The Frank Paul Inquiry commenced today with opening statements by counsel for the participants. The opening statement of Mr. Ward, counsel for the United Native Nations Society, is reproduced below:

….

Mr. Commissioner, Mr. Eby and I are grateful for, and deeply honoured to have the opportunity to represent the interests of the United Native Nations Society at this Commission of Inquiry. For many years, the UNNS, along with other aboriginal groups and concerned individuals, urged the BC government to hold a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Frank Joseph Paul.

The United Native Nations Society represents 40,500 members across British Columbia and is the province’s main, and often only, advocate for off-reserve aboriginal people. Frank Paul’s home reserve was in New Brunswick, but his home was in the streets of Vancouver. Advocates for UNNS worked on Frank Paul’s behalf while he was still alive and living near the IGA store at Maple and Broadway in Kitsilano. Their advocacy on behalf of Frank Paul did not end at the time of his death, and it will not end until he and his family have had a full and fair hearing of the facts, and any parties responsible for his death are held accountable by our justice system.

Frank Paul is one of many off-reserve aboriginal people assisted by UNNS on what would generously be described as a shoestring budget. The absence of aboriginal-run shelters, the shortage of aboriginal housing, and the lack of aboriginal-run treatment and detoxification is a reality that is felt by the UNNS and its constituency every day. This shortage of resources for this population, widely recognized as the most poor, and most marginalized in our society, must be addressed. For these reasons, among many others, the following off-reserve aboriginal support organizations have endorsed the UNNS’s attendance at this hearing, and its efforts to bring meaning and justice to the life and death of Frank Paul:
• The Aboriginal Homelessness Steering Committee;
• The Aboriginal Mother Centre;
• The Circle of Eagles Lodge;
• Healing our Spirit;
• Helping Spirit Lodge;
• The Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Alliance Society;
• Lu’ma Native Housing;
• The Pacific Association of First Nations Women;
• The Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society;
• The Vancouver Aboriginal Transformative Justice Program;
• Vancouver Native Health Society; and
• The Vancouver Native Housing Society.

….

Mr. Commissioner, we know that Frank Joseph Paul, age 47, an off-reserve aboriginal person of no fixed address, died some time after 9:00 p.m. on December 5, 1998. His lifeless body was found in an alley the next morning by someone searching for a missing cat.

Now, nearly nine years after Mr. Paul died, this Commission of Inquiry has finally been convened to probe the circumstances of Mr. Paul’s death and to consider the responsiveness of various agencies to them. This Commission will also review the social and health services available to the disadvantaged and consider making recommendations for improvement to the social safety net that is supposed to catch people like Mr. Paul. For the UNNS and others, this is an historic opportunity.

The UNNS is committed to assisting this Commission with its important tasks. It has at least two good reasons for doing so. First, given that a human being died in suspicious circumstances, Frank Paul, his family and the public deserve nothing less than a thorough investigation by an impartial body, which they haven’t yet had. There was no coroner’s inquest, although one is mandatory whenever a person dies while detained by or in the custody of a peace officer. There was no public hearing conducted by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and there was no civil or criminal trial. This is the only chance to get the facts. Second, for the UNNS and the people it represents, the name ‘Frank Paul’ has come to symbolize everything that is wrong with the institutions and systems that have been imposed by others on the indigenous population of this province.

Has there been systemic and institutional racism in the past? Of course there has. Does it continue today? Of course it does. One would have to be blind not to see it. The justice system is particularly prone to systemic racism.

To be of aboriginal heritage in British Columbia, whether on or off-reserve, is to be acutely aware of a fundamentally unjust reality; an aboriginal person who looks sideways at a police officer could be jailed, beaten or worse, while police officers can abuse or even cause the death of aboriginals with absolute impunity.

As Grand Chief Stewart Philip alluded to in his remarks, the roll call of aboriginal persons who have died in B.C. in suspicious circumstances involving the police in the last few decades is long. The list includes Fred Quilt, Clarence George Jack, Rocky Allan Pearson, Joanne Leah Totus, Harold Joseph Prince, Sylvester Thomas Plasway, Darrel Steve Wilson, Christopher Stephen Bell, Kevin Jason Skin, Randy Monk, Robert Satiacum, Victor Michael Vincent George, Darrell Horace Yeltatzie, Frank George Bell, Russell John Abraham, Martin Russell Mather, Larry Horace Jack, Benjamin Neil Dixon, James Edward Gray, Adeline Wilson, Stanley George Paul, Eddie Munro Basil, Donald Joseph Rossetti, Eliza Wokely, Paul Alphonse, Anthany James Dawson, Richard William Allen, Mark Ned Francis, Peter Benoit Prince, George David Patterson, Darrell Paquette, Lorraine Moon, Merle Albert Nicholas, Clayton Alvin Willey, Adrienne Claudette Bos, Gerald Chenery and Kyle Tait.

No police officer has ever been charged, let alone convicted, in any of these cases. It’s not hard too see why. In British Columbia, we still allow the police to investigate themselves when someone dies at their hands. They work hand in hand with Crown Counsel and the Coroners Service on these cases. It’s no wonder that the decisions taken by these agencies appear to many to be flawed. To aboriginal people in B.C., the police have always seemed to be above the law, untouchable. For the UNNS, indeed, for all right-thinking people, that perception must change.

