More than 1,000 people turned out for a rally in Vancouver to honour the memory of Robert Dziekanski.
He was Tasered and died when police tried to arrest him following an outburst Dziekanski had at Vancouver International Airport in October.
The Polish immigrant who did not speak any English was kept in a secure part of the airport for about 10 hours. He had become agitated and violent, but had calmed down by the time police arrived.
He was Tasered within 25 seconds of police arriving on the scene, and his death was caught on tape by a witness who released the recording to the public earlier this month.
The video shocked Canadians, many of whom have been critical of the police for using a Taser in a situation that some say may have been resolved through less violent methods.
Those attending Saturday's rally said the incident shows that police and authorities need to communicate better before using violence against suspects.
"We want the RCMP and our police to serve and protect -- not kill, lie, and cover it up," said one speaker at the rally.
The event drew many people from the province's Polish community. Dziekanski's mother Zofia Cisowski watched the rally from a nearby hotel window but was too distraught to attend.
Paul Pritchard, the witness who recorded the Taser incident at the airport, also attended. The crowd gave him a hero's welcome. He said he had visited Dziekanski's mother before the rally and both had shed a lot of tears about what happened.
Pritchard had threatened to sue the RCMP after they refused to return his recording following the Oct. 14th incident. He told the crowd that he is still affected by what he saw.
"Taking a video does not make me an expert on Tasers, it does not make me an expert on police tactics, and it does not make me an expert on excessive force," he said.
"It means one thing. It means I was there. It means I saw what happened with my own eyes. I saw the life drain out of a man's face."
Pritchard left the stage in tears draped with a Polish flag.
The crowd also gave a warm greeting to Sima Ashrafinia. She was also at the airport on the night Dziekanski died and was one of the few people who took the time to talk to him.
She says she can't get images from that night out of her head.
"I wake up, I see Robert asking for help, I see Zofia crying," Ashrafinia said.
"I talk to my husband. I am driving him crazy talking about ... 'What if? What if? What if?'"
The B.C. government will conduct a public inquiry into the Dziekanski affair. On Monday, the Canada Border Service Agency, is expected to release a report on how to more effectively deal with immigration incidents. There are also at least five other investigations related to Tasers being conducted throughout Canada.
