Letter to Chief Bevan of the Ottawa Police Service,
with email correspondence documenting our invitation to Police to the Teach-InWitness Group / Le Groupe témoin
Protect the Right to Protest / Protégeons le droit de manifesterNovember 4, 2003
Chief Vince Bevan
Chief, Ottawa Police Services
Fax: 236-9360Dear Chief Bevan,
I write on behalf of the Ottawa Witness Group (OWG) concerning comments you made during your public discussion with Mr. Brent Bambury, Host of CBC Radio's All in a Day program at the National Arts Centre on October 28. During this discussion, in response to a question from activist Paul Smith about the inadequacies of the public complaints process, you referred to OWG October 3 - 4 public teach-in at Saint Paul's University on best practices for the policing of major events in Ottawa and you stated the following:
Paul Smith: "There still has not been a proper inquiry into what took place at the G20 and an accountability from the police and an apology from the police for their actions."With regard to the first claim that you did not receive an invitation to this event, this was an event open to the public, including the Chief of Police. OWG issued a specific invitation to MELT officers since they are directly involved in the policing of major events. It was our assumption that they would brief other police officers about what took place during the teach-in, or encourage other, more senior, OPS officers to attend.Chief Bevan: "Well I know that you and I have been down this road a couple of times over. You know I'm hearing from you that you're looking for some kind of healing. I was waiting for my invitation to participate at the recent venue [sic] at St. Paul's and that didn't come. I thought the police would have been invited to participate in that so I spoke to my organizers with the MELT team and I understand they were welcome on the Friday evening but that they were unwelcome on the Saturday. So... At some point, we're going have to have open line of communication to take this to the next level. I hope those discussions continue."
In addition, as the attached October 2 article from Ottawa XPress notes, the OPS as a whole were aware of the event because Staff Sergeant Monique Ackland, responsible for media relations for the OPS, stated in this article that "an officer would likely attend the event, but [she] refused to comment any further."
With regard to the second claim, that two members of the Major Events Liaison Team (MELT), one RCMP, one OPS, who attended the first evening of this event on Friday, October 3 were unwelcome to attend the subsequent session on Saturday, October 4, as you will see from the attachment series of e-mails between myself and OPS Acting Sergeant Shammi Persaud, this is clearly not the case. As I stated to Acting Sergeant Persaud in writing on October 1, "members of MELT, as indeed all members of the public, are welcome to attend all sessions of the upcoming teach-in at Saint Paul's."
In fact several members of the OWG, including myself, spoke to Officers Persaud and Mongeon on the Friday evening to ensure that they did feel welcome and to inquire whether they would be attending the teach-in on Saturday as well, to which they responded no. It is my understanding from speaking to Acting Sergeant Persaud that it was an internal decision by MELT to attend only the Friday session.
The Ottawa Witness Group is a volunteer organization that values our public accountability to the community concerning our work to protect the right to dissent. Given that the Ottawa Police Service is also a public institution, it is our assumption that you also value accountability and transparency. Accordingly, we trust that you will correct the inaccuracies of the statements you made during this event through a public statement, especially given that parts of this event were broadcast over the airwaves and are still available to the public on CBC's website.
We would appreciate the courtesy of a timely response to this letter.
Sincerely,
Aileen Leo
Representative, Ottawa Witness Groupcc: Mr. Brent Bambury (by e-mail)
Host, All in a DayMr. Mike Mongeon (by e-mail)
Constable RCMP MELTMr. Shammi T. Persaud (by e-mail)
Acting Sergeant OPS MELTMembers of the Police Services Board (by e-mail)
To: "Shammi Persaud" <PersaudS@ottawapolice.ca>,
"'Michel Mongeon - RCMP'" <Michel.Mongeon@rcmp-grc.gc.ca>
Cc: <witnessottawa@yahoogroups.com>
From: "Aileen Leo" <akleo@magma.ca>
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 17:08:17 -0500
Subject: [witnessottawa] OWG letter to Chief Bevan concerning CBC interviewHello to you both,
Please find attached the letter to Chief Bevan we discussed yesterday, Shammi, which was sent this afternoon by fax. I'm sorry we didn't have the opportunity to discuss this beforehand, Mike, but for reasons of timeliness the Ottawa Witness Group felt it should be sent ASAP. The e-mail string as well as the article from XPress were also sent since they are mentioned in the letter.
