With a B.C. committee recommending a provincial police force and Ottawa reviewing the role of RCMP, a question now hangs over the agency on its 150th anniversary: Is this the time? Will the RCMP face real change?
On July 8, 2021, at about 9 a.m., the RCMP boxed in Jared Lowndes at the Tim Hortons drive-thru just off South Island Highway in Campbell River.
A police dog was sent in. Lowndes, 38, killed the dog with a knife. Shots were fired by police and Lowndes died.
Campbell River Mounties said they tried to stop Lowndes because he had an outstanding arrest warrant.
At the end of last year, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., which investigates police-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, announced it would file a report — it has not done so yet — with the B.C. Prosecution Service to consider charges related to the deadly shooting.