APEC – Commission Interim Report
On November 24, some time after Mr. Malmo-Levine was arrested at the flagpole, Jaggi Singh, for the second time that day, and others were arrested at the plaza next to the Rose Garden. The complaint is that during Mr. Singh's arrest, Jamie Doucette was bitten on the arm by an RCMP police service dog.
19.1. Singh Arrest
The details of Mr. Singh's arrest on the afternoon of November 24 are relevant here to the extent that they provide the context for what happened to Jamie Doucette. Mr. Singh's earlier arrest is discussed in detail in Chapter 17. As a condition of his release on the morning of November 24, he had signed an undertaking to the Provincial Court that he would stay away from the University Endowment Lands, which of course includes UBC campus. He nevertheless returned that afternoon to continue his protest against APEC. Mr. Singh said he had signed the undertaking fully intending to break it. He announced to the people gathered near the Koerner Library that he had signed the undertaking not to return to campus and then tore it up, saying to those assembled that he intended to "defy" the undertaking. Then he went through the opening in the fence near the flagpole, into the area that would soon be closed off as a secure area.
A substantial number of the police officers who had been in the flagpole area during the Malmo-Levine arrest had remained there. Soon after Mr. Singh passed through the fence opening, with paint can and brush in hand, he and one of his colleagues were arrested. It is not surprising that no complaint was filed regarding the arrest of Mr. Singh and his colleague on the afternoon of November 24. With his deliberate disrespect for and disobedience of a court order and the undertaking which he had signed, this self-styled anarchist could not have expected otherwise from police officers sworn to uphold and respect the law. The police did what was required of them, when it was required of them, and they did it well.
19.2. The Crowd Scene
Ms. Muttray was among those who stayed to watch the developments after Mr. Singh was arrested. She was asked why she had stayed:
A: Why did I stay there? Because it was just very emotional and very exciting, somehow, and I really wanted to be there and witness it.
Q: Can you describe what the atmosphere was like?
A: People were very determined to stay as long as possible in that zone that was supposed to be closed off. They really wanted to see how the last phase there would be taken away.
People were--you know, they were around the flagpole, they were singing a lot. There was--when people got arrested, like--like, you know, Jaggi and the other two people were shouting, shame, shame, at the police, and I could sense that, you know, people were--people were angry about the way it happened.
That testimony paints an accurate picture of what the police were facing at the time, all despite the fact that Ms. Muttray and others were aware that Mr. Singh had returned to campus in breach of a court order and his undertaking. With reference to the Singh arrest, Ms. Muttray went on to say:
They probably accepted that, that it would happen, but at the same time, you know, we were trying to convey to the police that they shouldn't be here protecting, you know, international persons that are potential war criminals, you know, they should be here protecting Canadian citizens, and--you know that was one of the points people wanted to make.
Sgt. Wilcott said throughout this incident the crowd did a lot of yelling and showed a lot of emotion over the Singh arrest. He was concerned that the crowd was encroaching on the RCMP members who were on the ground trying to get Mr. Singh and his colleague under control. The chanting and the noise made Sgt. Wilcott think the crowd might try to obstruct the arrests and put the RCMP members in some danger. Cst. Patrick Lockert said the crowd was very upset over Mr. Singh being arrested. Cst. Chaulk said someone in the crowd said, referring to the police officers, "don't let them in."
19.3. The Dogs are Brought Out
When Mr. Singh and another were handcuffed and on the ground, Sgt. Wilcott ordered the three dog handlers, Csts. Lockert, Chaulk and Milner, to get their police dogs out of the vans and Sgt. Wilcott did the same. He said that because there were now fewer police officers present than there had been earlier, he intended to use the police dogs to set up a perimeter. Cst. Lockert said the object was to protect the officers who were holding the prisoners because "the crowd was getting very agitated again and yelling and screaming and advancing toward the prisoners." He said that a crowd of 50 to 75 protesters were standing within a yard or so from the arresting members. The dogs were harnessed and leashed. Sgt. Wilcott said they set up a line adjacent to the people being arrested and, with another line set up by the VPD Bike Squad, they formed a U-shaped perimeter.
