Julian Fantino says he had no alternative but to terminate the employment of a Mohawk police chief for comments that there was “deep-seated” racism within the OPP, RCMP and Sûreté du Québec.“He left me with no choice,” the former OPP commissioner testified Tuesday at an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal hearing.
At issue are comments made by Larry Hay, who lost his job as chief of the Tyendinaga reserve police force in Eastern Ontario for comments he made in 2007 to a student newspaper, in which he said there was deep racism in the three police forces.
Fantino called the comments “totally strange” and “bizarre” and said they threatened to ignite already volatile relations between police and First Nations communities.
“It’s like throwing a grenade into the whole affair and forcing all of us to live amongst the ashes,” Fantino said under questioning from government lawyer Christopher Diana.
Hay had been a police officer for 28 years at the time of his firing, including 19 years as a Mountie, where his duties included working undercover against organized crime.
In his human rights complaint, Hay alleges that he was fired for racist reasons.
“How much of a factor was Larry Hay’s aboriginal heritage?” Diana asked.
“With me, none whatsoever,” replied Fantino, now a Conservative MP and the assistant minister of national defence.
Fantino said Tyendinaga band officials should have stepped up and disciplined Hay themselves.
“It was left to us in the end to do what they did not have the courage to do,” Fantino said.
Things heated up under questioning from Hay’s lawyer, Peter Rosenthal.
Fantino acknowledged “there are elements and there are incidents” of racism within the OPP, but said racism isn’t part of the force’s policy or culture.
Pushed further, Fantino said Hay’s comments amounted to “in essence, reverse discrimination.”
“I don’t believe that the OPP was then (or) is today a racist organization,” Fantino said.
“You can’t broad-brush 9,000 people and apply the racism label to each and every one of them in the organization as a whole.”
Fantino spoke glowingly of the recommendations of Justice Sidney Linden, who headed a 22-month inquiry into the shooting of unarmed native activist Antony (Dudley) George of the Stoney Point band by an OPP sniper during a burial-ground protest in September 1995.
In his May 2007 report, Linden stated, “Cultural insensitivity and racism was not restricted to a few ‘bad apples’ within the OPP but was more widespread. An organizational problem requires an organizational solution.”
Hay’s controversial comments were published just six weeks before Linden issued his final report, which called for more culturally sensitive policing.
“It (Linden’s report) motivated us to take a leadership role in this area, and I’m so proud and pleased to see the OPP continue along this path,” Fantino said.
Rosenthal asked Fantino if any officers were disciplined for racism while he was commissioner.
“I believe there may have been, but I don’t have any specifics,” Fantino replied.
Rosenthal noted that the Ipperwash inquiry report included a recommendation that the commissioner of the OPP apologize to Cecil Bernard George, a native man who was severely beaten by the OPP riot squad the night Dudley George was shot to death.
“I made every effort to do that,” Fantino said. “It just didn’t happen.”
“Why didn’t you send him a letter of apology, sir?” Rosenthal asked.
“I wanted to do it personally,” Fantino replied, adding that he believed that Cecil Bernard George became sick and died before the apology could be made.
The hearing before tribunal vice-chair Jennifer Scott is expected to conclude this week.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Peter Edwards
No comments:
Post a Comment