Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

Firlotte said the Vancouver Police Department didn't want to find the truth.

"I've never been interviewed by the VPD," he told CBC News on Monday. "How can you have somebody die who was in the custody of the VPD … and I'm one of the principals, and I've never been interviewed?

"I think they did what they felt they had to do to protect the department's reputation."

The surprise timing of the retirement announcement of Jamie Graham, Vancouver Police Chief and the nearly simultaneous reversal of the wrong-headed decision by the provincial government to overrule the Police Complaints Commissioners intent to investigate the death of Frank Paul gives the appearance that these two events are linked.

An internal police review concluded that a police van driver dumped Paul, 47, in the alley. The van driver was suspended for a day.

The fact that this investigation was so severely botched in the first place is nearly as much of a scandal as the horrific decision to allow Mr. Paul to die from exposure in an alleyway in the first place. In our racist country it is of substantial significance to have the opportunity to examine this heartless police conduct and cover-up.

This decision by the provincial government and response by Jamie Graham, opens the door for other investigations and resignations. There have been many deaths in custody in this province that need further examination, including a complete review of the circumstances that lead to Anthany Dawson's death in Victoria Police custody.

More on this story:

• Government Orders Inquiry into Death of Vancouver Man
• Inquiry finally called into death of man dumped in Vancouver alley by police
• Inquiry called into death of man who Vancouver police left in alley

"In my view, the issues in the Paul case are so serious that an inquiry is necessary in the public interest ... and best suited to arrive at the truth and make recommendations for future conduct," Ryneveld said in a summary of the Paul case in his annual report. But then-Solicitor General Rich Coleman refused to oblige, saying that he had yet to be convinced that it would be in the public interest.

Stand up, all victims of oppression
for the tyrants fear your might
Don't cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing, if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all
- from Billy Bragg's version of The Internationale

Labels: alternatives, bcmedia, copwatch, human rights abuse, in memory of, leftist content creation, opinion

It isn't that the provincial police used in Ontario, Newfoundland and Quebec are any better than the RCMP. However, the enforcement of the criminal code is jurisdictionally a provincial matter in Canada. Why is it that the BC Attorney General continues to pretend he has no control over the policing of our province.

The BC office of the Police Complaints Commissioner has had a rocky ride since its inception nearly ten years ago. A limiting budget and a more limited mandate from the start got much worse when the courts over ruled the first significant Public Hearing into the riot at the Hyatt. I remember the police's actions that night vividly and a public hearing was absolutely warranted. The courts however, stated that the commissioner acted without jurisdiction in calling for a hearing. Although Commissioner Morrison was eventually successful in overturning this ruling, 4 years had now passed since the incident. Morrison himself was finished as commissioner long before there was a final outcome. Now, a series of suggestions for improving the complaints process have been brought forward by Justice Wood.

From Opininon 250:

• Strengthening the oversight powers of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) to ensure that serious complaints are properly investigated and resolved.
• Shifting from the current model where the OPCC oversees a complaint after police have investigated it, to contemporaneous oversight where the OPCC can be involved throughout the handling of a complaint. This would involve the use of new software to track complaints across all municipal police departments.
• Increasing the police complaint commissioner's powers to include the ability to provide advice or direction to a police department during an investigation; the power to issue guidelines that are binding on police; and statutory responsibility to monitor non-lodged or oral complaints (complaints made by a member of the public who does not want to commit the complaint to writing).
• Compelling police by law to co-operate both with internal and external investigators, including providing a statement and submitting to an interview. Failure to co-operate would constitute a new category of discreditable conduct under the Code of Professional Conduct regulation.

Of course, no Canadian can forget how much worse the RCMP's Public Complaints Commission is. Their handling of the complaints related to the injured protesters at APEC will go down in history as a massive blunder almost as bad as the actions of the RCMP in the first place.