Cst. Lockert said he put a harness on his dog and attached to it a nine-foot leash which he called a "riot line." He said, however, that he held the leash at a distance of about one foot from the dog, with the remainder dangling to the ground. He said the other dogs would have been on short leashes as well. Sgt. Wilcott said his dog was on a six-foot leash but that he shortened it so that there was about one and a half to two feet of leash between where he held it and the dog.
Cst. Lockert explained what happened then:
A: The crowd is there advancing, yelling, screaming. An individual comes up, very close to my dog and almost gets bitten by my dog. My dog lunges at him and I grab him and I grab him, pull him back. And I tell this individual to get back or he's going to get bitten.
Q: And where had he come from?
A: He--no idea, he just came around from the crowd and worked his way down the outside of the crowd.
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Q: All right. And did your--your dog actually take a lunge at him?
A: Yes, he did. The individual was very close, my dog took a lunge at him.
Q: And what did you say?
A: Well, I stopped my dog from lunging at him and told him to get back, or he's going to get bitten.
Q: If you had not stopped your dog, is it your opinion, knowing your dog, that he would have bitten him?
A: Yes, he would have bitten.
Q: What did the individual do?
A: He just kept moving down the line towards Corporal Wilcott and there was a TV camera person or a camera person there and he went and sat down right beside him.
Q: Sorry, beside the camera person?
A: Beside the camera person, Yes.
Q: All right. And when you say down the line, is Corporal Wilcott the next Police Officer on the line?
A: He's the next Police Officer, on the line, to my right.
Q: All right. And--
A: And he moved toward Corporal Wilcott.
Q: And the line you're talking about is that line of dog handlers that you've just described?
A: Well, the little shape that we're in, yes.
Q: Yes. Were there any other officers other than the dog handlers?
A: No.
Q: Okay. All right. And so you've indicated this individual sat down near the camera man, what happens then?
A: Corporal Wilcott's dog, gives him a little nip on the shoulder.
Q: You've indicated the upper right shoulder?
A: Yes.
Q: All right. Now, when that occurred, was the dog still on a short leash, or a long leash?
A: He was still on a short leash.
Q: And when this individual sat down, how near was he to the dog, as he sat down?
A: Within a foot.
Q: Did you observe Corporal Wilcott to say anything to the individual, when he did that? When he sat down that close?
A: I don't think Corporal Wilcott even saw him.
The person bitten by the dog was Mr. Doucette, then a second year anthropology student at UBC. He returned to Cst. Lockert five or ten minutes later and asked him if it was Cst. Lockert's dog that had bit him. Cst. Lockert said "No." Mr. Doucette then left. Cst. Lockert acknowledged at the hearing that it would have been a matter of common decency to have told Mr. Doucette that it was Sgt. Wilcott's dog even though that question was never asked of him.
I am satisfied that Sgt. Wilcott was unaware that his dog had bitten Mr. Doucette who, at the time, was either sitting or crouching beside Sgt. Wilcott. He said his dog had made contact with another person who had been standing. Sgt. Wilcott said he was not aware of someone either sitting or crouching in his immediate area and he had no knowledge that his dog had nipped at that person.
Mr. Doucette had witnessed the arrest of Mr. Malmo-Levine, as well as the arrests of Mr. Singh and his associate. He said by this time it was getting late, towards twilight, close to 6:00 p.m. He said it was a very emotional time, with an increased police presence. He said he watched Mr. Singh lying in front of a police vehicle. He explained what he did next:
A: I was standing up for a while. I guess I eventually, you know, things were very confusing, and lots of things were happening, and I thought I would, you know, just sit down and concentrate on one thing. You know, I stress how, you know, disturbing a lot of things that happened that day were, and I think it was important for me, I felt that I just sit down and watch Mr. Singh's arrest. I noticed an officer placing a heel on his back and I was sort of just concentrating on that. My sitting down was no active resistance. It was no great protest. It was just sort of to clear my head and concentrate on one thing.
