ROBINSON RELEASES FEDERAL REPORT BLASTING RCMP FOR BEHAVIOURS AT SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

Calls For Solicitor General To Take Urgent Action

OTTAWA— NPD MP Svend Robinson is calling on Solicitor-General Wayne Easter, responsible for the RCMP, to ensure that appropriate disciplinary steps and operational procedures are put in place so that the abuse of police powers seen at the Summit of the Americas in 2001 never happen again.

Robinson has also called for a public apology to all protesters in Quebec City, on behalf of the government of Canada, and invites those who were subjected to illegal assaults by the RCMP to contact his office for compensation.

The NDP MP’s remarks come in response to an interim report authored by Chair Shirley Heafy, responding to the original complaint put forth by Robinson after RCMP officers fired over 3000 tear gas canisters and 500 rubber bullets at largely peaceful demonstrators outside the meeting of the Summit of the Americas in April of 2001. Robinson was also present at the event and was gassed and struck by a projectile.

Immediately following the event, Robinson called for an independent inquiry into abuse of police power at the Summit of the Americas, filed a complaint with the RCMP Public Complaints Commission (PCC), and launched a legal action against the RCMP for assault.

In her report, Heafy slams the “O