By Interview by Marissa Nelson
The Hamilton Spectator(Jan 10, 2007)
The OPP's new commissioner is on a campaign: Defending his officers' handling of the Caledonia standoff, building bridges in Caledonia, which he visited yesterday, and attacking mischief-makers looking to use the standoff for their own ends.
Why are you in Caledonia today?
"I'm here to come to the community, to address local issues and deal with local concerns. I met this morning with the Haldimand Council ... It was basically an opportunity to be more intimately plugged in ... We're trying to explain what, in fact, has been the OPP's commitment ...
"The nagging issue is the whole situation of policing on the 6th Line. To the extent we can, we are trying to address that. We have a very firm response that any 911 calls from those residents, the OPP and First Nations police will respond. That's not satisfactory to a number of people and we're working on that."
What is the OPP's strategy in Caledonia?
"Our strategy is to stabilize our police deployment in this community. We're going to do that by bringing in OPP officers on permanent assignment here ... What we hope will happen is our people will attach themselves to the lifeline of the community."
Are you lobbying Queen's Park and Ottawa to get this resolved?
"I don't know what persuasion I have but there seems to be an urgency all around but the dynamics are so complex, things are going slowly not because people's will has diminished but because of the complexity ... My responsibility is the policing. To that end, I'm trying very hard to ensure we're doing all we can to maintain the peace and tranquility."
Some people believe the OPP have used a double standard in enforcing the law in Caledonia. What are you doing to address that?
"There are many different points of view ... because we didn't wade into certain situations when people expected us to, it may appear we didn't respond effectively or in a timely fashion. We're now able to show people that while we didn't jump in, which would have escalated the situation, we've used discretion, but none of those illegal activities have gone without a police response. We're investigating flat out. We've arrested 31 people ... We have arrested people on both sides of the issue ... We may not have been right out front with some of the information about all the good work our people have been doing."
What about Gary McHale's plan to hold a protest in Caledonia and what are you doing to prepare for Jan. 20?
"It is totally unhelpful. It's agitating the community. It's creating the potential for confrontation and violence. It's totally unnecessary and unhelpful and what makes me very suspicious is that it's done in the shroud of the Canadian flag and support for our men and women in the Canadian military -- the whole notion of patriotism ...
"People have to see it for what this is -- it's mischief-making and there's another agenda here. We've been the target of this nonsense, just as the community has ... The right to demonstrate peace-fully is not a problem. The right to incite a breach of the peace or spew hate and commit offences, that's not a right, it's an abuse of your rights ... It's like entering a darkened room where there's a gas leak and looking for it with a match."