For those of you who don't live in British Columbia, or who do and don't follow policing jurisdiction closely, I should give some background. The RCMP is a federal police force reporting to the federal government. The BC Government and all but a few BC municipalities contract the RCMP to provide policing. This arrangement is used instead of provincial police forces in much of Canada. Cities like Surrey, Kamloops and Kelowna don't have their own police forces. Many smaller cities, districts and municipalities do, like Central Saanich and the District of Oak Bay. It gets weirder though, districts like the UBC endowment lands and the Naval Base at Esquimalt are policed by the RCMP on contract but surrounding areas like the Esquimalt municipality and the City of Vancouver have their own policing arrangements that don't include the RCMP. Federal legislation stops any kind of real oversite of the RCMP by the provincial governments, civilians or municipalities. However, the option exists to negotiate a new policing regime or simply do away with municipal and provincial policing duties by contract with the RCMP.

Today's call from the BC NDP Opposition that all communities should benefit from improvements to police complaints requires extending a new kind of civilian over-site to the majority of the province is one I hardily support. The RCMP can no longer operate by a different set of rules than the rest of the police in BC.

If Stockwell Day and the RCMP continue to insist they should have their own set of rules; then we should simply call their bluff and stop using the RCMP in BC.

Labels: alternatives, bc blogs, bc ndp, cons, copwatch, day, democracy, human rights abuse, link, ndp, opinion, rcmp

Aboriginal people are younger on average, their unemployment rates are higher and incomes lower; they are more likely to live in crowded conditions; they have higher residential mobility; and children are more likely to be members of a lone-parent family. They also have a lower level of education. - Statistics Canada

Today, the Assembly of First Nations announced that they will be filing a Human Rights Complaint against systemically discriminatory underfunding in Canadian indigenous child welfare; unless this funding imbalance is immediately corrected.

Canada is still apprehending children from their parents at an astounding rate. One in ten first children are in foster care. This compares to one in two hundred amongst the non-indigenous population of Canadian children. Our country's genocidal policies of generational theft have not been stopped. Thinking Canadians should take this opportunity to stand up to this on-going racism. The devastating consequences of chronic underfunding and an over-focus on apprehension will have repercussions for our collective future.

According to CBC, the Assembly says that, First Nations children serving agencies, are funded 22% less than those that deal with non-aboriginal children. The Assembly calculates that equalizing funding would only take $107 million.

The long-term consequences of a failure to act now, are far more than the $3.27 per Canadian that correcting this potentially genocidal and obviously systemic discrimination would cost.

"It's not because we have a Conservative government in power that has caused us to take this action. This has been building up over a number of years and successive governments," said Phil Fontaine, who has often been criticized as a closet federal Liberal. Mr. Fontaine was forced to deflect accusations that the timing of this announcement could have political overtones.

This criticism can easily be assuaged by pointing out that, a human rights complaint:

• will not be resolved within the electoral time-lines,
  
• is before a commission that can not force the government to act even if they find systemic discrimination, and
• is a political issue and only the election of a government the likes of which we have never seen in this country, will result in justice for first peoples, young and old.

Overall, the proportion of Aboriginal people among provincial/territorial sentenced custody admissions has remained stable at 21% since 2001/02. The proportion of Aboriginal people among sentenced admissions to federal facilities also remained stable at 18%. - Statistics Canada

Justice must be achieved now! Not against one youngster who steals... we must do justice as a country, even though Canada has never before shown it feels.

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, canada, copwatch, democracy, health, human rights abuse, leftist content creation, ndp, opinion, yay immigration

With the recent and long overdue apology to Maher Arar finally issued, it is time for arrest warrants to be issued against those responsible.

This style of warrant issued by prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld of Berlin, Germany has issued against 13 CIA agents is a spectacular step forward for democracy. Although, we may never see a trial or any kind of a conviction in this case.

In Canada we have had a public inquiry, we allocated blame, we apologized, we compensated and we simply cannot leave out the last steps on the stairs to justice. Those steps are charging and potentially convicting those who are criminally responsible. Mr. Arar and our entire country deserve to know that our government will prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law. I suggest we start with US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who still will not clear Mr. Arar's name and have been involved in this illegal policy of rendition from the start.

It is likely we can not gain jurisdiction over the American agents who broke international law and deported Mr. Arar to be tortured. However, we can at least ensure these people understand they are being sought and will be arrested if they do happen into our country's jurisdiction. The Canadian's responsible should be charged as well.

At the very least we need to ask: Where's the contrition for rendition?

