Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
There are many emotions coming to the fore as the RCMP are descending on the Wet’suwet’en camps and arresting nonviolent protesters.
Many Canadians are seeing first-hand the results of our colonial history play out in real time. It is hard to watch.
However hard to watch, it is our right as the public to do so.
The RCMP’s unlawful “exclusion zone” was not included in the court-ordered injunction and seemed to be no more than an imaginary force field that keeps the bad PR of arresting non-violent protesters out of the public view.
The RCMP made an about-face — after detaining journalists and removing them from the area, and threatening to arrest the media for doing their jobs.
The executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, Harsha Walia, said “there is absolutely no legal precedent nor established legal authority for such an over broad policing power associated with the enforcement of an injunction.”
Even though the RCMP eventually changed their position, it was a telling how the organization wanted this to play out.
I have not seen a word from our country’s leader, in this time when we need that leadership most. His silence to me is an endorsement of authoritarian actions of our police force, attempting to remove the press and stop them from telling the most important story happening in Canada right now. Not to mention Trudeau became prime minister for the first time running on a platform of truth and reconciliation.
The attitude of the state actors (the RCMP) is no truth, and no reconciliation. Instead the RCMP showed their hand. It is telling how quickly the police were willing to turn into an invading force armed with assault rifles and dogs — as well, police were apparently prepared to shoot Indigenous land defenders according to documents seen by The Guardian.
This heavy-handed attitude even extends locally. In Osoyoos we have two RCMP members who have gone before internal disciplinary hearings that we the public were (or are) not allowed to attend. Const. Amit Goyal was exonerated on serious accusations and the RCMP never told us why. The media were informed there was exculpatory evidence, the public is just not allowed to know what it is. That is unacceptable abuse of power, when the publicly funded police force says “take our word for it.”
Recently, another officer based in Osoyoos is facing an internal disciplinary hearing, and as soon as the media caught wind of the alleged off-duty incident, the hearing was moved behind closed doors.
I have no sympathy for an RCMP officer coming under scrutiny. The police should be heavily scrutinized. They are issued weapons by the state and detain people with the authority bestowed upon them by us, the people. Being a police officer does not make you the “good guy” anymore then it makes you a villain. It merely means you enforce the laws of the state, and history has shown the state is capable of being the bad guy.
There has been scrutiny of protests at the provincial legislature and elsewhere, like those blockading media and politicians from entering the legislature. Protests are meant to disrupt, and remember the RCMP carry guns and enforce the law. I will always be more critical of RCMP actions than those of civilian protestors. It is telling how much scrutiny these protesters are facing from those who remained silent on the RCMP’s detention of media —with some like our local MLA Linda Larson continuing to perpetuate false claims the protesters are foreign funded.
Remember when it comes to authoritarianism, if you see something, say something.
Dale Boyd is the editor of the Osoyoos Times
