Lee Greenberg
The Ottawa Citizen
Amid calls for his resignation, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino says he supports the judicial process and rejects recent criticism of his actions during last summer's rail blockade near Deseronto by native leader Shawn Brant and his supporters.
"I am disappointed that this matter is being portrayed by some in the media and the political arena as something other than the successful negotiation and peaceful resolution of an intense and possibly volatile situation," Commissioner Fantino said yesterday in a release.
"I am confident that the judicial process will determine the outcome of these criminal proceedings in a fair, impartial and unbiased manner. The OPP fully supports everyone's right to freedom of expression and lawful protest," the release said.
Peter Kormos, a Southern Ontario MPP and a frequent critic of Commissioner Fantino, said yesterday the province's top police officer should resign after making "threatening, inflammatory" comments to a native leader during the standoff, according to the provincial NDP.
He says Commissioner Fantino contravened the spirit of the Ipperwash report when he told Mr. Brant he would do "everything I can within your community and everywhere else, to destroy your reputation."
"He's crossed the line, once again," Mr. Kormos said yesterday in an interview. "And this time, with his bombastic Rambo rhetoric, he has gone too far."
The comments come from telephone conversations between the two men in June 2007, when Mr. Brant led a blockade of Highway 401 and a rail line near the
The comments were released last week during a preliminary hearing for Mr. Brant, who faces charges stemming from his alleged involvement in the aboriginal day of action protests.
Mr. Kormos says Commissioner Fantino's behaviour flies in the face of the Ipperwash report, which issued guidelines aimed at improved relations between the province and native communities. The report followed an inquiry into the OPP's handling of a native protest at
Instead of seeking to calm the situation, Mr. Kormos says, Commissioner Fantino acted like a bully.
"Shawn, your whole world's going to come crashing down on this issue," Commissioner Fantino tells Mr. Brant at one point.
Mr. Brant's lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, has called for the commissioner to be disciplined over the comments.
Reached on vacation this weekend, the commissioner reportedly called the media firestorm ignited by his taped remarks "self-serving nonsense."
Mr. Kormos says that response is yet another sign that the OPP commissioner is unable to recognize errors.
"Commissioner Fantino should either resign or be fired," he said in an interview. "We just can't afford to have this continue to go on. There's far too much at stake."
Premier Dalton McGuinty has backed the OPP chief following the release of the audio recordings, saying Commissioner Fantino has his confidence --and he believes he's done well in a difficult job. "It's easy to second guess our police from a distance, but my experience with Commissioner Fantino is that he's worked long and hard," the premier said.