[asia-apec 984] Van Sun: APEC-PCC commission extinct

[David Webster]

Vancouver Sun
Last updated: Friday 18 December 1998     NATIONAL NEWS
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Last two commissioners quit APEC panel
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                IAN BAILEY

                VANCOUVER (CP) - The last two members of a panel
                probing RCMP conduct at last year's APEC summit have
                quit, providing a clean slate for efforts to restart
                the troubled hearings. The head of the RCMP Public
                Complaints Commission said Thursday she will announce
                soon how the troubled probe will proceed.

                "I have a responsibility to ensure that complaints
                brought before the commission are examined in a way
                that is balanced and fair," said Shirley Heafey.

                "I intend to fulfil this mandate."

                A spokesman for the commission said a further
                announcement may be made before Christmas.

                Heafey was reacting to the departures of Vina Starr
                and John Wright. Their resignations followed the
                departure of Gerald Morin, the panel's chairman who
                quit after being accused of biased.

                He also accused Heafey of interfering in the
                commission's work.

                In a joint letter, Starr and Wright said they resigned
                to strip any concern about bias from the panel.

                The two said all the allegations had a "cumulative
                negative effect" on the panel's work.

                George Macintosh, lawyer for 39 Mounties facing public
                complaints, said the resignations are for the best.

                "They were burdened by being participants in a panel
                which has been under a cloud."

                The embattled commission - an independent agency that
                probes complaints against the RCMP - has heard scores
                of matters in its 10 years, but none like the
                complaints filed following the APEC summit.

                The commission is supposed to assess the manner in
                which RCMP security forces treated mostly student
                protesters during clashes at the 1997 summit.

                Scores of activists were detained and pepper-sprayed
                during clashes with security forces. Some female
                protesters were strip-searched.

                The federal Liberal government - notably Prime
                Minister Jean Chretien (PC) - have defended Heafey's
                process in the face of opposition demands for a
                judicial inquiry.

                Those demands were renewed Thursday.

                In Vancouver, Reform Leader Preston Manning angrily
                described the APEC process as an ongoing soap opera.

                Manning said Heafey's commission lacks the ability to
                deal with suggestions that Chretien's office
                intervened in security arrangements to protect
                visiting leaders from embarrassing protest.

                "I don't really think (the commission) has the
                jurisdiction to get to the top of the matter," Manning
                said.

                But federal Solicitor General Lawrence MacAuley
                rejected the idea, defending the commission's work as
                appropriate.

                "There is a process in place," he said Thursday. "It's
                an independent process - arm's length that's set up to
                handle (matters) such as this.

                "Let it do its work and it will."

                Chretien said the next move is up to Heafey, an Ottawa
                lawyer.

                "Now the members of the board have resigned, and that
                is the problem of the president of the commission to
                decide who will take over, not me," Chretien said in
                Ottawa.

                Lawyers involved in the inquiry said Thursday they
                will wait to see what Heafey does next.

                Most said they would not be opposed to Heafey
                appointing a whole new panel and re-launching the
                hearings.

                "If the (commission) can put in place a hearing
                process that we feel we can have confidence in, and if
                the matter is done on an expedited basis, I expect
                that would be acceptable," said James Williams, lawyer
                for two Mounties.

                Macintosh said he would not be opposed to a new start
                provided he is permitted to review all the letters
                Heafey sent to the now-dismantled panel to ensure she
                has not pre-judged the hearing.

                Macintosh also said he hopes Heafey will appoint a
                panel chairman with judicial experience.

                Cameron Ward, lawyer for more than two dozen
                protesters, said he would like to see a judicial
                inquiry.

                He said he wants the federal government to reconsider
                its decision to deny legal funding for the student
                protesters. Ward also wants a commitment from Chretien
                that he will testify.

                "If there is to be a hearing, I would hope they would
                get it right this time around."

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