Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau needs to answer for the conduct of his officers.
Ottawa police are officially refusing to comment on a claim that one of its officers destroyed private property.
The destruction of property happened last Thursday when a police constable, identified only by the last name Clark, demanded a camera be handed over by a protestor downtown. Wanting to avoid arrest, the man complied. When the constable returned the camera a short time later, all photos and video had been deleted.
I sent along specific details of these events to the Ottawa Police looking for comment. They would not deny any of it.
“We cannot comment of specifics to an open investigation. Nor do we confirm or deny named persons on an investigation,” Const. Marc Soucy wrote to me in an email.
Well, that’s big of the police force. They took someone’s personal property, deleted files on it and never charged or arrested the person. But they call it an “ongoing investigation” and therefore they cannot comment.
What is the ongoing investigation?
It’s into the actions of two retired men, Cyril Winter and Donald Bruneau, who protest outside the Morgentaler abortion clinic on Bank Street, just steps from Parliament Hill. These two men walk back and forth on the sidewalk with signs that quite clearly show they are opposed to abortion and the public funds that pour into the privately owned Morgentaler clinic to pay for the abortions. Nothing illegal in their views or their signs.
Most of the time these men walk on the sidewalk across the street from the clinic, but at times Mr. Winter will cross over to the same side as the clinic. Nothing illegal in where they protest either, since Ottawa does not have a bubble zone law.
But Ottawa police and people at the clinic seem to have a problem with the signs and the location of this protest. So for the past few weeks they have been harassing the two men. A few weeks ago, Winter was threatened with arrest over his signs.
Then last Thursday, police stopped Winter again, questioning him for close to an hour. During much of this time, his friend Mr. Bruneau was recording the actions of police on a camera.
Nothing illegal in this; nothing illegal on their sings and nothing illegal in the location of their protest, but it seems some Ottawa police think they have authority even when the law does not grant them that authority.
Bruneau told me over the phone that when the officer named Clark saw him recording the street side interrogation of Winter, the officer approached.
“He came up to me, and he said ‘I want your camera.’ I asked what law there was requiring me to hand it over. He said again in a very gruff tone, ‘I want your camera.’ I didn’t want to be arrested and didn’t know my rights, so I complied,” Bruneau said.
Bruneau says that’s when the officer walked across Bank Street and into the front entrance of the building that houses the abortion clinic.
“My friend Cy saw him manipulating my camera and that’s when he deleted my files,” Bruneau said. “Before he gave me my camera back, he gave me a lecture and told me it wasn’t right to film him.”
Perhaps the cop is just ashamed at being reduced to harassing a man exercising his right to protest; because unless there is a law that I am not aware of, there was nothing in Bruneau’s actions that violated the law. Meanwhile, the cops continue to pester Winter over his decision to walk on a public sidewalk wearing a sign.
“They interrogated me for a total of about 7 hours over 3 days, just harassing me,” Winter said of the police action last week.
So far he has not been arrested or charged, but the police are trying to convince him that he is in violation of the city bylaw regulating where groups of people can and cannot protest.
“They tried to convince me that I was a collection of people,” Winter said.
They didn’t arrest him at all last week or again today when they stopped by for a chat.
“They’ll come after me tomorrow again.”
As for Bruneau, he said he isn’t planning on complaining to the police standards branch at this point; he simply doesn’t trust them enough to deal with the issue.
Someone needs to deal with this though, and it might require political leadership.
Does Chief Charles Bordeleau want his force known as one that tramples the rights of senior citizens protesting on public sidewalks?
Does Mayor Jim Watson support this kind of behaviour from the police service?
Currently the Ottawa Police Association is looking for more money from taxpayers. Should taxpayers give more money to a police service that violates citizen’s rights and then refuses to talk about it?
I’d say no.
It is up to the mayor, council and the chief to crack the whip on the cops for this inappropriate action. Cops may be bureaucrats with guns, but at the end of the day, they work for us and they must answer to us.
Categories: General
This is not acceptable on behalf of a police officer. Please do everything within your power to seek justice in this case and to prevent this from happening again. Thank you.
What about the womens rights to privacy? To not be photographed???? What about the Dr.’s right to not have his name displayed on a sign?
Nice spin piece.
Most cameras do a quick delete which removes the data from an index, but does not delete the actual photo. Until you take another photo, everything is usually recoverable on the chip.
