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| February Update 2009 | |||
| Mounties Recant at Taser Probe | RCMP Report Suggests Taser Use on Nine Non-Combative Subjects | ||
After weeks of testimony from airport employees, paramedics and Canadian border service personnel, the Braidwood Inquiry called RCMP officers to testify. It has been a difficult week for Canada’s national police force as two of the officers were grilled over conflicting accounts of Robert Dziekanski’s death. Mr. Dziekanski died after being tasered five times by the RCMP at the Vancouver airport in October 2007. Both officers admitted that their notes and interviews that they gave to investigators immediately after his death contained statements that were directly contradicted by on-the-spot video footage of the event. Constable Bentley admitted that his statement that Mr. Dziekanski grabbed a stapler “and came at the police screaming” was incorrect. Constable Rundel acknowledged that he never wrestled Mr. Dziekanski to the ground, as he had previously stated, but that Mr. Dziekanski fell to the ground screaming after being tasered. The inquiry will resume on Monday and will hear the testimony of Constable Millington who deployed the Taser. The BCCLA is a participant at the inquiry and is represented by Grace Pastine, Litigation Director and Sara Dubinsky, articled student. |
"Passive resistance means that a person is refusing to get up if they’re sitting or lying down, it’s like civil disobedience,” said David Eby, the acting Executive Director of the BCCLA. “The potentially deadly force of a Taser should not be used to force people to respond more quickly to RCMP commands.” | ||
| BCCLA Wants Vancouver 2010 Police Out of City Hall |
Free to Speak Campaign Takes on Unfair BC Election Law |
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“Having this activity occur in the context of a meeting of publicly elected officials where members of the public are entitled to attend, hear what is said and, at the appropriate juncture, speak out about matters that concern them, is troubling,” wrote BCCLA President Robert Holmes in his letter to the ISU. “We would not want, and we assume that the ISU would not want, there to be any suggestion of intimidation by the presence of such officers at that kind of meeting.” News release >>Letter >> |
A non-partisan coalition, ranging from the BCCLA to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has come together to warn British Columbians that it is not just big spenders who are at risk under the new Election Act. The Election Act’s third party advertising restrictions have opened a nightmare of arbitrary enforcement, fines and possible jail sentences for individuals and small community groups who comment on public interest issues.
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| Court Rules That Government Must Compensate Individual For Inadvertently Infringing His Charter Rights | Concerns Expressed About VPD Business Plan |
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The BCCLA applauds the BC Court of Appeal judgment released last week in Ward v. Province of British Columbia and Ward v. City of Vancouver, which holds that damages are an appropriate remedy when police or other government agents inadvertently infringe an individual’s constitutional rights. Kent Roach, lawyer for the BCCLA: “This decision recognizes that in order for our Charter rights to be meaningful, courts must provide individuals with tangible remedies. Individuals who are not charged with an offence are extremely unlikely to commence Charter litigation if the only remedy that they can realistically obtain is a declaration that their rights have been violated.” |
The BCCLA, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, YouthCo AIDS Society, the Asian Society for the Intervention of Aids, the BC Persons With AIDS Society, the B.C. Positive Women’s Network and AIDS Vancouver issued an open letter to the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Police Board today outlining concerns about the 2009 VPD business plan and its potential to restrict access to basic health care for Downtown Eastside residents.
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| Omar Khadr Military Lawyer Wins Civil Liberties Award | |||
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Admission is free to members, Pre-register before March 1, 2009 (required) >> Not a member, but want to attend? | Taxi To The Dark Side, winner of the 2007 Academy Award for documentary feature will be shown at the conference (no admission fee for members). Using the torture and death in 2002 of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone, this film examines changes after 9/11 in U.S. policy toward suspects in the war on terror. It tells the story of abuse at Bagram Air Base, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay. From Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzalez came unwritten orders to use any means necessary. The CIA and soldiers with little training used sleep deprivation, sexual assault, stress positions, waterboarding, dogs and other terror tactics to seek information from detainees. | ||
| BCCLA Membership | |||
Ensure your annual membership is active by checking the expiry date on your membership card or contacting Sarah Sandusky at sarah@bccla.org or 604-630-9750. Renew online >> |
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| Civil Liberties Update is a summary of some of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association's recent work. The Association publishes a newsletter, The Democratic Commitment, an annual report and posts its positions, submissions, legal arguments and news releases at www.bccla.org. | |||
To unsubscribe to the Update please contact us by e-mail. |
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In their latest report on Taser use in Canada, the RCMP appear to have acknowledged that between January and March of 2008, officers used Tasers on one cooperative individual and eight “passive resistant” individuals. RCMP policy changed in December of 2008 to restrict the use of Tasers to situations of active resistance. 
“This situation is a nightmare,” said Micheal Vonn, Policy Director of the BCCLA. “Elections BC appears to be taking a hard line on enforcing this absurd and unintelligible law, and the people of BC are essentially in the ridiculous position of having to register with the government before we can say anything about any public issue for the next three months.”
The BCCLA has selected U.S. Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler as the 2009 recipient of the annual Reg Robson Award for protecting civil liberties. Two years ago, Lieutenant-Commander Kuebler was appointed by the U.S. Navy to represent Canadian-citizen Omar Khadr before the U.S. military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. His advocacy continues to this day.