Feature

Glenn Baglo Photo

APC and crew at the standoff: is the guy on the left yawning, yelling at the

iia! or just enjoying a good chuckle ?

cae was of an RCMP
meeting discussing
media strategies. RCMP
negotiator Dennis Ryan
is seen asking Sgt. Doug
Hartl, “Have you found
anyone to help us with
our disinformation or
smear campaign?” Ryan
told the jury that he was
just using earthy
language and apolo-
gized for the inappro-
priate comment. The
video also shows Peter
Montague wryly
stating, “smear cam-
paigns are our special-
ity.” Montague claimed
he was being ironic and
was making a joke. His

 

Wolverine ( aka William Jones Ignace, or “Jonesy”) at the native camp (centre).

      
  
     
  
   
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
  
   
 
    
  

 
 

proof that he didn’t
Bisons, but not.before.a.non-native........about.the.safe, nly. _mean.it.was. the fact that there was
woman, Suniva Bronson, was shot hours after the no smear campaign.
in the arm by a police bullet. that the coordi . Defence lawyers had another
Amazingly, despite the incredible were broadcast to the res point of view. They cited the fact

amount of police ammo that filled
the air, only the camp dog died that
day. The public was never told.
about the dog nor about the shot
woman.

The jury heard more evidence of
police aggression and bungling
when witnesses described the
following day's attempted murder
lof a camp occupant who had gone
to the lake to bathe. On the morn-
ing of September 12, Wescam

ERT members in the

hat on September 11 Montague
the first time é

sed criminal records of people
ted to be in the encampment,
hich also included records of
e notin the camp. Don

pbell suggested that these
people's records were included
because they were longer than the
few camp members’ records. Wool
brought it to the jury’s attention
that.a-youth record was even

, Montague claimed that he

 

 

 
  
 
 
 
 
   
   
  
 

  

potted a male walking away from new he released a youth
the camp towards the water. RCMP uit admitted that he never

niper Cst. O’Gorman, positioned any of the information that

cross the lake, asked permission r other officers.

 
  
 

m “Zulu,” RCMP field head-
uarters, “to make the guy’s day
npleasant.” O’Gorman testified

t his partner, Cpl. Wyton, told
im that Inspector Kembel, the field

A press release f September 5
‘was also under scrutiny by Defence
counsel. On that morning, media
liaison officer Cpl. John Ward told
the media and public that RCMP

occupants of
with weapons ai an

police dog nies Cpl Mitcer, that

   
  

      
 
  
   
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
    
 
  
 

ommander at Zulu, had given the __ this was not true. When asked by _ members had been shot at and
‘green light” to shoot the camp Defence 1 i throughout the previous
cupant. However, RCMP com- retraction vas ight by natives from the encamp-
n e explained that APCs

‘the army were being
the Victoria ERT

e ERT team claimed that a
had hit the side mirror of
Suburban and they believed
were being shot at, so they
their weapons into the
rounding bushes as the Subur-
aced:out of the area. The jury
Wm forensics expert Brian
aghy that when he exam-
shot mirror,” he found no

 

 

   

e had taken the 1100 metre shot
d the bullet had fallen ten feet
hort. He said that Wyton then
abbed the .308 sniper rifle off him
nd took two more shots, despite _
ot being able to see the man
ymore. Themaninthe “safe”
ne” lived and made it back to the

  

 
 
 
   
  
  

  
 
 

 

bash oy natives, but claimed
the Victoria ERT team still

  
    
 

only a dozen etd. were admit-
_ ted as evidence. A portion of this

     
   

Kembel described the incident as
ortunate in that he wasn’t told © :

tague testified that he never
_ corrected —* press statement,

 

   

 

 

 

   

CP Photo

Percy Rosette

Gustafsen Lake “standoff” was
about. It was the RCMP’s largest
and costliest operation in Canadian
history and the Mounties came off
looking like heroes who, once
again, got their man. Now after
hearing the Crown’s case in what is
turning into BC’s longest jury trial,
the jury and the public may have to
reevaluate not only their thoughts
on what happened in the summer
of 1995, but also their thoughts on
the national police force they
depend on to protect them.

claiming he was away at that time.
He claimed he was never asked to
correct it, so he didn’t. Montague’s
sidestepping and polished excuses
reflected most of the RCMP
witnesses who took the stand. They
had trouble recalling events,
pointed fingers at superiors,
feigned ignorance and generally
came off as armed civil servants
trying to protect their pensions and
the reputation of a crumbling
institution called the RCMP. The
only officer who did take responsi-
bility was Supt. Len Olfert, but he
seemed to have no knowledge of
the details of his officer’s actions.
Eight months ago, the jury, like
most of the public, thought they
had a pretty good idea of what the

__ Trond Halle is a non-native filmmaker who was in the native camp

_ throughout the Gustafsen Lake standoff. He is also one of the accused in

__ the very ongoing trial in the Surrey courthouse. Trond faces mischief and
_ weapons charges. Since the trail began, he has been keeping notes; his

_ court documentation can be accessed by one and all at: http://

__ kafka.uvic.cal~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html

_ Doug Whitlow, our regular Gustafsen correspondent, is on sabbatical,

and will return to the OP courthouse beat in two weeks....

 

   
 

 

 

Are you a
starving
student?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Other'Press February 171997 7