Aileen Leo
Member, OWGFrom: "Aileen Leo" <akleo@eisa.ca>
To: "Persaud, Shammi" <PersaudS@ottawapolice.ca>
Cc: <witnessottawa@yahoogroups.com>
References: <C827195189DFD611B4400008023CD8B40187C3B4@NEPMSG1>
Subject: Re: Witness Group Teach-in and MELT involvement
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 11:53:56 -0400Hello Shammi,
Please note with regard to your question below, members of the MELT, as indeed all members of the public, are welcome to attend all sessions of the upcoming teach-in at Saint Paul's.
If you and your colleagues do decide to attend, we would ask that: 1) officers attend in plainclothes and not uniforms; and 2) officers do not solicit those participating at the conference re: police work.
My e-mail has been slow of late, so if you could confirm that you've received this message, that would be helpful.
Thanks,
Aileen
----- Original Message -----
From: Persaud, Shammi
To: 'Aileen Leo'
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 10:44 AM
Subject: RE: Witness Group Teach-in and MELT involvementHi Aileen,
Thank you for getting back to me and for your invitation. I will consult with my colleagues and get back to you within a week about MELT members participating in Saturday's focus groups.
Also, does the invitation extend to MELT members attending and taking in the keynote speakers on the Friday night ?
Take care
Shammi
-----Original Message-----
From: Aileen Leo [mailto:akleo@eisa.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 10:29 AM
To: Shammi Persaud
Cc: witnessottawa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Witness Group Teach-in and MELT involvementHello Shammi,
At our last meeting, the Witness Group discussed your question re: possible involvement by MELT in our upcoming teach-in in early October. The members organizing the event noted that the schedule was essentially complete for the keynotes speakers on Friday evening (October 3) and the Saturday panel discussion (October 4) on issues and best practices. However, if members of MELT wish to participate in the focus group discussions on Saturday emanating from the panel discussion, that would be fine. The session will take place in the auditorium of St. Paul's University. Admission is $20 ($10 low wage). If you have any other, please let me know.
Aileen
Ottawa XPress, Thursday October 2, 2003
JAMES SINCLAIR
It's a thin blue line indeed, between "protect and serve" and "repress and overpower." Following recent accusations of police brutality, The Ottawa Witness Group is organizing a weekend teach-in October 3-5 at St. Paul's University to discuss what to do when citizens think police cross the line.
Paul Durber, an organizer of the event, said police need to be more accountable and transparent. He cited police pepper-spraying squatters on Gilmour Street in July 2002 and using Tasers on protestors at the Minister of Immigration's office this past May as examples of police overstepping their bounds.
As X Press reported in June, protestors inside the Minister of Immigration's office (they were supporting Algerian detainees) were stormed
by police with Tasers firing. One protestor said he was pistol whipped by an officer and then Tasered in the genitals.Staff Sgt. Monique Ackland, in charge of media relations for the Ottawa police, said police are in touch with the Witness Group and an officer will likely attend the meeting, but refused to comment any further. [Witness emphasis]
"Over the last five years in particular we have become accustomed to a level of police repression that I've never seen in this country before
against political action," said Judy Rebick, founder of rabble.ca and one of the speakers at the opening teach-in Friday evening. She said she will talk about the criminalization of dissent in Canada.John Sewell, a former mayor of Toronto and member of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, a monitoring group similar to the Ottawa Witness Group, said he plans to talk about police policy and the overall lack of accountability. In his opinion, it all stems from a lack of debate.
"It's extraordinarily difficult to have a debate about any policing issue in Ontario. People won't do it. They're terrified. Politicians get
terrified because ... they think if you talk about policing issues you're somehow soft on crime. So, it's really important that we begin debating policing in a more serious way."Tickets for the whole weekend cost $20, or $10 for low wage earners. Check members.rogers.com/witnessgroup/ or phone 237-5337 for registration forms and more info.
JAMES SINCLAIR