‘Distrust of police’: Michael Gordon Jackson abduction trial continues in Regina

Day 4 of the Michael Gordon Jackson trial saw multiple RCMP officers introduced as witnesses, including some key investigators.

Jackson is accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Throughout Jackson’s disappearance, Const. Curtis Yausie contacted Jackson through Shawn Sim, who testified Wednesday.

“I would communicate with Mr. Sim, and he would relay that information to Jackson,” said Yausie, a member of the RCMP general investigation section in Regina.

Yausie believes Jackson wasn’t very trusting of the police.

“He didn’t want to communicate directly so that is why we had this go-between,” he explained. “I would sometimes send Sim some documents and talked to him on the phone.”

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Eventually, Sgt. Robert Wilson took over the communication with Jackson, rather than Yausie. Wilson said the form of communication through emails was something unique he hadn’t done much of before.

Wilson said one of the hurdles they dealt with was a “distrust of police.”

“We first have to build rapport with (Jackson),” Wilson said.

In requests from Jackson to Wilson, he asked for custody agreements to go back to the way they were before he left Saskatchewan.

Kurt Jedel, who spent many hours driving with Jackson to and from Regina as friends, was also called to the stand Thursday. The pair met in church years ago.

Jedel says he got to know Jackson really well, and told the courtroom Jackson was always extremely proud of his daughter.

When asked on whether or not Jackson ever talked about leaving Saskatchewan with his daughter, Jedel recalled a memory.

“There was a couple different scenarios. One was, he thought that if he could take (the child) and get to Alaska, he could get a ride across to Russia,” Jedel testified.

Jackson questioned Jedel during cross-examination as Jackson is representing himself. Jackson said he once made a joke about taking a boat to Russia. Jedel said he didn’t take it that way.

Jedel said another scenario was also discussed by Jackson, saying he would buy a piece of land in B.C., where he’d build his own home “off the grid.”

The friends eventually had a falling out, with Jackson saying he could no longer trust Jedel after he didn’t tell the truth about getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

On Friday, officers from British Columbia who arrested Jackson are expected to testify.