RCMP watchdog says Mounties mishandled sex assault case of murdered N.S. woman

< warm>WARNING: This story contains disturbing inside information.

Nearly 10 years after a Nova Scotia adult female was murdered by her neighbour after she reported that he sexually assaulted and harassed her, the RCMP’s subject watchdog says the Mounties failed both in the original case, and in making improvements to sexual assault investigations across Canada.

On Thursday, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) released a lengthy report examining Susie Butlin’s case, and the steps taken by RCMP in the years since her death to improve sexual assault investigations.

“Ms. Butlin’s story is one of courage, but also one that highlights troubling gaps in the handling of her case by the RCMP,” the report said.

The CRCC announced its investigation in July 2022, after Butlin’s friend Suzanne Davis spoke out about her case in the aftermath of Nova Scotia’s mass shooting in April 2020. She has said she felt the RCMP in Bible Hill ignored red flags around the gunman for years, just as they had ignored Butlin.

After hearing Butlin’s story, retired RCMP officer Cathy Mansley made an official complaint about the case to the CRCC in the fall of 2021. Butlin’s three sons authorized Mansley to launch the complaint, and participated in the commission’s investigation.

The commission’s investigation examined more than 20,000 pages of material, reviewed hours of video and audio footage, and took 30 interviews or statements from civilian witnesses and active and retired RCMP members.

Butlin, 58, was shot and killed in her Bayhead home near Tatamagouche, N.S., by her neighbour Ernie (Junior) Duggan in September 2017. Duggan is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 2019.

About six weeks before her death, Butlin reported to the RCMP that Duggan had sexually assaulted her. 

In Butlin's account of the sexual assault, she said Duggan exposed himself to her and forced her to touch him. Butlin said she kept saying "no" but was afraid that Duggan would rape her, and relented for her own safety.

Officers from the Bible Hill RCMP detachment took a statement from Butlin but did not pursue charges, eventually ruling her complaint unfounded — meaning police did not believe a crime had occurred.

Despite Butlin's regular calls to the RCMP in the following weeks reporting that Duggan had guns, may have vandalized her property and was leaving harassing phone calls, no actions were taken by police.

The CRCC found “serious deficiencies” in the handling of every aspect of Butlin’s case, the report said, including that the initial investigation into Butlin’s sexual assault complaint was “grossly inadequate.”

The report’s 72 findings include that Butlin’s initial statement provided enough grounds to lay sexual assault charges against Duggan, but the investigating officers’ knowledge of sexual assault law was “not sufficient” to allow them to take that step.

The officers’ initial assessment of the matter was hasty, and influenced by myths and stereotypes about sexual assault and the expected behaviours of victims, the report said.

That initial, incorrect assessment “would go on to taint the RCMP’s approach” to all other incidents involving Butlin, the report said.

From the beginning, the report said there was information pointing to various attempts by Duggan to threaten and intimidate Butlin, but the incidents were not properly documented or investigated.

In one incident less than a month before the murder, Duggan’s spouse called 911 to report she was worried her husband would kill Butlin, and he had shown her a gun with ammunition. He also kicked in the door of their home when he realized his spouse was calling the police.

But, while officers responded and talked to Duggan that night, he was only charged with impaired driving when the same Mounties saw him driving soon after.

The report said that because the police file for the 911 call was logged as an impaired driving incident, no RCMP member could get a “complete picture” of the information the RCMP had about the threat Duggan posed to Butlin.

At one point, Butlin requested a peace bond against Duggan on the advice of the RCMP. Although a Truro provincial judge reading her application flagged that Duggan's actions could be criminal and the RCMP should review the case, multiple officers looking at the matter again did not recommend charges.

Instead, the report said the officers developed a mistaken belief that there were significant inconsistencies between what Butlin had told the police and what she had written in her peace bond application. One officer said Butlin’s peace bond allegations were “borderline perjury,” even though the details he considered “new” were in Butlin’s original statement he had never listened to.

The CRCC said it is impossible to know whether a different response by the RCMP could have prevented Butlin’s murder. 

“That said, even considering only what the RCMP members knew at the time, the Commission found their actions or lack thereof unreasonable and, at times, difficult to explain,” the report said.

The CRCC also found that since Butlin’s death in 2017, “the RCMP has not taken sufficient action to improve the quality of sexual assault investigations.”

Although new training on sexual offences and consent law has been created in recent years, the report said it was not mandatory. It said less than 10 per cent of RCMP members had completed the virtual course as of October 2023.

The RCMP commissioner accepted a recommendation to make the course mandatory for all members who might be involved in supervising, investigating or responding to sexual assault complaints.

The report also said sexual assault investigations review committees (SAIRCs) set up in all divisions starting in 2019 have shown concerns remain.

The committees are often made up of civilian experts who review a sample of sex assault cases that have not led to charges. The report said these reviews, and evidence from victim advocates, all showed “there were still significant issues being observed on an ongoing basis.”

For example, the SAIRC reviews said that in 2022, a lack of adequate supervision and a lack of understanding of the law of consent on the part of the investigator were seen in a quarter of cases, a third of the investigations lacked completeness or thoroughness, and victims were only referred to victim services in a little over half of cases. 

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme disagreed with the finding the RCMP have not done enough on the issue in his response to the CRCC in April 2025.

He stated that while he respects and appreciates the CRCC’s contributions on the quality of sexual assault investigations conducted by the RCMP, “he could not agree that the RCMP could have done more, faster than it had.”

Duheme said the multiple initiatives to improve investigations since 2017, the continual monitoring of training and policy, and the engagement with experts within and outside the RCMP are a key part of the RCMP’s modernization. He also said these efforts continue in the face of a reality in which the RCMP faces continuous resource pressures.

The commission made 79 recommendations, including sexual assault policy and training updates, requirements for the specific RCMP officers in Butlin’s case, and creating specialized units to investigate sexual offences in each RCMP division.

The units should monitor all RCMP sexual assault cases in their area, and take over investigations as needed, the report said.

Until those units are in place, the report says the RCMP’s National Office of Sexual Offence Investigational Standards (NOSOIS) should review all unfounded sex assault files. The RCMP should also “substantially increase” the number of RCMP members assigned to work as full-time members of NOSOIS to handle the increased workload.

Duheme supported 77 of the commission’s recommendations in full or in part, including the new sexual assault units.

He did not support two of the recommendations, but the CRCC said it was satisfied that the RCMP was taking steps to implement the intent of those items.

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