In addition, even if the chip is formatted, cameras do a quick format which destroys the index, but not the files. If you don’t take any photos/video, usually you can recover the formatted images.
So, let the police officer do the delete then download a recovery program from the Internet and get the photos.
The police routinely harass many people and their conduct is reprehensible. They need to be held accountable. If any politician has the balls to back up this senior i would be very surprised. It is time for the civic, provincial or federal government to step up and defend FREEDOM.
So now we have become a nation where the cops act as thugs and criminals, and we are supposed to ignore this blattant abuse of power. While I understand the poor gentleman not refusing to hand over his property, it is unfornate that he refused to do so, since the cop had no right whatsoever to take it and to destroy the evidence. It used to be, long ago I admit, that a cop uniform represented the rule of law in Canada, but that is no longer the case. As a senior citizen I have come to the point of having no respect whatsoever for what is called our law enforcement people, due to this kind of thing.
This intimidation is wrong and it needs to stop. These gentlemen could be any of our grandfathers!! Whatever happened to “innocent until proven guilty?” As the ones paying the bills, taxpayers expect that the police will not expose law-abiding citizens to harassment and confiscation of property. The public needs assurance from the Chief of Police that demonstrators posing no threat won’t be wrongfully detained in the future.
Police are in power to make sure people obey the law but police should not pick and choose which is law or not we have freedom and people preach tolerence but not against christian and freedom of speech.
Please take a moment to read the story and email your thoughts to Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau at info@ottawapolice.ca
This is unacceptable behavior by the police.
You know something is terribly wrong with society when violence occurs but police investigate the observers instead of the perpetrators.
The actions of this cop, like many times before, demonstrate their cowardice and their decisions to only persue the paths of least resistance. This cop should be fired. I’ve lost all respect for (most of) these pigs.
If two retired guys scare them, wait until May 9 when over 10,000 people will be marching by the clinic.
Perhaps the women going in need to start taking pictures of the protesters on the sidewalk and see how they like it.
I don’t agree with the protesters, but I do agree 100% with their right to protest ( with reasonable limits ).
Confiscating and deleting files from a camera is an abuse of authority by Ottawa police.
It’s not the first nor the last time, police have exceeded their authority in this regard. They regularly confiscate cameras and delete images…..and threaten those that ‘dare’ record their activities.
We know that for police, the Charter of Rights is an inconvenience.
I’m glad that these guys got hassled, and hope for more. I’m sick of abortion protesters. Pious, religious, delusional fools!
Abortion is legal now, understand? Stay away from the clinics. You’re not wanted or needed there.
Thank God for reporters like Brian Lilly and Sun Meda–
who report the facts.
I also am a Pro Life person at the young age of 83
I also have for years carried a sign once a week opposite the abortion site on Bank St
so far have not been harassed by the Ottawa Police
however the last month or so they do show up and check that we are not breaking an By-Laws.-I can only assume the Security guard at theMorgentaler site calls then every time we are there (across the street)to make trouble for us.
What a waste of Police services and my taxes
Const.Marc Soucy is Quoted as saying We cannot comment on an open investigation
as a Tax Payer for years –I would hope when the investigation is close I could be advised what the problem was and what law was broken
A Free Canadian citizen I will continue to pray for the unborn that are been kill at this location
This surprises you how?
Once you deny the personhood of the fetus why will you protect anyone liberty?
Is Pro-Choice a women’s right issue? Hmm, let’s explore this. Nanny Bloomberg is so worried about your health. Wants to ban sodas & smokes
(hit the wrong key) anyhoo, continue about Bloomberg…wants to ban soda & smokes in a city that aborts more minority baby than births them
I beleive Alfonzo Rachel is on to someting on this one, eh.
Sad the see how one can generalize a group of people after dealing with one individual. You were mistreated by a police officer but you refer to the whole service as being un professional. I understand the frustration that could come out of a encounter like the one you describe but putting every police officers in the same basket by painting a negative image of the good cops as well is wrong. I have interactions with police on a regular basis and I met good officers just like I met bad officers. However, I wouldn’t judge an entire group by the actions of one or more members of that group. There’s are a few words for that kind of mindset but I’m sure there’s no need to elaborate on that. Good luck.
If they’re breaking a law charge them. If they’re not, leave them alone. They should not be harassed into breaking a law.
