My name is Bob Stevenson and I’ve lived in the Ottawa area for nearly forty years. I’ve made several presentations to civic committees and usually lost. The words of E.O. Wilson help me. He said “the moral imperative of humanism is the endeavour alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honourable and the failure memorable.” Until last November my involvement with the police was limited to one speeding ticket during those four decades. While teaching grade ten civics classes I was always positive about the role of police in our society. All that changed with the events of November 16 and 17. Yet the sad part of this whole situation is that the great majority of police officers are hard-working and seek to maintain the trust that the public has placed upon them

I congratulate the organizing committee and this panel for volunteering to examine the actions of the police and protesters and to make recommendations that could reduce the profound mistrust that has been created between the two groups. I am very disappointed that neither the City Council or the Police Services Board initiated a comprehensive review of police action at the G-20 Summit. Your focus is on events during the weekend of that conference. But those events took place in a context of increased policing powers being allowed by the federal government. When I think of the intimidation and brutality meted out by the police here in Ottawa in pursuit of a few vandals then I shudder when I think of the sweeping powers given under Bill c-36.

It is essential that police actions be examined because of the parallels with the early 1930’s in Germany. Dr. Eric Fromm in his definitive book, Escape From Freedom described how the government used the police and the propaganda machine to pacify the public and assume greater power and eventually a dictatorship. We must be on guard against this trend.
 
I will concentrate my remarks on the events of last November but it’s important to put them in a context where the hysteria since September 11th has lead to public fear and the loss of some of our civil liberties as the authorities seek to shut-down dissent The corporate elite and their political allies do not want to hear any criticism of the international institutions which promote globalization

. I’m sure that more young people would come forward to this review but they’re afraid. Their name goes into the police and CSIS computers. It’s only a finger-stroke to move some one from “protestor” to “suspicious person” to “security risk” who would have a hard time securing a job in the public service. Similar actions happened in Canada between 1945 and1959 as 100’s of people were blacklisted. It’s all documented in Len Scher’s book The Uncanadians. Then the boogey-men were the communists. So elders have a special responsibility to speak out. I’ll deal with this in three sections. What did I see? What did I learn? Followed by some suggestions.

My wife, Linda and I attended a rally at the Human Rights Monument on November 16th.  University students had organized a rally to talk about the war in Afghanistan and Muslim students had asked to say prayers for the beginning of Ramadan.  About 300 people had just started to listen to speeches when we were almost surrounded by about 100 police officers (some with dogs) pounding their truncheons on their shields.  The event ended soon after the so-called Public Order Units released a “crowd dispersal device” containing tear gas.  We later found out that the police action was motivated by the need to find the vandals who had broken windows at a MacDonald’s and damaged a phone booth.  Despite our opposition to vandalism it was no justification for police intimidation, especially at a monument honouring the right of public assembly.

Later that day we attended a Teach-in on Globalization organized by the Council of Canadians.  There were outstanding speakers from Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Canada and the United States.  Their theme was to challenge the policies of the IMF And the World Bank in Developing Countries.  A useful report is available from the International Forum on Globalization through the Council of Canadians.  This is the type of reporting that should be in the media rather than the almost total focus on vandalism during the  G-20 Summit.

There was a parade on Saturday with speeches to publicize the policies being discussed by G-20 leaders.  As soon as the parade began we were obstructed by a line of police in riot gear.  I think we were all fearful because we didn’t know why the police were blocking our way.  There was no announcement that they were searching for “potential trouble-makers” who were being targeted on the basis of their clothing and demeanor.

At the corner of Bay and Laurier streets a line of police cut into the parade and started to knock down people and drag them to a van.  One officer pointed a rifle at us; others used dogs against people on the south side of the crowd.  Again fear was prevalent because there was no apparent reason for police action other than to break up the parade, which had been very peaceful to that point.  There was no reason for the police to even be there.  If vandalism had started then they could have been there in seconds.  Even the language distorted the situation.  For example the term “riot police” is misleading because it was the police who almost caused the riot.  The cynical among us wonder if this was to justify the budget for more personnel, equipment, dogs and vehicles.

What did I learn?  I thought about Arthur Miller’s autobiography and his father’s only piece of advice to his son “Avoid crowds”.  Intimidation works.  My overwhelming reaction was that the police are out of control.  They have no respect for our Human Rights.  To repeat, their purpose on Friday was to stop a rally by young people at a monument that symbolizes our very right to peaceful assembly.  Everyone there experienced a profound loss of respect for the police on that day.  It will take years for the police to regain that respect.

We need to start by recommending that Chief Beavan apologize for the actions of his officers and the OPP on that weekend and to indicate that changes will be made to their strategies for future rallies.  The Superintendent who managed the police response should do the same.  If they fail to do so then they should be fired.

A message should also be sent to politicians at all levels who are responsible for supervising the police.  They must be told that major damage has been done to community relations here in Ottawa and that fundamental reform must be made within the Police Department, including an educational program about the sanctity of our civil rights.

These rights are very fragile.  Such fragility was well stated in the famous poem by Reverend Martin Niemoller who spoke out against authoritarianism during WW11.  It starts:  “They came for the Communists and I didn’t object – for I wasn’t a Communist” Everyone knows the rest. I am in no way disrespectful but I would paraphrase his poem to describe Canada today.
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- “First they came for the vandals, but I wasn’t a vandal and didn’t object.
- Then they came for the young people dressed in black but I didn’t wear black and I didn’t object.
- With bill C-36 they came for the trade unionists on the picket line but I wasn’t in a union and didn’t object
- Then they came for me and there was no one to help me”

Thank you,

Bob Stevenson