 
CCLA URGES MAJOR CHANGE IN CONTROL OF POLICE Appearing before Ontario’s Ipperwash inquiry, CCLA General Counsel Alan Borovoy and acting free-speech project director Josh Paterson advocated a “new deal” for government-police relations. The inquiry was created to examine the circumstances surrounding the 1995 killing of an unarmed aboriginal protester by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). In an apparently sudden departure from its usual policy of restraint, the OPP entered Ontario’s Ipperwash Provincial Park to end an aboriginal occupation there within a day after the protesters arrived. This change of policy sparked suspicions that government meddling had influenced the police. The then Ontario premier Mike Harris and his attorney-general Charles Harnick vehemently denied that they had played any such role. Indeed, they insisted that they abided by the traditional Canadian doctrine according to which the government must not involve itself in specific police operations. But Borovoy and Paterson argued that the doctrine produces a situation in which the police can become a law unto themselves. They urged that the relationship be changed so that the government acquires a greater role in directing the police. In order to deal with the fear that such an arrangement could politicize the police, CCLA also advocated that any such government directives be reduced to writing and that the entire relationship be subject to ongoing, independent auditing. The inquiry is currently considering its report. | CCLA In The Schools | Join Us | Feedback | Search | Other Interesting Sites | Home |
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