There were no real revelations from the RCMP as they held their first briefing Tuesday to discuss the ongoing review of the Hidden Valley School sexual abuse scandal.

There are currently four reviews being carried out into the matter, which saw a former educational assistant being convicted on sex charges for an incident that happened on school property in 2019.

Parents and families were never informed of the case as it unfolded. Subsequent charges have since been laid against the same man for other alleged incidents.

In September 2021, RCMP Supt. Scott Sheppard acknowledged that mistakes were made in the investigation. He apologized profusely as he announced an inquiry would be turned over to the British Columbia RCMP.

In particular, Sheppard said he was angry that his investigating officers either didn’t attempt to search for other victims, or, as he said Tuesday, didn’t document any efforts to search for other victims.

He called the matter a “failure of supervision.”

Supt. Chan Daktari Dara, the division’s criminal operations officer, initially supervised the investigation.

On Nov. 26, 2019, Dara suggested the investigtors search for other potential victims.

It’s not clear what happened after that, but nothing was documented, and it hasn’t been established whether that directive was followed up on at all.

There was also a recommendation to create a communications strategy in partnership with the territorial Department of Education to inform the public, but it was never implemented.

Interestingly, despite the promises from the government and the department to co-operate fully, Sheppard said the RCMP only recently obtained a court order to access some documents that the department had resisted providing.

Sheppard offered little further comment, and wouldn’t say if the government has been uncooperative with the RCMP.

He said the review team was looking for information on how to contact past and present families who had students at Hidden Valley – and the department resisted.

“They have other challenges over there,” Sheppard said, but didn’t explain further.

In a statement to the Star this morning, the government said, “The Government of Yukon is fully co-operating with the RCMP investigation.

“Upon request from the RCMP to provide records, the Department of Education worked to ensure that the provision of records was done in accordance with the Education Act, the Health Information and Privacy Management Act and the Access to Information and Privacy Act, which all regulate the sharing or provision of records.”  

A production order was required for the release of some of the information sought due to Section 20 of the Education Act, the government said.

That specifies that student records are privileged, and disclosure without consent is an offence.

“Upon receipt of the first production order, it became clear that records held by the Public Service Commission were are also required by the RCMP, and a second production order was sought and granted to ensure that the records could be properly released in a completely unredacted form,” the government said.

“The orders were granted on Nov. 5 and Dec. 14, 2021.”

During Tuesday’s news conference, Sheppard was reluctant to comment on allegations the government has made over the last several months that have blamed the RCMP for the situation.

He said it isn’t uncommon for such aspersions to be made, but added he doesn’t find them fair either.

The review is expected to take another month or two to conclude, he said. It’s been “more work” than he thought at first, Sheppard said.

During the review, relevant RCMP documents, including the Whitehorse detachment investigative file and all related materials, were reviewed and considered.

“Relevant policies and best practices for the investigation of sexual offences in place at the time as well as those current to the date of the report are currently being reviewed and considered to  assess compliance and to determine possible recommendations to be included in the final report,” he added.

Matters that are still under review:

• RCMP operational policies are being reviewed to assess the policies in place at the time and whether those policies and any applicable guidelines were followed.

• Best practices for conducting an investigation with a vulnerable sector are also being reviewed.  

“The aim is to determine if there were other legal or investigative techniques to identify further victims – while protecting the privacy of known victims and their families – that could have been employed.”

Some preliminary findings based on the review conducted to date:

• Although investigative decisions may have sound rationale, there needs to be improved  documentation on the investigative file.

• Recommendations will be included in the final report.

• Process and training improvements introduced since 2019 with respect to sexualized violence investigations.

Independent of the review process, M Division has taken steps to revisit policies and procedures in place respecting the investigation of sexual offences and to implement and provide improved training respecting relevant policies and best practices.

For example:

• In 2021, M Division implemented updated national and divisional policies related to investigations of sexual offences.

• In 2019, the M Division formalized the National Sex Offender Registration co-ordinator position. This solidified processes for managing sex offender registrations, tracking non-compliant  offenders, and assisting sex crime investigations with tactical queries.  

• In November 2020, M Division updated operating procedures for the Specialized Response  Unit regarding ownership over files. This was done to improve accountability and supervisor  engagement. 

• In November 2020, resources were diverted to increase funding for the Specialized Response Unit.  

• A multi-layered supervisor/manager review process was implemented at Whitehorse  detachment (June-November 2021). This has improved oversight, reporting practices, and  supervisor review procedures for all sexualized violence investigations by the Whitehorse  Detachment Operations.  

• M Division has improved reporting procedures of investigations to Criminal Operations. 

• Improved mandatory training has been offered over the past several years relating to sexual  violence investigative practices.