2015-12-03 Vader hearing has restored his faith, says son of St. Albert murder victims | CBC News

Published by Bretton McCann,

Vader hearing has restored his faith, says son of St. Albert murder victims

Bret McCann says he now better understands circumstances that led Crown to request a stay

December 3, 2015

Bret McCann, shown here speaking to reporters shortly after his parents went missing, says this week's hearing as renewed his faith in the Crown and the RCMP. (CBC)

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The son of murdered St. Albert couple Lyle and Marie McCann says his confidence in the Crown and the RCMP has been renewed.

Bret McCann attended two days of a court hearing this week that is expected to determine whether the Crown abused the judicial process by staying murder charges against Travis Vader.  

The stay was entered in March 2014, just a month before the murder trial was originally supposed to begin.

Crown prosecutor Michelle Doyle told the hearing this week that at the time she had lost confidence in the RCMP's ability to provide full disclosure in the case.  

McCann said listening to testimony from Doyle and primary investigator Sgt. Rick Jane has "renewed my confidence in both the RCMP and the Crown."

He said he now has a greater understanding of the circumstances that led the Crown to request a stay.  

In a written statement to the CBC, McCann wrote: "I admire Michelle Doyle's professionalism in the decision to stay the charges – to ultimately ensure that a fair trial would take place."

Vader's lawyer grilled the Crown and Jane this week. Brian Beresh suggested his client was a "victim of an ineffective system that collapsed." He wants Court of Queen's Bench Justice Denny Thomas to stay the murder charges against Vader, citing an abuse of process.   

Bret McCann hopes that doesn't happen.  

"Based on what I heard, I would just be shocked if the legal process were to be derailed at this point - i.e., trial cancelled."

McCann said he thinks the RCMP mishandled some of the evidence. But he blames that on the complexity of the case and on "human error, not human malfeasance."

The charges against Vader were reactivated in December 2014. His trial is now scheduled to begin next March, unless the judge directs a stay for abuse of process.  

McCann said he hopes the trial goes ahead, "so that we can find out what happened."

After five and a half years of waiting for answers, he wrote, "From a closure perspective for our family, this is very important".

The abuse of process hearing was only scheduled for four days this week and not all the evidence has been heard.  An additional day of testimony will be heard next week.

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  • 7 Comments

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  • familia

    • When the son says he understands that because of the complexity of the case, there were some mistakes made, I would tend to accept his view and acceptance that the trial should go ahead.

    • 1 day ago
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      • yeg_usr

        • Is it not a coincidence that we have this meeting taking place to have people sympathize with the crown and let the individual stay imprisoned?



        I thing it is wonderfully timed. I hope the real criminals get penalized here

        • 11 hours ago
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          • Anti Thumper

            • Stupid like your comment?

            • 1 day ago
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              • Content Disabled

                • I'm not sure you will ever see justice. This case it just FU.

                • 1 day ago
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                  • T · GRACCHUS

                    • The only real justice would be to force Mr. Vader to star in 3 very mediocre science fantasy movies and end with him burning to a crisp on a lava flow.

                    • 10 hours ago
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                      • Fernhill

                        • The son is a bereaved man grasping at the straws offered to him to try to comprehend the disappearance of his beloved parents... that does not mean that those straws have any basis in fact. If they did the case would have already gone to trial.

                        Delay delay delay has done nothing to advance it.

                        Repeatedly incarcerating and charging Vader on other issues has resulted in a bunch more charges thrown out by judges as completely unsubstantiated.

                        This is a mess.

                        I feel sorry for Mr. McCann. But not... » more

                        • 4 hours ago
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                          • Reckoning

                            • The important thing here is that a fair trial proceed if there is sufficient evidence. No one can disagree that a trial should be fair. If the evidence were flimsy, I doubt the Crown would remain so dogged in prosecuting this case.



                            It is regrettable how this has dragged on though, and still no trace of the missing McCanns. What it must be like for the family...

                            • 10 hours ago
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