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Harris: Corrupt RCMP undercover
Internal memo reassures
officers after recent questions over RCMP competence
Terri Theodore, Canadian Press, October 07, 2006
VANCOUVER (CP) - The RCMP has
taken the unusual step of making public an internal memo sent
to thousands of officers in an effort to rub off some of the
tarnish from recent incidents that have shaken public confidence
in the force.
The e-mail, sent to Pacific
region officers Friday by Supt. Bill Dingwall, reminds them of
the Mounties' proud tradition of integrity and their "amazing
success, given the difficult challenges we all face on a daily
basis."
It went out just days after
an allegation of disgraceful misconduct was thrown out on a technicality
against Const. Justin Harris of Prince George, B.C. He was accused
of having sex with three underaged female prostitutes.
But this case comes on the
heels of one in Houston, B.C., where a young man arrested for
having an open beer at an ice rink was somehow shot in the back
of the head by a Mountie.
Dingwall said in an interview
that the public perception of how the RCMP investigates its own
officers is a big concern for the Mounties.
"I can tell you we take
this extremely seriously," he said.
"I can tell you that in
fact when we have serious allegations lodged against our members
they're thoroughly investigated. Aggressively investigated,"
he said, adding "we don't want bad apples in our organization."
It has been a rough period
for the national police force, which is seen and marketed as
a Canadian icon.
At the national level, it's
reeling from the stinging judicial report into the case of Maher
Arar, a Canadian accused falsely of having terrorist ties.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell
Day stated his confidence in the force Friday.
"The RCMP has a long and
proud history and one that remains and people across the country
have great confidence in the RCMP," he said in Vancouver.
Day said there is work left
to do and possible changes needed to the laws governing RCMP
officers.
"I also say that no organization
is perfect and when there are mistakes within an organization
they have to be dealt with. That's been an ongoing process,"
Day told reporters.
It's evident from Dingwall's
memo that even fellow officers have a lot of questions.
"I want to assure you
that we will continue to hold our employees accountable for misconduct
and inappropriate behaviour. With the nature of our work and
the public trust we enjoy, but must continue to earn, we are
held to a higher standard that most," the three-page e-mail
said.
The force has been criticized
for excessive secrecy in cases where its own members are involved.
Recently some of that criticism came from the family of Ian Bush,
the young man who died in custody after he was arrested for having
an open beer.
When the public learned that
officer wouldn't be charged, B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal
had to explain that the officer was trying to stop Bush from
choking the constable unconscious.
And the recent Arar inquiry
pointed to the Mounties for falsely linking Arar to a terrorist
group, resulting in his imprisonment and torture in Syria.
Dingwall wrote the memo to
the 8,500 Pacific region officers to clear up what he called
"misinformation" around the Harris disciplinary proceedings.
That case was dismissed at an internal police inquiry this week
because the investigation into the matter took more than a year.
Dingwall said the force is
still contemplating appealing the decision and the officer will
remain off the job with pay until a decision is made.
B.C. Mounties get about 650
complaints a year against officers and about eight per cent of
those show some sort of misconduct.
Dingwall said it may be time
to make changes to the 18-year-old RCMP Act to reflect the way
police investigate police and others.
"Times have changed considerably
since then. Investigations are much more complicated than they
ever have been," Dingwall said.
"So it's clearly timely
to review the RCMP Act, particularly the one-year limitation
period," he said, referring to the reason Harris's hearing
was abruptly cancelled.
Dingwall said he understands
the public frustration over not being told about investigations
that involve police officers.
"Clearly there (are) things
we would love to be able to say, but what we do is we wait and
we deal with it in the appropriate forum. Whether it is the criminal
justice system, the public complaint process or a coroner's inquest."
He said the public needs to
get the message that the RCMP is still a great organization.
"And we're there for the
interests of the citizens," he said.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Bungling Mounties show need
for impartial probe into PG sex scandal
Alan Ferguson, The Province, Vancouver, , October 06, 2006
Are the Mounties in B.C. the
bungling oafs they seem determined to make themselves out to
be?
Let's hope that's the case.
If it isn't, we may have an even more serious problem to contend
with.
Because the only other explanation
for the farce that played out in Vancouver this week is that
the cock-up was deliberate.
The story, and it's an ugly
one, begins in Prince George as long ago as 1999, when rumours
began to circulate that pillars of the community were paying
teenage aboriginal prostitutes for sex.