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Q: All right, so what happened while you were sitting there?
A: As I said earlier, I noticed a police officer placing his heel on Mr. Singh's back, and at that point I was sitting down watching that with my arms crossed like this.
Q: Crossed across your chest, yes.
A: Yes. I remember explicitly there being sort of feet on both sides of me. Around here there being some officers on--all around on both sides.
Q: When you say "feet," you mean people standing beside you?
A: Yeah, people standing, other protestors, I think I might have been the only one sitting. I was also aware that there was a fence behind us, there was, you know, not really much room behind us that people could go. I was very aware of that actually. And then, if we want to get specifically into the actual bite, my position was that I was sitting down, holding my arms crossed, watching this officer with his foot on Mr. Singh's back. To the side of--to my right side, in my vision, I sort of saw a hand reaching outwards with a leash. I guess the physical action would be someone like--sort of almost like a whip, an action like this, and then, you know, noticed sort of a dog's head. It had bit my arm, I sort of went like this, and then the next thing I knew--
The Commissioner: Just went like what?
The Witness: Sorry, I sort of fell back, I sort of--my reaction was sort of a motion, you know, to push my back back--to, like push myself away from this dog.
Mr. Doucette said the dog bit the upper part of his arm, his body moved backward and he was grabbed by a protester and pulled up. He said he was in a state of shock. He believed his arm was covered by clothing at the time of the bite. He said there was no police line between him and the crowd at this point. He said that no police officer gave him any verbal warning. Mr. Doucette described the bite wound as a deep scrape, which was not gushing blood but was a deep abrasion. He said it was not an open bloody cut but more of a "seeping" type.
19.4. Mr. Doucette Questions the Dog Handlers
Mr. Doucette said he had two conversations with two different dog handlers. One was his conversation with Cst. Lockert when he asked whether Cst. Lockert's dog had bitten him. The other was a conversation with Cst. Chaulk which Mr. Doucette described as follows:
I asked if the dogs had their shots and he responded to me that they had their shots, and did I have mine. He was--he said a few things, like, how do we know that you are clean. And I found it very insulting. He was--I guess the connotation was that I might have some, you know, disease or like, you know, like he was afraid that I had AIDS or something like that.
Cst. Chaulk gave his explanation of that conversation:
Mr. Doucette then went on to ask me, if in fact, my dog, or all the dogs had their shots, and I replied to him that yes, our dogs are--are required to be all updated with their shots. I went on to further advise him that our dogs are all required to have a very extensive and complete medical examination, yearly, through policy. And I then recall asking him if, in fact, he was clean. And the reason for that was because I make it a standard practice, myself, that if my dog has any contact with an individual, and by contact I mean actually biting somebody. I make it a point myself personally, to try and find out if this individual has any background with respect to their health, in particular to infectious diseases, if they're a carrier, or something like this. And the reason for that is, if my dog has had contact with somebody, in fact bit them, and the last thing I want is the dog to transfer any body fluids, i.e. blood, from that particular person to me, because the dogs get quite exuberant after the fact, they're quite happy, and it's common for them to jump on you, lick you, just out of happiness. That was my reason for asking that. Had Mr. Doucette told me, in fact, he was a carrier, infectious in any way, I would have made it a priority, on my part, to try to find out whose dog had, in fact, bit him and relayed that information on to him, for his own safety.
19.5. After the Incident
Mr. Doucette said that S/Sgt. Plante was at the site and that he had approached him twice saying he wanted to lodge a formal complaint about what had happened. He said that S/Sgt. Plante told him to come to the UBC Detachment office on Thursday "when this was all over" and they would talk about it. Mr. Doucette said he never went back to talk to S/Sgt. Plante, although he did lodge a complaint with the Detachment about his bicycle.
