They've learned well from their Bushy Buddies, eh?
Wiretap captures Fantino telling protest activist 'Your whole world is going to come crashing down'
July 19, 2008
Emily Mathieu
Torstar news services
The Ontario Provincial Police warned a native activist they were on the verge of taking action if he did not immediately lift blockades of Highway 401 and a main railway line near Kingston last year.
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, in three late-night and early-morning telephone conversations with Mohawk activist Shawn Brant in June 2007, warned "your whole world is going to come crashing down" if the blockades were not immediately removed.
"Shawn, we're not negotiating any more. We've done it all night. Now I am telling you for the sake of all that is decent and holy and the things you're trying to achieve ...pull the plug or you will suffer grave consequences. "
The police-generated transcripts, which provide a rare glimpse into the top-level, all-night negotiations that went on at the time Highway 401 and a vital rail corridor near Kingston were closed by native blockades, were released late yesterday after a day of see-saw court battles in which a publication ban was reversed three times.
Unknown to Brant at the time of Fantino's warning, police had a tactical unit and other equipment standing by, ready to intervene.
Under questioning by Brant's lawyer Peter Rosenthal during a preliminary hearing last August, Fantino conceded the OPP had both its Tactics and Rescue Unit and public order officers on site. He acknowledged the units included sniper teams.
"And they're referred to as sniper teams because they are trained to do what we understand the word sniper to mean, to be able to, at a distance, shoot people, right?" Rosenthal asked.
"If warranted," Fantino replied. "If necessary."
During the same hearing, Fantino said he knew his officers were recording his conversations with Brant.
"Now that this is out in the open I hope there will be some inquiries to find out why," said Rosenthal. "The Crown attempted to keep this information from the public by alleging that it was protecting Mr. Brant's right to a fair trial.
"In my view, after a week of hearings in Napanee it became absolutely clear that there was no content whatsoever to any claim by the Crown that it was protecting Mr. Brant. In my view, the publication ban protected Mr. Fantino."
Brant was a central figure in protests during last summer's national aboriginal day of action, which resulted in the closing of highways and rail lines near Kingston. The group controlled a section of Highway 401 between Belleville and Napanee for about 10 hours, halting all transportation.
At one point during the conversations Fantino told Brant, "I don't wanna get on your bad side, but you're gonna force me to do everything I can within your community and everywhere else to destroy your reputation."
Fantino told Brant that if he co-operated "... I am liable to say your issues are critical and they're important," but then went on to warn the native activist, "If you don't then I'm gonna go the other way and I'm gonna say that you are just destroying and you're abusing, you're using the people and you are actually being a mercenary about it, using the suicide of children and all those legitimate issues.
"And you don't want that because I think I can play the media routine like you do.
"When I said I'll let ya take the credit you can tell the media that you decided to pull the plug. Otherwise, it won't look that pretty."
As the battle over the publication ban continued yesterday, Sgt. Kristine Rae, media relations OPP, declined to comment, saying, "It would be inappropriate for the OPP to comment on an ongoing process before the court."
Fantino made the calls just weeks after the release of the Ipperwash inquiry report, which looked into the shooting of native Dudley George in 1997 during a standoff. The report criticized former premier Mike Harris, saying he should have "urged patience rather than speed" in resolving the dispute.
Reached yesterday at the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory outside Belleville, Brant said, "When they banned Fantino's testimony they banned a significant piece of this puzzle, not only for my case but the state of policing as it relates to the first nations people of Ontario."
In Quebec City, Premier Dalton McGuinty stood by Fantino.
"I've always had a lot of confidence in Commissioner Fantino," he said. "That confidence remains. He has performed heroically, arguably under some of the most difficult circumstances when it comes to our province's relationship with our aboriginal communities. "
