Ontario Provincial Police came close to forcibly breaking up native blockade on a stretch of
Wiretap transcripts of a conversation between OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino and Mohawk protest leader Shawn Brant in the early hours of June 29 were included in the documents released from Mr. Brant's preliminary hearing in August, 2007.
In the conversation, Mr. Fantino is heard telling Mr. Brant that, “your whole world's going to come crashing down” and threatening to “do everything I can within your community and everywhere to destroy your reputation.”
During the often heated conversation, Mr. Brant tells Mr. Fantino he needs more time to negotiate with people at the blockade, who he says do not trust police.
Documents show that Mr. Fantino gave Mr. Brant a deadline, and told him he was ready to move in if the protesters did not lift the blockades on a Highway 2 overpass over Highway 401.
Mr. Brant's lawyer Peter Rosenthal read out statements to the court:
“I think we're running out of time, Shawn. You know, we've been back and forth all night on this, and we've got a lot of very angry people who are absolutely beyond themselves with what's going on, and, you know, we just have to close shop here, and we can't go on any longer, to be honest with you.”
Mr. Fantino told court he was concerned that the blockade would affect thousands of people who used the busy highway and decided to negotiate with Mr. Grant himself.
After several conversations throughout the night with Mr. Grant, Mr. Fantino told court he said he was going to stop negotiating.
“... eventually I told him that I was no longer negotiating with him, that I was now demanding and telling him that it was going to be finished.”
The court transcript continues with a lawyer asking:
“There were, in fact, plans under way at that time for a forced removal of the blockade, were there?”
“Uh, yes, there was. There comes a time when the balance of the greater public good shifts, and the feeling was that under the circumstances, this situation could no longer continue, and we were, in fact, preparing to move on the blockades,” the transcript shows Mr. Fantino replying.
During the proceedings Mr. Grant's lawyers questioned Mr. Fantino about the OPP code of conduct and the department's rules on dealing with native issues, in particular, blockades and protests.
According to the transcript, the code included treating aboriginal groups with respect, and Mr. Fantino was asked whether he was contradicting that code in his discussions with Mr. Grant.
The code of conduct comes from recommendations stemming from the inquiry into the 1995 shooting death of native protester Dudley George by police at