One of the names that cropped
up in later police reports was that of RCMP Constable Justin
Harris.
Harris has never been charged
in connection with the allegations, and has protested his innocence.
But the insistent rumours took
on grave substance when a provincial court judge in Prince George,
David Ramsay, was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2004 after
admitting he paid girls for sexual favours -- some of whom had
appeared before him in court.
Ramsay's public disgrace --
in one incident he was said to have smacked a girl's head into
his car's dashboard and then left her to walk home naked -- might
have ended the affair.
But there was still the little
inconvenience of Const. Harris' name in those police reports.
And the allegations were not
trivial. One teenage hooker alleged Harris struck her when she
refused to fellate him without a condom.
By 2002, senior Mounties were
aware of these unproven allegations against Harris -- and of
other accusations involving other unnamed members of the force.
But if they were going to take
disciplinary action against Harris, they had by law to launch
a hearing within a year.
This they failed to do -- at
least until 2004, when Harris finally got notification a hearing
would be held.
Fast forward to the start of
that hearing this week, and it took Harris' lawyer no time at
all to persuade a panel of three top Mounties to stop it.
It was indisputable. The legal
time limit had long ago run out.
What on earth were the Mounties
who launched this proceeding thinking about? Wouldn't a 30-second
legal consultation have revealed the gaping flaw in their case?
Const. Harris left the hearing
in tears. And no wonder. His name and reputation have taken a
beating, without a shred of evidence being heard against him.
And what of the aboriginal
community in Prince George, and elsewhere in the province, looking
in on this circus in Vancouver?
Given the evidence in the Ramsay
case, there is every reason to suppose the women are telling
the truth about the abuse they claim to have suffered at the
hands of persons in authority.
This is a scandal that has
festered for too long. As unpleasant as it may be to rake it
all up again, no other course is satisfactory.
A full inquiry is needed. And
please, let's keep the RCMP well away from it.
aferguson@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
- Mistakes plaguing RCMP
Errors made in several high-profile cases raise questions about
force's competence
ROD MICKLEBURGH, Globe and
Mail, Oct. 5, 2006
VANCOUVER -- The abrupt end
to an RCMP disciplinary hearing into sexual allegations against
a Prince George officer is not the first disconcerting event
to hit the force in recent years.
The RCMP has made mistakes
in a number of high-profile cases, prompting questions about
the overall competence of the force in B.C.
Two years ago, for instance,
errors by RCMP interrogators led to separate prosecution failures
within days of each other, one in the murder case of Chinese
student Amanda Zhao in Burnaby, the other in the killing of a
native chief's son near Kamloops.
A few years earlier, the RCMP's
own internal probe of its investigation into the sex strangling
of young Mindy Tran in Kelowna concluded that police mistakes
and personnel problems doomed the case against suspect Shannon
Murrin from the beginning.
There are also ongoing issues
such as RCMP investigations into the deaths of individuals at
the hands of police or in police custody, most notably the fatal
shooting last year of young Houston mill worker Ian Bush by a
rookie constable.
The Mounties' E Division in
B.C. is its largest in Canada, with 126 RCMP detachments across
the province staffed by more than 5,000 police officers. Simon
Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd said the RCMP in this
province should be cut some slack, despite the botching of some
cases.
"There are some problems,
but when you consider the large number of police officers in
the province, I'm wary of saying the force . . . is full of rotten
apples," Prof. Boyd said.
"Yes, in five or 10 pretty
big cases, there have been mistakes, but considering the hundreds
and hundreds of cases they are dealing with all the time, how
much of a problem is that? The important thing is that they learn
from their mistakes."
Just last year, the RCMP's
national-security team ordered a dramatic public takedown of
three natives in broad daylight on a busy Vancouver bridge. Police
seized 14 rifles and a quantity of ammunition from their van.
But it turned out the men had just legally purchased the weapons
on behalf of an outdoor training program for native youth of
the small Tsawataineuk band on Vancouver Island.
Although none of the arrested
men was ever charged, police have held on to the rifles for the
past 15 months.
Just this week, the band received
a letter from the RCMP, pledging to pay the full amount for the
seized weapons and ammunition.
Chief Eric Joseph is still
miffed.
