The Yukon Liberal Party joined calls Monday for a public inquiry into the death of Carmacks resident Raymond Silverfox.

Speaking during the final legislative question period of the year, Mayo-Tatchun MLA Eric Fairclough hammered Justice Minister Marian Horne with demands for a public inquiry into the man's in-custody death on Dec. 2.

Silverfox was found unconscious in his cell more than 13 hours after being arrested by the RCMP for disturbing the peace at the Salvation Army shelter on Fourth Avenue.

He was taken to Whitehorse General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m.

Fairclough is a former chief of Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation and currently represents the region in the territorial legislature.

"I grew up with Raymond," he said in an interview today. "He wasn't a drunk. He was a hard-working man who respected people and was respected in his community."

Silverfox's family and community need to know what happened that day, Fairclough said in the legislature.

As long as the RCMP conduct their investigation into his death internally, people will remain suspicious about their version of the truth, he said.

"If there was something wrong with this particular case, then it has to be aired publicly and the matter addressed," he said.

"When someone whispers, it is because they do not want anyone to hear. An inquiry that is not public is perceived as a whisper, because others will not know what was said."

Horne stuck to the same response she has offered since the matter was first raised by NDP MLA John Edzerza, immediately after Silverfox's death.

"There are already a number of investigations already taking place into the recent in-custody death," Horne said. "The government has every faith that the RCMP will carry out this investigation duly and correctly."

"The big question is: Why was he taken to jail instead of to the hospital?" Fairclough told the Star.

Staff at the Salvation Army shelter had called the ambulance on the morning Silverfox was arrested.

The medical attendants then called police, a required step in Emergency Medical Services protocol when the patient appears to be intoxicated, Department of Community Services spokeswoman Brenda Wale told the Star early this afternoon.

"When asked by EMS attendants, (Silverfox) refused transport to the hospital," Wale said.

Those on the scene have given statements to the police, she added, and the department has done a review of its actions and found "standards of care and clinical decision-making were met."

The case is currently under investigation by the B.C. division of the Mounties; they were called in by Yukon RCMP.

The local RCMP also called upon the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP (CPC) to monitor the investigation, in order to ensure it is done impartially.

On Monday, the CPC announced a chair-initiated complaint, which will broaden the scope of the investigation to include nationwide policy and training on how to handle citizens who are severely intoxicated or suffering from "pre-existing medical conditions."

Although this step has been called for by the commission, it will still be undertaken by the federal police force, a scenario that already has some discrediting the outcome.

"It's a whitewash,"Whitehorse lawyer André Roothman said of the investigation. "It's utter b.s."

He pointed out two obvious problems with an investigation wherein police investigate police actions.

Firstly, the civilians who are questioned in the matter may not feel safe.

"You must be brave to the point of being out of your mind" to give evidence to one police officer about another, he said of people who have already had run-ins with the law.

Secondly, Roothman said, "You have the problem of finding police who will stand up and testify against other police officers."

This problem also exists in a public tribunal, he said, but is that much more relevant in an internal investigation.

Roothman represented Champagne-Aishihik citizen Arthur Joe in a private prosecution of the RCMP.

Joe claimed police brutality after he was arrested and allegedly beaten up by two officers in the Whitehorse detachment, the same building where his wife, Madeleine Henry, died in 2000.

Joe had launched a complaint with the CPC alleging the RCMP were at fault for her death.

He was arrested on May 10, 2003 for breaching a probation order shortly after filing the complaint, and believes the two events are connected.

"That incident was too close to his filing of a complaint about his wife's death," Roothman said today.

The whole scenario shows how dangerous it can be for people who speak up, he said.

The case was thrown out court earlier this fall.

The inquiry into Henry's death found that no RCMP officers were at fault.