[asia-apec 649] Van Sun: Judge rules APEC hearing will proceed

[David Webster]

Last Updated: Friday 11 September 1998        TOP STORIES
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Judge rules APEC hearing will proceed
The Vancouver Sun

Janet Steffenhagen and Peter O'Neil Vancouver Sun

  A public review of police actions during a student-led
protest last year will begin Monday as planned after a
federal court judge refused Thursday to halt the
hearing.

Justice James Hugessen said it is in everyone's best
interest for the RCMP Public Complaints Commission to
                  proceed with its review of allegations that police
                  mishandled protesters during the Asia Pacific Economic
                  Cooperation conference last November.

                  The judge expressed some surprise at the application,
                  filed by five protesters whose complaints about police
                  actions -- including their use of pepper spray -- helped
                  trigger the review.

                  "It's unjust and improper that they should now attempt
                  to bootleg the process that they started by bringing it
                  to a halt when it is at the point of bearing fruit,"
                  Hugessen said from Ottawa during the teleconference
                  hearing.

                  Lawyer Cameron Ward, acting for the protesters, argued
                  the review should be stopped because the commission,
                  established by the RCMP Act, is not independent and is
                  incapable of providing a fair hearing.

                  Ward said the commission had the appearance of bias
                  because Solicitor-General Andy Scott is the minister
                  responsible for both it and the RCMP, and he and Prime
                  Minister Jean Chretien have already said police acted
                  reasonably.

                  If not halted, Ward said, the hearing should at least be
                  postponed, because he and his clients have not had time
                  to review large stacks of documents and interview
                  transcripts that were only delivered in the last few
                  days.

                  But Chris Considine, independent counsel acting for the
                  commission, said most pertinent documents could have
                  been reviewed at the commission's office over the
                  summer.

                  And he noted that only five people requested a delay,
                  while 44 others who also filed complaints about police
                  actions are keen to proceed.

                  Protesters complained to the commission after they were
                  pepper-sprayed and arrested during the summit. They
                  allege the RCMP tried to stifle their protest on orders
                  from Chretien and say the prime minister should be
                  required to testify.

                  Considine said he will call the prime minister if there
                  is evidence he acted in a manner that needs explaining.
                  Chretien has said he will not testify.

                  Some protesters said earlier they would not participate
                  in the hearing, despite being summonsed. But after the
                  judge's ruling, one protester, Garth Mullins, said they
                  would attend Monday and make a decision then.

                  Meanwhile, in Banff, Opposition leader Preston Manning
                  said Canadians are shocked by the disclosure this week
                  of documents showing the lengths to which Chretien's
                  office went to shield former Indonesian President
                  Suharto from protests.

                  If the facts are correct, he said, he will demand an
                  apology and a public inquiry and will "insist that
                  measures be taken to assure all of us that the prime
                  minister will never again be in a position to use the
                  instruments of state to bully and intimidate individual
                  Canadian citizens."

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