They seem to have a right to do what they’re doing.
Not upholding the law when it needs to be upheld (forcing a judges hand to intervene),and being selective when they do so. Creating their own laws where none exist…. If these were isolated incidents far and few between then so be it. Unfortunately this is not the case. The problem is coming from the head, and the head directs the body and rules over the body. I’m pretty sure their’s many rank and file police who would agree with this as well.
This was a terrible example of police overreach but its not a new phenomena. The Toronto police have done this kind of thing many times. It’s only a Sun story here because it affected a Prolifer.
You know never mind this story when we have free market Jim interfereing with the free market. How about something on this Brian, since your so against governemnt in the home(Libby Davis on salt warnings) and what you can watch in your home(Sun Tv on basic cable) how about that fact that now the Conservatives want to take away your right to own a home by manipulating mortgage rates from private lenders(Manulife) shameful indeed!
Welcome to Canada….. When is the last time anyone read the bill of rights, or the constitution? Grade school? When is the last time anyone brushed up on their contract law? Never? Well that is 99% of this population. For the record, ALL Police Officers have been given almost unlimited powers over citizens. It is your word against theirs and they have a “sworn oath” that gives them a higher title than you or I. All police forces work for the Government that employs them, not you and I. Alot of things have to be understood before this country will be any better. But until then, us sheep will just follow the herd……..
The Ottawa chief needs to talk to his men about grilling a senior who was acting within his rights. Then confiscating private property and destroying the property, film of the police officer that was harrassing a citizen possibly because he was defending the abortion clinic or disagreed with the senior’s cause “that all life is sacred and deserves to be protected”. Don Bruneau hails from Timmins, Ontario nicknamed “City with the Heart of Gold!” It was with his golden heart he walks the streets of Ottawa. In defense of the stolen rights of the unborn to live and walk the earth as Don, the police chief, and the officer do.
so… when it happens to two “retired gentlemen” you report it, but when this happens to a young person who doesnt share your agenda you are silent? nice work again.
@Cindy @ 6:13 PM.
What about the womens rights to privacy? To not be photographed???? What about the Dr.’s right to not have his name displayed on a sign?
What about it ? None of the items you complain about are illegal.
Why do you support killing babies ?
Too bad about harassing these old guys.
What really fries my chips is my taxes paying for some dopey teeny bopper’s poor choices. Get off your back and outa my wallet.
@Rico; you say you have met both good and bad cops. i say you have never met a good cop, if any existed then bad cops would not.
Police in Ont. are completely out of control, they refuse to act on Court orders, they make their own laws now for instance two OPP are now in control of firearms and we all know where they stand on that subject, we are rapidly becoming a Police state, next comes the Heil thing and the red and black arm band and jack boots!This Country is in bad trouble, a Cop can kill you in cold blood and unless there is physical evidence, he will not even tell you he was there and there is nothing one can do about it. as they say, only in Canada!
I think the next time I get one of those envelopes from the Conservatives, asking for more money, I will return the envelope, but sans cheque, just a note to say I am not happy about some ideals that they are standing up for. Harper has said that when Canadians have a change of heart, he would make moves on abortion legislation. Well I think their is a sea change occurring, and the time might be now. But even that is not the point; if Indians are aloud to block rail lines, and the police do nothing, than there definitely appears to be a miscarriage of justice in these cases. Either Canadians (of every colour and creed) have a right to protest, or none do. The police in this country (in every force) are quickly losing respect, and this does not bode well for any future growth in that field.
Did I write aloud for “allowed”?
A peaceful individual taking pictures in a public place is accosted by police under unreasonable ad hoc enforcing. Then the police brass treat the incident and the media with a pall of secrecy. Secrecy and unaccountability in police operations is a common sign of tyranny. A free nation cannot have a law enforcement class who deem themselves above the law or to be the creators or interpreters of the law.
Perfect example of the new police militancy and contempt for civil liberty, the rule of law and legal rights. This seems to be a genetic change in police indoctrination and policy because it is happening across Canada and in the US as well. We saw this ad hoc policing during the G20 and at just about any political protest or demonstration.
Police need to be held accountable for these increasing breeches of propriety and they must be reminded they are there to enforce law not their superiors policy. They also need to be reminded in no uncertain terms that they are there to protect our civil liberties not crush them.