Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The chief surgeon of St. Vincent's Hospital in Vancouver, who testified at the hearing this spring, expressed his dismay that the cases were not reopened and the bodies exhumed immediately after the doctor was determined to be a fraud. The decision of the then chief coroner and his meetings with the lawyer and the RCMP are not documented or explained anywhere. The chief coroner has also since died, so the reason for this unusual decision will remain a mystery.

At the time the two men died, there was an unsettled political climate and a great many racial tensions. Then, as well as today, rumours abound that the two native men had gotten into a fight with two white engineers and that this, the real cause of Gardebois' and Bernard's deaths, was hushed up due to the unsettled times.

Clearly much remains a mystery about the deaths of these two men, and their exhumation only served to deepen the mystery. Despite all these concerns, and a number of unanswered questions, the chief coroner opted not to have another inquest. This is despite the fact that much of the original transcripts from the first inquest have been destroyed and hence cannot be re-examined.

Mr. Speaker, I make this statement today on behalf of the Bernard family in the hope of getting some resolution on this issue. Mahsi cho.

---Applause