"There's been no apology
from the RCMP," he said yesterday. "We would also like
to have some of our legal costs reimbursed, so there's been no
closure yet," he said.
"I still don't know what
sparked such a high-risk takedown, and for a long time, everyone
had a bad impression of us, that we were involved in terrorism
or something. Their tactics got out of hand. The youth up here
don't like the RCMP."
Other examples of RCMP blunders
include:
Mistakenly identifying Dimitrios
Pilarinos, who built the famous deck for then premier Glen Clark,
as the chief operator of an illegal poker operation at the Lumbermen's
Social Club, when he barely knew how to play cards.
Alleging, erroneously, that
Joseph Ignace, the mentally retarded son of a key figure in the
well-known Gustafsen Lake native standoff against police, fired
a shot at RCMP officers. Later, the RCMP released details of
Mr. Ignace's youth court record in an effort to link criminals
to the standoff.
Bashing down a door and charging
into a suspected grow-op within seconds of announcing their presence,
prompting the presiding judge to throw out all charges against
the operators, because they were not given proper time to answer
the door.
A former RCMP constable in
Merritt was awarded nearly a million dollars in damages this
year, after she sued the force for long standing, on-the-job
harassment. The decision is being appealed.
Last month, a federal court
judge found RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli guilty of
acting unreasonably in firing a B.C. constable.
The RCMP's public-complaints
commission is currently investigating two deaths of suspects
at the hands of police in the province. One is Mr. Bush; the
other is Kevin St. Arnaud, who was fatally shot as he advanced,
unarmed, on a young RCMP constable in Vanderhoof.
Prof. Boyd said the RCMP, like
most other organizations, is taking on increasing numbers of
young employees as baby boomers age and retire. "I don't
doubt the police have some demographic challenges, and in that
they are no different from any other sector of society,"
he said. "And overall, I think their training of recruits
is pretty good."
- The RCMP's 'culture
of secrecy'
Media get the silent treatment on killings of six Mounties.
KATHERINE HARDING AND DAWN WALTON
SPIRITWOOD, SASK. -- They are strikingly
similar tragedies, both in what Canadians know and what they
don't.
The first incident, at Mayerthorpe, Alta.,
in March of 2005, left four Mounties dead after an ambush by
James Roszko, a loner who was well armed, had a lengthy criminal
record and possessed an overt hatred of the police.
Then just over two weeks ago in Spiritwood,
Sask., two Mounties were mortally injured, shot in the head after
a car chase. A third officer escaped injury.
The accused in that case, Curtis Dagenais,
is a loner with a history of legal trouble and a distaste for
authority. He turned himself into police last week after eluding
capture for 12 days.
Six Mounties killed in 16 months, and
Canadians have little knowledge of what happened and why. While
the Spiritwood shootings are recent and a trial is pending, the
Mayerthorpe events took place more than a year ago and the main
suspect is dead. Just how much time has to pass before Canadians
get a detailed accounting of what transpired and whether the
officers' deaths could have been prevented?
For the RCMP, it seems there's no statute
of limitations for answers.
"It's a very tight-lipped, conservative
organization that doesn't particularly trust the [media],"
said Bill Pitt, a former Mountie who is now a criminology professor
at the University of Alberta.
Prof. Pitt said he was not surprised
by the lack of information being officially disclosed by the
Mounties in either case. While every police force battles to
balance keeping the public informed while not jeopardizing their
investigations, he said, the RCMP's "culture of secrecy"
is deeply ingrained and "goes back to its inception"
as a national institution.
On occasion, he said, the force's contempt
for public disclosure about its actions is "taken almost
to the point of absurd."
The Ian Bush case highlights that appraisal.
Mr. Bush, 22, was taken into custody in Houston, B.C., in October
for having an open beer outside a hockey arena. While in RCMP
custody, he was shot in the head and killed.
His family has received no explanation.
Police say they are still investigating. When The Globe and Mail
asked for an update on the case two months ago, an RCMP spokesman
in Vancouver, Staff Sergeant John Ward, offered this explanation:
"The public doesn't have a right to know anything. It takes
long because it takes long."
Last month, the police investigation
into that shooting was submitted to the Crown for review. Now,
the province's Attorney-General's Office is figuring out whether
criminal charges are warranted.
Invoking a cone of silence -- among officers,
families, residents and politicians -- has been a hallmark of
an RCMP investigation. The force routinely asks its members not
to speak to reporters about cases, leaving that job solely to
media handlers.