Labels: anti-war, copwatch, day, democracy, human rights abuse, rcmp, spy-watch

"Douglas has been known personally by and has associated with leftists, peace movement workers and (Communist Party of Canada) members for years. He has allowed his name to stand publicly on many occasions in relation to support of issues sponsored by leftist groups. On the basis of information contained in this file, it is difficult to determine the full depth of sympathy and involvement or influence, if any, these groups or their philosophies have over him. It is felt, however, there is much we do not know about Douglas and the file should be maintained in order to correlate any additional information that surfaces which might assist in piecing this jigsaw puzzle together." - A late 1970s RCMP memo suggesting Douglas's file be kept active.

Today's story from the Canadian Press that Tommy Douglas was spied on by the RCMP from 1939 until his death in 1986 will come as no surprise to RCMP watchers out there. The fact that much of the file is still a state secret, has not been released combined with the revelation that a Justice reviewed the file in the late 1970's and allowed the spying to continue are all of serious concern.

This does beg the same question I started to ask in a personal way with my Dear Commissioner Zaccardelli letter. I wonder, if I will ever receive a reply to my freedom of information request now that the Commissioner has resigned :-) ..

I'll let you the reader(s), know if I do. If I don't, it might be left to you to file the request for twenty years after I die (when the fun secret files might get released).

Labels: annotation, copwatch, leftist content creation, opinion, rcmp

We briefly interrupt the regularly programmed obfuscated thoughtlessness inversed to rebroadcast a reminder that many of us live on stolen land and Leonard Peltier is still in jail.

FREEDOM VIDEO ~ RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Directed by Peter Christopherson. The video combines live performance footage with scenes from documentary Incident At Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story and text from Peter Matthiessen's In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse.

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Labels: copwatch, historical, online campaign

Dear Commissioner Zaccardelli

Please excuse me if my letter to you today is not 100% accurate. You see I have been reading more than 1200 websites in the last few days and I am in a rush to clear my name before I am deported to be tortured in another nation within Canada.

I am concerned that there may have been some transfer of knowledge from what I have read to what I now know. I want to say upfront that I may not be clear on when, I learned what or how. Like you, this lack of clarity in my knowledge concerns me and I am writing to you at this, the first possible opportunity, to clarify what happened when and why.

The thing is, I'm not the commissioner of the RCMP. I am at this time a private citizen and it is ok for me to not know what I knew when. But commissioner your admission today that you did not know what, about who (and particularly Mr. Arar), when, makes me very concerned that: you are the commissioner of the RCMP. What you or your force may know about me or may incorrectly think they know about me, could result in me being asked questions in another nation's prison, within Canada.

You see, I was born in Victoria, British Columbia. I have also recently visited Victoria, Australia. I am concerned that the complexity of my travel history and birthplace may result in me being deported against my will to Victoriaville, a town within a recently recognized nation within Canada, where I may find myself tortured by the agents of a recognized nation within Canada or said newly recognized nation of Canada.

Now, this fear may seem bordering on paranoia, but our country has been gripped by paranoia before. So, please keep in mind that my testimony may change in the future, particularly after consultation with the Minister of Public Safety, who unlike yourself before your last public testimony in September, I have not had the opportunity to consult.

Let's review the transfer of knowledge at this point:

a. You didn't know what you were talking about when you testified at the end of September. You are the top cop. The folks in serge below you look to you for leadership and direction.
b. You guys have the guns.
c. You guys have the connections with the guys with the guns south of the 49th.
d. You tell the guys with the guns south of the 49th what you know.
e. The guys with the guns south the 49th don't necessarily follow international law.
f. You don't know what you know.
g. Your organization surveilled the former leader of my political party, David Lewis, for 53 years including during the entire time he was an Member of Parliament.
h. I have been detained for my political activities and held against my will.
i. Your force doesn't understand legitimate public dissent (heard of APEC?).
j. You don't know what your force is doing, when they are doing it or why.
k. Your organization has publicly bragged that it kept extensive files on dissidents within Canada leading and up to the APEC meetings in 1997 in Vancouver and the 2001 FTAA meetings in Quebec City.
l. Your organization or members of it have on a number of occasions made it known to me that you were concerned with my legitimate political activities. An example of this is when on a date in 1997 an officer identifying himself simply as an undercover RCMP officer approached me, showed me his gun and badge and asked me, by name (believe me, I hadn't had the opportunity to introduce myself), what I had planned for a protest at a Liberal Party rally at the Stratchcona Hotel in Victoria, BC.
m. I know a guy, who talked to a guy who was convicted of blowing something up (albeit 30 years ago). I'm not saying that guy did it and in case you don't know who I'm talking about I'm not going to tell you who I know who knows this guy. But, at the time your guys said he did and this resulted in him being convicted, he's served his time though. Now, I'm not related to this guy (nor was I born when the thing blew up), but he has the same last name as me and I know that sometimes the RCMP has trouble telling names apart. I think you do a lot of keyword searching in order to facilitate transfer of knowledge. Today, this appears to be more than Mr. Arar was suspected of. He just knew a guy, who talked to a guy, who you guys thought might might blow something up in the future. To sum up, I know a guy who talked to a guy who was convicted of blowing something up.

