From: "Mike Pugsley" <wobbly8-AT-mail.com>
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 00:48:46 +0800
Subject: APEC Inquiry


FULL STORY http://www.nationalpost.com/


Here is a chronology of events leading to the hearings into the actions of police and the Prime Ministers's Office following the 1997 APEC conference:


Nov. 24, 1997: APEC leaders begin talks after weeks of build-up 

Nov. 25, 1997: Police and APEC protesters clash. Forty-two protesters arrested after RCMP use pepper-spray to calm the crowd. When asked about the fracas, Prime Minister Jean Chretien responds: "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate."

Feb. 20, 1998: Inquiry into police action launched after 49 complaints filed to the RCMP Public Complaints Commission. 

Oct. 5: Hearings into the incident begin; NDP MP Dick Proctor tells House of Commons he overheard Solicitor General Andy Scott discussing inquiry with seatmate on airplane. 

Nov. 23: Scott resigns. 

Nov. 26: Federal Court rules APEC inquiry can't continue until allegations against panel chair Gerald Morin are resolved. 

Dec. 4: Morin resigns, citing interference from commission chairwoman Shirley Heafey. 

Dec. 17: Resignations of two remaining APEC panellists announced. They call for a new fresh start to the hearings. 

Dec. 22: Heafey announces that Ted Hughes, a former judge and B.C. provincial conflict-of-interest commissioner, will replace the three departed panellists and restart hearings in 1999. 

Jan. 27, 1999: Hearings resume with debate on various motions. 

July 31, 2001: Hughes delivers his report to the commission.

Aug. 6: Report released via a leak to CBC Newsworld.


Here are some of the recommendations of Ted Hughes' report into clashes between police and protesters at the 1997 APEC summit:


- Give "generous" opportunity for peaceful protesters to see and be seen in their protest activity.

- University campuses should not be used as the venue for events where delegates are "sequestered and protected from visible and audible signs of dissent."

- Briefing police who are assigned to public order events must become a priority so they are adequately prepared.

- RCMP officers should continue the "open door" policy of meeting with protest leaders.

- Police should "make all reasonable efforts" to warn protesters before taking "action that could result in physical confrontation."

- Officers' reasons for conducting personal body searches should be recorded.

- Review the "broad and generous" rules of the public complaints procedure. The current rules allow any member of public "whether or not they were personally affected by the conduct at issue" to participate. This policy "unquestionably" lengthened the inquiry.

- The federal government and RCMP should establish "the nature and extent of police independence from government."

- RCMP officers should understand they could face "disciplinary action" if they allow government officials to intrude into the "formulation and execution of decisions relating to the provision of security services" at a public event.


Some quotes from the APEC report and in reaction:


"It is inescapable that in most instances where I have found police conduct to have been either inappropriate to the circumstances or inconsistent with Charter rights, the primary responsibility rests with those who held key roles in security planning." - Ted Hughes, in his report following the inquiry into police conduct at the 1997 APEC summit.


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"We can't comment on something we don't have." - Guy Amyot, spokesman for the RCMP.


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"I think the report will go down in history as one of the most expensive door stops ever." - Jaggi Singh, an APEC protest leader who was arrested.


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"You have seen RCMP and other policing forces around the world escalate their violence and heavy-handedness with respect to the anti-globalization protest movements. . . This direction is not going to be changed by the report. The report is too little too late." - Garth Mullins, a protest organizer who also launched a complaint against the RCMP.


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"I suspect there may be a half-hearted attempt at implementing (the report's recommendations) but don't forget, the very same people that were responsible for the APEC crackdown are going to be the people that are going to be implementing these recommendations." - 

Jonathan Oppenheim, a protest organizer who also launched a complaint against the RCMP.


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"I hope what can come out of this is much better balance between the rights of protesters and what may appear to be in this case the overzealousness of those who would want to silence them, and to some extent the law enforcement officers caught in between." - NDP leader Alexa McDonough, who had not yet seen the report.


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"We now have a thoughtful, considered calm examination of what went on at APEC. We need the same kind of thing for what went on in Quebec City we need to get that information together very quickly so that we can ensure that when the world meets again in Canada as they will in Kananaskis, that we do not run into the kind of problems we saw at APEC and in Quebec." - Joe Clark, leader of federal Progressive Conservative party:



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