Frank Paul met an untimely end in egregious circumstances. One can only imagine what it must have been like for him on that late December night nearly nine years ago, to lie there alone in that alley, desperately sick, wet, freezing cold, unable to move and completely helpless, as a police vehicle – a police vehicle, operated by someone supposedly there to serve and protect all of us from harm – starts up and drives away, its tail lights receding into the winter darkness.

Mr. Commissioner, your counsel has been heard to say that he intends to “shine a light” on the circumstances of Frank Paul’s death and the various investigations into it. As counsel for UNNS, we plan to be there every step of the way to assist you and your counsel by ensuring that the light does not falter, that its beam remains intense and that it its piercing glare is directed into even the darkest of nooks and crannies. In short, we want to ensure that nothing and no one involved in this tragic case escapes your careful scrutiny and ultimately, if warranted, society’s accountability.

Finally. Almost nine years after Frank Joseph Paul, 47, was found dead of hypothermia in a Vancouver alley, the public commission of inquiry into the circumstances of his death is set to begin on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 in Vancouver. Commissioner William Davies, Q.C. a retired Supreme Court of British Columbia justice, will preside over a process intended to scrutinize all aspects of the tragic case, including the handling of investigations conducted by the Vancouver Police Department, Crown Counsel, the BC Coroners Service and the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.

Here’s the official blurb, from www.frankpaulinquiry.ca:

“The Government of British Columbia has appointed an independent commission of inquiry to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of Frank Joseph Paul. Mr. Paul, a Mi’kmaq from New Brunswick, was removed from the Vancouver Police Department lockup at about 8:30 p.m. on December 5, 1998, and was left in a nearby alley by a police officer. His body was found in the alley early the next morning. An autopsy concluded he had died from hypothermia due to exposure/alcohol intoxication.”

No coroner’s inquest was held and no criminal charges were laid.

The inquiry is to be divided into phases, with the first phase devoted to the factual circumstances of Mr. Paul’s death. Many organizations and individuals will be represented by counsel at the proceeding, including our client United Native Nations. The lawyers are expected to present opening statements on Tuesday.

Members of the public are welcome. The Commission hearings will be held commencing at 9:30 a.m. each weekday morning at the 8th floor, 701 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC. We hope to provide regular updates here.

Are the scales of justice tilted in favour of police officers?

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer has confirmed that he will call a public inquiry into a case that has enraged many residents of that province. Derek Harvey-Zenk, a former Winnipeg police officer who caused a fatal car accident after a night of drinking with his colleagues, will serve no jail time after a plea bargain was reached in his case recently. The sentencing judge was extraordinarily candid in expressing his concerns that the handling of the case afforded preferential treatment to the accused. A transcript of his reasons for sentencing can be accessed by clicking below:

Sentencing Transcript (PDF)

With the Frank Paul Inquiry set to begin on November 13, the United Native Nations held a public forum yesterday to address issues arising from aboriginal deaths in police custody. The speakers included Grand Chief Stewart Philip (by video), lawyer Kelly MacDonald, pathologist Dr. John Butt, lawyer Cameron Ward, journalist Leonard Cler-Cunningham and Noel Tait, mother of sixteen year old Kyle Tait, who was shot and killed by police more than two years ago.

The outrage of the aboriginal community was palpable. Aboriginal deaths in police custody have routinely been whitewashed and covered up by the authorities, speakers suggested. The Frank Paul Inquiry may finally provide the community with an opportunity to expose how this happens.

Mr. Ward offered the following solutions to address issues of systemic bias and delay:

1) Have a civilian investigative team investigate every case of serious injury or death arising from the actions of police officers.

2) Since the vast majority of coroner’s inquests involve deaths in police custody, and most of those are deaths in RCMP custody, end the practice of appointing RCMP officers to the position of Chief Coroner.

3) Ensure that every coroner’s inquest is held no later than six months after the death.

Although these suggestions will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears, eventually this province will have to emerge from the dark ages if there is to be any meaningful chance for reconciliation with the aboriginal community.

“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money”… Senator Everett Dirksen

“…it’s going to run professionally. This will be built on time and on budget…Count on it.” Premier Gordon Campbell, November 8, 2004

According to the report of the BC Auditor General released today the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project is now budgeted at $883.2 million, a mere $388,200,000.00 over the original cost estimate of $495 million.

The race is now on in earnest to determine which provincial government can waste more taxpayers’ money on a marine mega-project, Glen Clark’s NDP (fast ferries) or Gordon Campbell’s Liberals (convention centre). So far the NDP is ahead by a nose, having frittered away $435 million on the fast ferries. However, as the Auditor General pointed out, there is no guarantee that the total cost of the convention centre expansion will come in at $883.2 million, and there is over a year to go before all the bills are tallied up.

Can the Liberals bridge the gap of $47.2 million? I’d say, given the history of this project, with six increased estimates to date, it’s a lock. A better question is whether both governments can reach an even billion in taxpayers’ money wasted on these two nightmares. Senator Dirksen, may he rest in peace, would be proud.