[asia-apec 1267] Van Sun: more testimony

[David Webster]

>Last updated: Wednesday 25 August 1999    
>
>NATIONAL NEWS
>---------------------------------------------------------
>APEC leaders too busy to give protesters time to move, says aide
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>
>          VANCOUVER
>          (CP) - Presidents and prime ministers attending the 1997 APEC 
>summit were too busy to allow protesters time to clear a motorcade route, a 
>former aide to Prime Minister
>          Jean Chretien says.
>
>          Instead of allowing demonstrators to move away on their own, RCMP 
>decided to pepper spray protesters to speed things up, critics have suggested.
>
>          "The police had to take an action," said Jean Carle, Chretien's 
>operations director between 1993 and 1998 and the prime minister's point 
>man on the summit, told an
>          inquiry into RCMP treatment of protesters.
>
>          Carle - an aide so close to Chretien he has been described as 
>being like a son to the prime minister - said he was not responsible for 
>the police action.
>
>          But the soft-spoken witness, delivering terse answers, conceded 
>he told RCMP that the leaders were ready to go following their talks at the 
>University of British
>          Columbia campus on Nov. 25, 1997.
>
>          "Some leaders had a specific timetable to respect," Carle told 
>anti-APEC protester Jaggi Singh, who was cross-examining him.
>
>          "Often these leaders come to these summits with another agenda as 
>well, planned for immediately after such a summit," Carle said as he 
>wrapped up two days of testimony
>          in front of inquiry head Ted Hughes.
>
>          Anti-APEC protesters Jonathan Oppenheim said outside the hearing 
>room that activists paid a painful price for the rush.
>
>          "Pressure put on the RCMP by the Prime Minister's Office clearly 
>resulted in the people being given a nine-second warning before they were 
>pepper-sprayed," said
>          Oppenheim.
>
>          The reference alludes to widely broadcast television footage 
>which shows a senior Mountie barking an order to disperse, then nine 
>seconds later dousing protesters with
>          pepper spray to clear the motorcade route at the university.
>
>          Documents show Sgt. Hugh Stewart - a senior officer on RCMP 
>security lines - was ordered to clear the road because leaders were in a 
>rush to leave the meeting.
>
>          The APEC inquiry is being held by the RCMP Public Complaints 
>Commission, an independent body that is processing more than 40 public 
>complaints about the way the Mounties
>          treated protesters during the 1997 summit.
>
>          The RCMP was at the forefront of a massive security force rallied 
>to protect leaders during the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit 
>that brought 18 Pacific leaders
>          to Vancouver in November 1997.
>
>          As leaders held talks Nov. 25, 1997, protesters and police 
>clashed. Protesters were pepper sprayed and detained. Female protesters 
>were strip searched while males were
>          not.
>
>          Hughes is assessing various issues but the role of the prime 
>minister has loomed large.
>
>          Some critics have suggested Chretien or his staff may have 
>manipulated security plans to shield leaders from embarrassing protest.
>
>          Protesters and lawyers representing them want the prime minister 
>to be called to testify at the inquiry, something Hughes has not ruled out.
>
>          Carle did not leave a paper trail to help their efforts.
>
>          On Tuesday, he said he kept no notes about his APEC work, which 
>took up most of 1997.
>
>          The only APEC-related document with Carle's signature on it is a 
>letter to UBC president Martha Piper on the size of protest area.
>
>          "We don't have from you one scrap of paper with a note, a letter, 
>a reference to you sending an e-mail - not one," said protesters' lawyer Joe Arvay.
>
>          "I don't use e-mail," Carle responded.
>
>          "Do you use a pen?" retorted Arvay.
>
>          "Sometimes," Carle replied.
>
>          The absence of any notes meant Carle had no reference with which 
>to refresh his memory on meetings, conversations and other matters.
>
>          "It's very hard to cross-examine Jean Carle when he has no 
>notes," said Oppenheim.
>
>          Anti-APEC activists have said Carle's vagueness bolsters their 
>argument that Chretien must testify.
>
>          As Carle left the inquiry Tuesday, he refused to comment on 
>whether Chretien should testify.
>
>          "It was an experience," a grinning Carle said of his appearance 
>before the inquiry.
>
>          Tuesday's hearing was notable because it was dominated by 
>cross-examination of Carle by anti-APEC protesters, including Singh and Oppenheim.
>
>          It marked the first time that the activists have had direct 
>contact with a representative of Chretien's office.
>
>          Four months after the APEC summit, Carle left Chretien's office 
>to become a senior vice-president with the Business Development Bank of Canada.
>