[asia-apec 699] Ott.Cit: Native Chief says Chretien gave security orders at APEC

[Sharon R.A. Scharfe]

Ottawa Citizen Online
                                              
September 24, 1998
                                                                        

                  Native chief says Chretien gave
                  security orders at APEC

                  JIM BROWN


                  OTTAWA (CP) - A British Columbia aboriginal chief at last
fall’s
                  Asia-Pacific summit in Vancouver says she saw Prime
Minister Jean
                  Chretien giving orders to security and other officials at
the site. 

                  "They gave him a briefing on all the events that were
taking place," Chief Gail
                  Sparrow of the Musqueam Indian band said Wednesday. 

                  "He stood by the front door and gave directions constantly
to his secret
                  service and the officials and security . . . I saw him
actively involved in
                  everything that was taking place." 

                  Sparrow acknowledged she couldn’t hear anything the prime
minister was
                  saying outside the anthropology museum at the University
of British
                  Columbia, where 19 APEC leaders were gathered. 

                  But she asked officials what was going on and they
indicated there was
                  concern about protesters along a motorcade route. 

                  "They said there were protesters out there and they’re
taking another
                  alternative route. They knew what was going on because the
prime minister
                  and officials were right there talking." 

                  Sparrow emphasized that she never heard Chretien give any
orders about
                  removing or arresting protesters. 

                  Police eventually arrested more than 40 demonstrators on
the final day of the
                  summit, pepper-spraying some of them in incidents
currently under
                  investigation by the RCMP Public Complaints Commission. 

                  Opposition critics and student protesters accuse the Prime
Minister’s Office
                  of political interference in the students’ right to protest. 

                  Former Indonesian president Suharto was the target of most
of the protests.
                  His government had warned he wouldn’t come to Vancouver if
there was
                  danger that he would be politically embarrassed by
protesters. 

                  Documents already filed with the complaints commission
suggest officials in
                  Chretien’s office were closely involved in subsequent
security planning. 

                  But the prime minister has said he never personally spoke
to the RCMP about
                  security preparations for the summit. 

                  He has so far refused to follow the lead of two of his
senior officials - chief
                  of staff Jean Pelletier and former operations director
Jean Carle - who have
                  agreed to testify before commission. 

                  Sparrow’s comments were dismissed by Peter Donolo, a
spokesman for
                  Chretien, as "a bizarre statement that’s not grounded in
fact. By her own
                  admission, she says she didn’t hear any discussion." 

                  Donolo said it was "totally false" that Chretien was
barking orders to security
                  personnel and the prime minister would not have been
involved in decisions
                  like changing a motorcade route. 

                  But New Democrat Leader Alexa McDonough, who raised Sparrow’s
                  comments in the Commons, interpreted them as proof that
Chretien played a
                  central role in security planning. 

                  "Both staff and security officials (were) very much
receiving orders from the
                  prime minister about the whole issue of protecting the
visiting leaders from
                  these demonstrations and supposedly offensive signs," said
McDonough. 

                  She renewed her call for a full judicial inquiry, rather
than leaving the matter
                  to the police complaints commission. 

                  Sparrow has been at the centre of controversy over the
APEC meeting
                  before. 

                  She had been scheduled to deliver welcoming remarks to
delegates, but her
                  address was abruptly cancelled the night before. 

                  Sparrow maintained that officials in Chretien’s office
objected to references
                  in her speech to human rights. The prime minister’s office
said the speech
                  was ditched because it ran 12 minutes, twice the time that
had been allotted. 

                  In Vancouver on Wednesday, a protester alleged that
documents crucial to
                  the inquiry have been destroyed. 

                  Jonathan Oppenheim, a member of APEC Alert, one of the
protesters
                  arrested by RCMP during last fall’s economic summit, said
documents were
                  destroyed by officials in the Prime Minister’s Office. 

                  But the counsel to the RCMP Public Complaints Commission,
which begins
                  hearings next month, vigorously discounted the claim.
Chris Considine insisted
                  Wednesday there is "no evidence of documents being
destroyed in order to
                  deprive us of access to them. 

                  "I have no reason to believe there’s been a deliberate
destruction of
                  documents." 

                  There were revelations Tuesday that the RCMP had
infiltrated the protest
                  groups before APEC and compiled information and photographs. 



                                  © The Canadian Press, 1998


                       
                                     Copyright 1998 The Ottawa Citizen