Nova Scotia’s police watchdog is awaiting word on whether another oversight agency will investigate potential police misconduct in the wrongful conviction of Glen Assoun — five years after a probe was promised.

The province’s Progressive Conservative government committed in September 2020 to an independent investigation of police actions in the case of Assoun, who spent 17 years in prison for the killing of his ex-girlfriend.

The Halifax resident was acquitted in March 2019 and died in June 2023 at age 67, after repeatedly stating he wanted an investigation into the actions of the officers involved in his case.

A preliminary assessment by the federal Justice Department determined that the RCMP chose not to disclose an investigator’s theories about other suspects in the murder case, and that the Mounties had destroyed most of this potential evidence.