A report finds no hard evidence the RCMP tried to cover up the wrongdoing of one of its officers at New Brunswick's notorious Kingsclear training school.

However, the report into the case of now-retired Staff Sgt. Clifford McCann found that a sloppy investigation, poor supervision by senior officers and inadequate documentation created the perception of a cover-up.

The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP said Wednesday that the force must relinquish investigations of such cases to other police forces or at least outside teams of Mounties.

"This is an issue that isn't going away for any police force," commission chairman Paul Kennedy told a news conference in Fredericton.

The commission launched the investigation in 2004. One-hundred-fifty people were interviewed, including 98 police officers. McCann did not co-operate with the commission. Two other officers also refused to be interviewed.

McCann, who has denied any allegations of wrongdoing, was never criminally charged in connection with his activities at Kingsclear.

However, four former residents of the reform school filed a lawsuit in which they alleged that McCann sexually abused them after taking them on outings.

That case is reportedly making its way through the courts.

Karl Toft, a former guard at the facility, pleaded guilty in 1992 to 34 assaults on 18 residents. He received a 13-year sentence.

He eventually admitted to more than 200 sexual assaults.

The New Brunswick government held a public inquiry in the 1990s to investigate Kingsclear, which is now closed.

The commission's investigation was not a public inquiry.

John Fearon -- who claims to have been sexually assaulted at Kingsclear in the 1960s -- pronounced himself disappointed with the commission's findings.

"I'm back where I started 13 years ago," Fearon told reporters after the report was released.

"Today, the federal government, by way of this commission, has stayed the complaints of all the victims of Kingsclear ... and it makes no sense. They are being judge and jury."

He called for a public inquiry - something Ottawa has avoided.

Shirley Heafey, former chair of the commission, has claimed the Liberal government of Paul Martin pressured her to leave in 2005 after she lobbied for a public inquiry into Kingsclear.

Heafey has also criticized former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli for wanting to sweep problems "under the rug" and seeing anyone who criticized the Mounties as a problem.

Zaccardelli left the RCMP last year amid controversy over conflicting statements he made in testimony related to the Maher Arar case. After he left, many RCMP officers severely criticized his management style.

Fearon and Heafey have said RCMP officers need to be offered protection against reprisals to tell what they know.

Paula Todd, host of CTV Newsnet's The Verdict, said there doesn't appear to be a call for whistleblower immunity in this report.

New RCMP Commissioner William Elliott has said he wants to encourage officers to bring problems forward.

With files from The Canadian Press