OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino says he stands by a letter of character reference he wrote for a native protester who was charged with assaulting Caledonia activist Gary McHale.
Read copy of the letter
Fantino was a reluctant defence witness today at the trial of McHale, who is charged with counselling mischief not committed. McHale is accused of encouraging a Caledonia man to organize a road blockade outside a native-run smoke shop during a protest at the site, located on Argyle Street South at Highway 6 on Dec. 1, 2007.
McHale, who is representing himself on the charge, is attempting to show that Fantino felt animosity for him and therefore unfairly targeted him for arrest on the day of the protest.
McHale filed as an exhibit at his preliminary hearing, a letter of character reference that Fantino wrote to the courts on behalf of a native activist, Clyde Powless, who was charged with an assault on McHale on the day of the smoke-shack protest.
“Do you still confirm what you say in this letter?” McHale asked the province’s top police officer.
“Yes, I do,” Fantino told the accused man.
The commissioner’s letter states: “Although I am not in a position to address the specific circumstances that resulted in criminal charges being brought against Mr. Powless, I do feel that but for Mr. McHale’s mischief-making forays into Caledonia, the very volatile situation that exists there would not have escalated time and again as it has virtually every time Mr. McHale came to town.”
Ontario Court Justice Bernd Zabel is presiding at the preliminary hearing and must eventually decide if the Crown has sufficient evidence to order McHale to stand trial on the mischief charge.
