investigate the Public Mischief."

The notes say there was a discussion about the "privacy concerns of tipsters and Crime Stoppers program integrity."

Public mischief is a charge under the Criminal Code for someone who intentionally misleads a police officer to start an investigation by making a false statement accusing someone of committing an offence, or causes some other person to be suspected of a crime they haven't committed.

It's not clear if an investigation into the false tips took place. 

Nova Scotia RCMP said in a statement this week that the Crime Stoppers system is built to keep tipsters anonymous, so there's no way to investigate who reports something though the program.

Little known about tips

Mystery has surrounded the Bathurst tips, who submitted them, and their motive. It's not clear in what form the tips arrived — through an online form, by text or by phone call, for instance — or whether they were from a man, woman or child.

Crime Stoppers New Brunswick, a charity run by civilians and a volunteer board, promises anonymity to people who provide legitimate information about potential criminal activity.

"All tips that come in through Crime Stoppers are anonymous, and we have no way of knowing who is calling, the phone number that they're calling from," Yvon Comeau, the newly elected board president, said in a brief interview recently.

Two tips, one adding more details, were submitted through Crime Stoppers on Jan. 11, 2015, according to the RCMP documents.

The tips named Vienneau and his fiancée Annick Basque, said they were coming back from Montreal on the train, noted the make and model of their car parked at the Bathurst train station, and said Vienneau was trafficking pills. The second tip also said the two had been drinking on the train. 

The tips said they were arriving at 8 a.m. on the train, but the tips were received by police from Crime Stoppers at 9:53 a.m. on Jan. 12. After checking and discovering the train had yet to arrive, six undercover officers rushed to the train station.

Tips sealed

The Bathurst tips were sealed by a 2016 court order. They remain in a safe at the Bathurst courthouse, according to court staff.

What's known about the tips has emerged through testimony during court proceedings and a discipline hearing for the two officers involved in the shooting. 

The RCMP investigation of the shooting found no evidence Vienneau was trafficking drugs as alleged in the tips. The report resulting from the investigation of the shooting concluded the Jan. 12, 2015 "intervention plan was based solely on the Crime Stoppers tip."

It's not clear if Vienneau knew two officers were police when they attempted to intercept him with guns drawn. Basque has said she didn't know they were police.

Const. Patrick Bulger said Vienneau struck him with his car, leading to Const. Mathieu Boudreau fatally shooting Vienneau. An arbitrator is expected to decide this month whether the officers should be fired. 

The Crime Stoppers New Brunswick website says that in a typical case, the identity of the person calling in or electronically filing a tip is not known to the civilian program co-ordinators who deal with the tips. The co-ordinator removes any information in the tips that could identify a tipster before the tip is sent on to the relevant police force.

The program doesn't investigate the legitimacy of a tip before passing it on to police.

The website says the program doesn't use caller ID, doesn't record phone numbers and doesn't record IP addresses of those who file tips electronically. Callers aren't asked to provide their names.

However, Crime Stoppers New Brunswick's website warns against filing malicious tips.

Abuse 'strictly prohibited'

"The deliberate provision of false information may be investigated and potentially prosecuted," the Crime Stoppers New Brunswick's website states. "Any misuse or abuse of this system is strictly prohibited."

That statement was added to the site after a 2017 Supreme Court of Canada decision. The ruling states those who call Crime Stoppers in good faith have their identities protected by a privilege the law gives to informers. 

That privilege is considered fundamental to the justice system as it allows police to receive information otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain.

The tips were sealed citing the informer privilege. Copies of the tips were provided to lawyers for the two officers who could use the information as part of their defence in court. Charges against the officers were dropped in 2017 after a preliminary hearing.  

But the privilege doesn't apply if callers are "intentionally giving false information to try to get an innocent person into trouble," the Canadian Crime Stoppers Association's website states.

A news release about the Supreme Court case says "the promise of anonymity is not an impenetrable cloak of immunity for those who seek to abuse it."

Unclear how source could be investigated

But given the program says it doesn't record a phone number or IP address and strips identifying information before tips go to police, it's not clear how a false tip could be investigated.

CBC News contacted Crime Stoppers New Brunswick multiple times seeking comment about how the system was used to target Vienneau with a false tip. Sheila Thorne, a lawyer listed as legal adviser on the organization's board, declined to comment on the record.

Asked about the RCMP subsequently determining Vienneau wasn't trafficking drugs, Comeau said he had no specific knowledge of the Bathurst case.

"The tips that were received were just passed on to the proper authorities for them to deal with it," Comeau said. "And that's as far as we can go with it."

Vienneau's family submitted a petition to Parliament in early 2018 calling on the federal government to compel the tipster to appear before a public inquiry and order RCMP to disclose any information it has about the source of the tips.

A September 2018 response from the government did not directly respond to that portion of the petition.

Last month, the family offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of anyone involved in what happened to Vienneau.