Like Ms. Muttray, Mr. Doucette stayed at the flagpole until the area was closed off. He said he participated in a sing-along around the flagpole circumference. He said when the site was secured everyone left when required to do so, with the exception of about five people who were carried out by the police and lifted over the gate. Mr. Doucette said that, later that evening, he went to the emergency ward at the hospital where a nurse cleaned his wound. He said that, before going to the hospital, he likely went to the Student Union Building, to which he returned later in the evening and where, at about 11:00 p.m., he participated in a meeting of an APEC Alert committee.
19.6. The Use of Police Dogs
The three dog handlers all gave evidence about the training, use and control of dogs as part of a certified tactically trained dog team. Cst. Chaulk said they were attached to a riot squad tactical troop. In this instance, the dogs were not brought in to quell a riot. In a riot situation, dogs are used to push a crowd back. Cst. Lockert said that in a riot situation usually the dog is at the end of the full nine-foot leash, causing the crowd to move back beyond the length of the leash. Sgt. Wilcott said that the purpose of having the dogs out on this occasion was not for riot control, that is, for pushing the crowd back, but to form a perimeter with the dogs and their handlers.
The use of police dogs can be frightening though necessary in some circumstances. Ms. Isabela Varela, a graduate student and Green College resident, said the dogs were very aggressive and threatening. She sought an assurance from an officer that a warning would be given before the dogs were released. She explained her concern:
I felt that it was very deliberately aggressive and intimidating, trying to create a climate of fear. And they succeeded, because they had their dogs straining at the leash and barking. And it was just very scary. And that's why I had approached the Officer, because I wanted to know if they were going to release the hounds, I want to be ready.
The best explanation of what happened to Mr. Doucette came from Cst. Chaulk. When dogs are being used not at full leash for riot control but as they were on November 24, the best way to prevent a dog from biting is to keep the dog as close to the handler as possible. Cst. Chaulk said:
The dog, and my dog, in particular, that I can speak for. When he's held in close to me, in the situation like that, if a person approaches and gets too close to, you know, a fully trained police dog, in a crowd control situation; if a person gets too close to this dog, he's going to react in one of two ways. Out of protection for me or protection for himself because there is that--that bubble zone, a safe zone that he feels comfortable for. And if a person was to approach him, within a foot or two, given a situation like that, and he's naturally going to either protect myself, as the handler, which he's trained to do, or himself. And that would require lunging at a person, obviously.
Cst. Chaulk was questioned further:
Q: What other steps would you take to ensure that the--there was no contact between a dog and a member of the crowd?
A: Well, there's--there's really only two ways. One would be to control your police dog and the other would be to--to verbalize with the crowd by telling them to stay back, move away, keep away, verbal--verbal commands.
Q: And did you issue those types of verbal commands to the crowd?
A: Oh, on numerous occasions.
I accept Cst. Chaulk's evidence. His explanation describes and fits with what occurred when Sgt. Wilcott's dog bit or nipped Mr. Doucette's upper arm.
19.7. Police Conduct was Appropriate
I am quite satisfied that Cst. Lockert warned Mr. Doucette to get back as he said he did. Perhaps, with all the noise and yelling, Mr. Doucette did not hear him. I would have thought he would have heard one of Cst. Chaulk's commands to the crowd to stay back, move away and keep away.
In any event, Mr. Doucette should have realized that he was positioning himself on the ground in a very dangerous location. Even if the warnings were drowned out by the high noise level at that time of tension and uncertainty, Mr. Doucette should have realized that he was risking his safety by taking a position on the ground beside the dogs.
The RCMP had a potentially explosive situation to deal with. The unpleasantness of the Malmo-Levine incident was clearly on everyone's mind. The RCMP had just done their duty by placing Mr. Singh under arrest. I find that the handling of the dogs was appropriate to the circumstances.