This letter is a formal request for a complete copy of all information held by the RCMP about my person. Because of the danger of me being detained elsewhere in the world because of this information this request extends to all information held in any format by the RCMP (you might not even know you are giving this information to a third party, given the way transfer of knowledge seems to work, see patriot act). It also extends to any information the RCMP may have held in the past and knowingly transfered with to any other police force or security force elsewhere in the world.

I have a legitimate concern this information may be incorrect or may be found in the future to have included "transfer of knowledge" that would lead to determinations based on this information that could be incorrect. I deserve the opportunity to correct any information held by your force and in order to do that I need a copy of that information.

In particular, I would like a copy of any threat assessments that name my person or relate to a position I have held. Let me give you an example: During my tenure as Chairperson of the University of Victoria Students' Society, an organization of more than 15,000 students, your force recommended to the current Minister of Public Safety's political party that both myself and the entire membership (all 15,000 of us) of this organization be prevented from entering a rally at the Victoria Conference Centre. This decision having been made is not at question, your officers briefly detained a member of this organization on the grounds of his membership within the UVic Students' Society and his intent to purchase a ticket to this rally.

What I would like is a copy of all documents relating to me, whether they name me directly or refer to me using a name relevant to a position I held or a position your force assumed I was holding. (ie: if your force decided I was in a class of people determined to be pacifist terrorists or whatever it is you call NDP members and then made a decision to arrest all pacifist terrorists and I was arrested, I want a copy of all documents relating to pacifist terrorists that directed your force to arrest them). I am seeking to know What motivated your force's course of action. I want a copy of any and all notes taken, any and all background files prepared and any and all documents be they electronic or paper. As I have stated, this is because of current knowledge transfer and is to protect myself in case this information is shared with a foreign government's agents.

This is a formal request. Please provide me with a copy of these documents within the timelines prescribed by law. Any failure to do so may be referred to the Public Complaints Commission.

With true patriot love, may some other son command the RCMP soon,

Morgan Stewart
Address withheld pending further transfer of knowledge

By e-mail: giuliano.zaccardelli@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Labels: copwatch, leftist content creation, opinion, rcmp

Racist, violent police on horseback attacked a group of peacefully protesting janitors yesterday.

Don't like how I called these cops racist and violent have a look for yourself: Download the podcast or watch it on YouTube.

Today, a thousand janitors held another protest at the same site.

“Houston has to make a decision whether they are going to use their power to grind workers deeper into poverty or use their power to lift workers out of poverty,” said Tom Balanoff, President of SEIU Local 1. “We hope the aggressive tactic employed against the janitors last night was a regrettable mistake on the part of the police and it won’t be repeated.”

Of course this story isn't about police aggression on one day in one city. This story is about the aggressive attack capitalism takes on the lowest paid workers doing the dirtiest crappiest jobs every day. Today, you just get to see how threatened the state becomes when a small number of these workers stand up for their rights.

In the words of NWA:

"To the police I'm sayin fuck you punk
Readin my rights and shit, it's all junk
Pullin out a silly club, so you stand
With a fake assed badge and a gun in your hand
But take off the gun so you can see what's up"

This isn't just the police either, this is also the property owners who had them called out.

Please take a moment to stand with these workers and send a note to the boss's boss.

Take a page from NWA's lyric book and let them know what you really think.

Labels: alternatives, copwatch, democracy, human rights abuse, online campaign, union