No punishment for cops who fabricated testimony

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Senior law enforcement officials in the province of Ontario have not taken steps to prosecute several Ontario Provincial Police officers who a judge ruled made up a false story - and provided false testimony in court - in an attempt to escape responsibility for shooting an unarmed Aboriginal land claim protester.

Judge Hugh Fraser, who convicted OPP Acting-Sgt. Kenneth Deane of criminal negligence causing death, said Deane and other officers who testified during the trial "concocted" a story that Dudley George was armed and pointing the weapon at police officers when he was shot and killed by Deane during the Ipperwash occupation in 1995.

Deane's lawyer said he will appeal the decision. Judge Fraser heard several days of submissions in late June at a sentencing hearing where several character witnesses testified on behalf of the convicted policeman. George family members and National Chief Ovide Mercredi then provided victim impact statements to the court. The judge adjourned proceedings so he could consider the submissions. The parties will return to court July 2 when the judge is expected to pronounce sentence on the OPP veteran.

Concocting a story to tell to a judge during a criminal trial is itself a criminal offense, said observers who suspect there are political reasons which explain why no investigative action has been initiated by authorities in Ontario.

Ontario Regional Chief Gord Peters said the lack of an inquiry or criminal investigation in light of the judge's comments is an indication that powerful people want this issue to just fade away. Peters is calling for the resignation of provincial Attorney General Charles Harnick and Solicitor General Bob Runciman, the two provincial cabinet members responsible for law and order in the province.

"Those are the two people that are involved, as far as I'm concerned" Peters said. "Somebody had to know they were going to do what they were going to do because they called in the army. The police can't call in the army and bring them in. That's a political relationship. It's the political body that has to make contact. So the politicians are into it and I think that's the primary reason we don't get any kind of inquiry.

"I've said many times that it's the Achilles heel of this Conservative government that they took a political action that resulted in a death. It amounts to murder. If you're complicit in acting you're as guilty as the man who pulled the trigger," he added.

George family lawyer Andrew Orkin and Aboriginal police sources said the Special Investigation Unit of the Ontario Attorney General's office (which investigates all cases where a person is killed or injured by police) has the power and the responsibility to re-open its investigation of the shooting and file further charges - or at least inform other police services of possible criminal offences so they can file charges if warranted. Orkin believes the SIU could also pursue a further investigation into whether Deane's fellow officers' testimony was an attempt to obstruct justice.

Barbara Theobalds, spokesperson for the SIU, told Windspeaker that such an investigation in response to the judge's statement that the officers knowingly offered false evidence - something she concedes is a criminal offense - is outside of the SIU's mandate. Asked if the unit didn't have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that the appropriate authorities took up the investigation of a serious criminal act uncovered during an SIU investigation, Theobalds said the "judge's ruling wouldn't constitute new evidence."

Orkin said there were several possible criminal acts committed by police on the night in question which have not been sufficiently investigated.

"Fabrication when people are being shot by police and also beaten by police are very serious matters," Orkin said. Kettle and Stoney Point band Coun. Bernard George was badly beaten by police just prior to the shooting. That fact was introduced as evidenc at the trial and not disputed. SIU news releases at the time of the filing of charges against Deane concede that an offense was committed in the beating but the SIU said there wasn't enough evidence to file any charges. Orkin wonders about that.

"There were 50 police officers present and there's not a cop who knows or saw anything? The courts have accepted that this man was beaten. Fifty police officers know he was beaten. It's a conspiracy of silence. I believe all 50 officers should be suspended until we find out what happened. They're not fit to be cops as long as this is outstanding."

That would help the family - Orkin's clients - put more pressure on the premier of the province to call a public inquiry into the entire Ipperwash disaster. At the moment, all members of Premier Mike Harris' government are refusing to talk about the matter. Ontario Regional Chief Peters and opposition politicians said government members are carrying cards from which they read a carefully-worded answer any time they are questioned about the possibility of an inquiry.

Orkin said the apparent unwillingness of the SIU to open an investigation into the potential obstruction of justice presented by the officers' "concocted" testimony casts a shadow over the credibility of the civilian investigators who make up the SIU, many of whom are former police officers.