QPP admit to 'agents' but not 'provocateurs'
Critics demand RCMP review
UNNATI GANDHI
Globe and Mail Update
August 24, 2007 at 1:25 AM EDT
Opposition parties are calling on the RCMP to review how it handled security at this week's Montebello summit after Quebec's provincial police force admitted late Thursday that three undercover officers had disguised themselves as demonstrators during a protest.
A video of the demonstration broadcast on the Internet – which shows three men with bandanas across their faces and large rocks in their hands taunting union members before being handcuffed and escorted away by police in riot gear – was at the centre of a controversy that erupted following the North American leaders meeting.
Those at the protest said the officers were acting like agents provocateurs by provoking violence from within the crowd.
Both the RCMP and the Sûreté du Québec initially had denied that any of their officers were involved.
Last night, the SQ said the officers were members of the force.
The SQ, however, also denied allegations its undercover officers were at the demonstrations to provoke the crowd and instigate violence.
“Their mandate was to seek out and identify non-peaceful demonstrators to avoid having things boil over,†a statement issued by the force read. “At no point did Sûreté du Québec policemen act as agents provocateurs or criminals.â€
But Marlene Jennings, the federal Liberal justice critic, said the issue goes beyond the provincial police force.
“The RCMP has some explaining to do,†she told The Globe and Mail Thursday night.
“If the RCMP was responsible for all security at this summit like [Minister of Public Safety Stockwell] Day says it was, the RCMP should have known that the Sûreté du Québec was using undercover officers to infiltrate the demonstrators.â€
Thursday, Mr. Day had directed those with concerns about the way security was carried out at the demonstrations to the two police forces' formal public complaints process.
Ms. Jennings said that was not enough.
“Mr. Day should be calling for, at the very least, the RCMP public complaints commissioner to look into it. … The tape was pretty incriminating.â€
NDP MP Peter Julian last night echoed his party's call for Mr. Day to hold a public inquiry into the allegations.
“Now that we have this revelation that police forces were under federal supervision, it raises a whole series of questions. Did they send agents into the crowd dressed as demonstrators, aggressive demonstrators at that? What was the mandate? Why were they carrying rocks?†he asked in an interview.
Melissa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Mr. Day, said that the minister stood by his recommendation that protesters file a complaint. He said the RCMP assured him that “they do not use tactics that would encourage confrontation or incite violence.â€
While experts say that it is common practice to have officers blend in with protesters at such events, undercover police should never attempt to provoke others into misbehaving to create an excuse for police to act aggressively.
“We have people who blend in with the crowd. Everyone does that. All police forces in every country,†said Jean-Guy Dagenais, who heads the union of Quebec police officers (Association des policières et policiers provinciaux de Québec) that includes the Sûreté du Québec.
A former senior police officer said to not infiltrate the crowd would be “totally irresponsible.â€
“If somebody takes a gun out and shoots a police officer or the head of state, how do you identify who did it if you don't have people in the crowd? You can't afford to make that mistake.â€
He said there could be myriad reasons that the officers were detained by uniformed police, including the fact that the several hundred officers didn't know who was with whom.
But union leader Dave Coles, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said Monday's incident went beyond any undercover police officer's mandate.
“We're not talking about someone that's in plainclothes just walking amongst them. They were there armed with boulders. I witnessed them trying to incite a riot. I saw it,†said Mr. Coles, of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
“I asked them to put the boulder down. They refused to. They were there to provoke trouble.â
With reports from Bill Curry in Kujjuuaq, Que., and Gloria Galloway in Ottawa
...Dave Coles can move on and press assault charges against the rock dude. That should make things more interesting. Just waiting on our country's finest to provide the 'proof'. 