Almost three weeks after Constables Anthony
Gordon, 28, Leo Johnston, 32, Brock Myrol, 29, and Peter Schiemann,
25, were gunned down in Mayerthorpe while investigating what
appeared to be a marijuana grow-op and stolen-vehicle-parts operation
of a local thug, RCMP Superintendent Rod Knecht issued a memo
to officers and staff warning against speculation, criticism
and speaking to reporters.
By that point, reporters had already
revealed details that the police would have preferred to have
kept under wraps and quoted police who were critical of the investigation
and what led to the shooting.
Retired RCMP superintendent Clyde Kitteringham,
a veteran of 39 years, was the first to question the Mounties
publicly, suggesting that a lack of supervision may have contributed
to the disaster. He was maligned by those involved in the investigation
as an "armchair quarterback." But his remarks still
have resonance with the members of the public who filled letters-to-the-editor
pages asking what the police have learned from Mayerthorpe and
wondering how this could happen again.
Police in Spiritwood have released few
details about that case, but last week admitted that they had
provided an inaccurate timeline of events -- an admission that
came after The Globe reported that a gap of more than one hour
existed between when Constable Marc Bourdages, 26, and Constable
Robin Cameron, 29, were shot and when an ambulance was called.
Details had been similarly scarce in
the Mayerthorpe case. Early in that investigation, the RCMP applied
to seal documents associated with search warrants. The request
was granted, but was overturned after an application by the CBC
and Edmonton Journal. Those documents cast suspicions on Mr.
Roszko's mother, his aunt and a friend. There was also a suggestion
that Mr. Roszko may have had help.
When The Globe requested other documents
connected to that investigation, many were not released and those
that were had been heavily censored.
Nobody has been charged in the Mayerthorpe
case. The criminal investigation hasn't wrapped up. A provincial
fatality inquiry has been promised, but not set. Ottawa is still
completing its workplace-safety investigation, but no charges
will be laid.
Corporal Wayne Oakes, an Alberta RCMP
spokesman, said a promised public inquiry, which can begin only
after the criminal investigation concludes, will go a long way
in yielding answers about Mayerthorpe.
He brushed off suggestions that the public
was growing frustrated by the length of the investigation and
the lack of details surrounding the killings. Only the news media
have grown impatient, he said.
Some family members of the slain officers
have said they are content to wait, as long as the final report
is complete.
One retired Mountie, who asked not to
be identified, said the policing culture in Canada is different
than it is in the United States, where information about investigations
routinely makes headlines as the guidelines around free speech
are applied more liberally.
"In Canada, we do not have the same
rules and we can keep things under wraps with the caveat of an
ongoing investigation and not wanting it jeopardized by news
leaks," said the source, who has extensive knowledge of
police operations here and abroad.
"I doubt whether you will hear anything
[about Spiritwood] before the trial, at which time it will come
out."
He added that the Mayerthorpe investigation
has taken an extraordinarily long time to conclude. "I hope
that, with the delay, there will be some startling new information
coming out."
Prof. Pitt, the former Mountie turned
criminologist, said it's important that the RCMP "evolve
itself into the 21st century where the media and people aren't
enemies" and take a more up-to-date approach to public disclosure.
He said the change is necessary not only
for public confidence, but also for the future of the force,
which is increasingly losing experienced members to retirement
and attrition. "There are a lot of inexperienced members
out there right now," he said. "If there are problems
with training or procedures, members need to know."
In Spiritwood, a memo was issued to members
of the force outlining what happened to Constables Bourdages
and Cameron, a source close to the RCMP told The Globe. The officers
had been trying to force a suspect to stop by ramming their cruiser
into the back of his vehicle, but in the course of the pursuit,
their air bags deployed, which the source said rendered them
"helpless."
The two officers were shot with a rifle.
One of the bullets hit Constable Cameron before entering Constable
Bourdages, the source said.
The memo asked members not to talk with
the media.
Sergeant Brian Jones, who has been the
RCMP spokesman throughout the Spiritwood investigation, said
a message was sent asking "all media requests go through
me." But he would not talk about general RCMP policy regarding
police chases.
Pursuit is perhaps the hottest issue
in policing now. Some forces allow ramming, others don't. Some
have strict policies to limit pursuits altogether because of
the danger created to the suspect, the officers and the public.
RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli
has vowed that the national police force will learn lessons from
the deaths of the young Mounties.
"After every incident, after every
investigation, after every tragedy, like what we've seen here,
we will look at it, we examine and we try to learn," he
told reporters this week before the regimental funeral of Constable
Bourdages in Regina.
However, Mr. Zaccardelli added that while
the force tries to prepare for every eventuality, it's an impossible
feat and the job is inherently dangerous. "We always know
that there is the unpredictable out there. . . . There is the
randomness of events that come together, that you try to prepare
for but you know deep down that there are some situations that
you can never be totally ready for," he said.
But for some, shedding some tears and
then saying it's a dangerous job is not sufficient. An independent
inquiry is needed, said another retired Mountie, who asked not
to be named.
"Given the escalating number of
deaths and the non-responsiveness of the RCMP, the public has
a vested interest in knowing all the facts and contributing to
change that might have a positive impact," the ex-Mountie
said. "The current practice of allowing the RCMP to investigate
themselves in these cases and no significant formal inquiries
on a timely basis needs to cease. It is just not good enough."
Katherine Harding and Dawn Walton
are members of The Globe and Mail's Alberta bureau.
'Bad guys' outgunning
front-line officers: Constables issue public call for better
firepower;
Gary Dimmock. Edmonton Journal. Aug
1, 2006.
At a time when front-line Mounties are
being wounded and killed while on duty, two officers -- including
one who came under fire himself -- say the force is "outgunned"
by the bad guys.
"They've got the big guns and they're
not afraid to use them," said Const. Rip Mills. "So
you go to a gunfight with a pistol and the bad guy has a rifle.
What do you do with a pistol? Duck and take cover?"
It is rare for Mounties to speak publicly,
but with the rash of gun attacks against them, Ontario-based
Mills and Const. Pete Merrifield broke rank in a public call
for better firepower. They both said the national force is outmatched
by criminals and that its front-line officers need more than
one trip a year to the shooting range to hone their skills.
"We've got a pistol and a shotgun.
That's not going to cut it. How many more lives need to be lost
before we change?" Mills asked.
Merrifield, who once came under fire
by a suspect when he was working at a small detachment on the
Prairies, said front-line officers are outgunned.
"It ain't getting any better and
we're undergunned. We've got shitty old pump-action shotguns
and pistols. If you're within 20 metres or less, a pistol is
OK, but outside of that how do you face rifle fire with a pistol?"
"It's time the (Mounties) stopped
giving everyone a big teddy bear hug," Merrifield said.
The constable, a former counter-
terrorism agent, said every front-line
officer needs more firearms training.
Right now, Mounties only go to the shooting
range once a year. The Mounties' service pistol is a 9mm Smith
and Wesson and each cruiser has a mounted pump-action 12-gauge
shotgun.
The Mounties couldn't recall a time like
this. On July 21, a teenager opened fire on five RCMP officers
on the Hobbema reserve. The youth has been charged with five
counts of attempted murder.
Police seized a rifle from the teen.
Cpl. Al Fraser said officers have been
warned about coming under fire on any given day.
"It seems, regrettably, that the
frequency of these kinds of events (is) becoming more commonplace,
though I hope they're not normalized," he said.
"In the past, you might have heard
people say they were on a routine call. Today we have no routine
calls," the corporal said.
On July 7, constables Robin Cameron and
Marc Bourdages were killed near Spiritwood, Sask. Curtis Dagenais,
the suspect, is also accused of shooting at a third officer,
Michelle Knopp.
In March 2005, four Mounties were gunned
down on a routine call near Mayerthorpe, Alta. In that incident,
constables Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter
Schiemann lost their lives to a better-armed criminal, James
Roszko, who was packing several weapons, including a high-powered
rifle.
Dagenais Sr. seeks $1M in
suit against RCMP
Betty Ann Adam, The
StarPhoenix, Tuesday, August 01, 2006
More than a year before his son, Curtis Dagenais, was implicated
in the fatal shooting of two Spiritwood RCMP offi cers, Arthur
Dagenais launched a malicious prosecution lawsuit against three
other Spiritwood offi - cers, the Saskatchewan justice minister
and Dagenais' ex-wife, seeking $1 million in punitive damages.
The lawsuit, fi led in March 2005, alleged
Sgt. Brad Mueller and constables J.G.R. Giroux and Ed Gallant
knew Arthur Dagenais was not guilty in October 2003, when they
laid a sexual assault charge against him based on a complaint
by his then-wife, Elsie Dagenais. The charge was later stayed.
The lawsuit sheds further light on the
animosity the Dagenais father and son felt toward the RCMP stationed
in the small community, about 150 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
"I guess it says that there's at
least this degree of history of some discontent or unhappiness,"
said Donald McKillop, a provincial government lawyer representing
the minister of justice, who, as the RCMP employer, was also
named in the suit.
On July 7, constables Robin Cameron and
Marc Bourdages were shot following a police pursuit that began
when the offi cers responded to an assault call near the village
of Mildred, 12 kilometres east of Spiritwood.
A chase ensued and ended with gunfi re.
Curtis Dagenais, 41, fl ed into the bush on foot. Both offi cers
died in hospital from severe head injuries about a week later.
A large-scale search failed to locate
Curtis Dagenais, who turned himself in 11 days later. He is charged
with two counts of fi rst-degree murder and one count of attempted
murder of Michelle Knopp, a third, unharmed offi cer who was
at the scene of the shooting.
Arthur Dagenais, 69, was arrested the
day after the shooting and was charged with obstruction of justice,
after allegedly defying police instruction to stay away from
the restricted area near his home, where they were searching
for his son.
Court heard, at Arthur Dagenais' bail
hearing, that police allegedly found two fi rearms and $27,000
in cash hidden in a combine on his farm, and that he has a history
of hatred against police. He was also charged with possession
of an unregistered .22-calibre rifl e.
At the hearing, his lawyer, Lori Gollan,
described the rocky relationship father and son had with police.
Arthur Dagenais remains in custody but
has applied for a bail review, which will be heard Thursday in
Battleford.
Little progress was made on the lawsuit
in the months leading up to the shooting, but just days after,
on July 11, Arthur Dagenais' lawyer took the legal step of "noting
the defendants for default," said Harvey Walker, who represents
Elsie Dagenais in the lawsuit.
That step prevents the defendants from
taking any steps in relation to the lawsuit, including fi ling
a statement of defence, without fi rst obtaining permission from
a judge, Walker said.
The point may be moot because Dagenais
missed a legal deadline for serving the statement of claim on
the defendants, Walker said.
A plaintiff has six months after fi ling
a statement of claim with the court to serve notice on the defendants,
but Dagenais fi led his claim in March 2005 and served notice
to defendants in January 2006, Walker said.
Gollan, did not immediately return calls
Monday.
McKillop said he has not yet had any
response to his January 2006 demand for particulars from Dagenais.
"I think it's all very much in limbo,"
McKillop said.
"I've got nothing approaching assurance
it's over. Maybe it is. Maybe he's not ever going to pursue it.
I've got no assurance that that's the case. If they are going
to pursue it, then maybe somebody's going to have to press them
to get it to go forward, take some initiative from the defendant's
end," McKillop said.
Arthur Dagenais' suit claims the charge
against him was laid by one or all of the offi cers without proper
or any investigation.
Dagenais declared he was innocent and
co-operated with police by obtaining his medical records to prove
his innocence, according to the statement of claim. He had to
take time away from the farm to appear several times in North
Battleford court and had to pay a lawyer to represent him, the
claim states.
The charge was stayed Jan. 28, 2004.
Dagenais alleged RCMP offi cers prosecuted
him for a purpose other than assisting the courts of justice
and to coerce him into accepting responsibility for acts regardless
of his guilt or innocence.
He also alleged the offi cers didn't
honestly believe he was guilty, provided inadequate disclosure
and conspired to maliciously prosecute him.
He also alleges his charter rights to
life, liberty and security of the person were breached.
Dagenais alleges he suffered emotional
stress, anxiety, depression, mental anguish, humiliation, public
scorn, loss of reputation, loss of self-esteem, psychiatric illness
and loss of income.
He alleges premeditated and malicious
prosecution, abuse of power and "a high handed and callous
disregard, denial and diminution" of his rights.
Elsie Dagenais filed a statement of defence
in which she denied the allegations, saying her complaint was
true and that Dagenais is "the author of his own misfortune."
badam@sp.canwest.com
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2006
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell