Tuesday, September 28, 1999

Adrienne Tanner
National Post

RCMP officers guarding the Chinese migrants in Esquimalt, B.C., have hired a lawyer to take action over what they say are unfounded allegations of abuse by Victoria immigration lawyers and the Canadian Council for Refugees.

The national refugee advocacy group and the lawyers complained publicly this summer that some of the more than 600 boat people were physically abused and verbally intimidated during interviews with RCMP officers.

Staff Sergeant Hugh Stewart said the allegations are completely unfounded.

"We don't know what our best course of action will be but we intend to be tireless in our efforts to cause these persons to retract their statements," he said.

"We may well sue them in the process, but that will be up to our counsel."

The allegations did not single out any police officer by name and when the RCMP appointed an investigator, lawyers refused to release the names of migrants who made the complaints. Without names, the investigation had to be abandoned, said Superintendent Jim Good.

Staff-Sgt. Stewart said the group of about 100 officers applied to their legal defence fund for money to hire a lawyer to counter the charges. The fund is made up of donations from officers. Staff-Sgt. Stewart said the officers are providing Patrick Sweeney, their Victoria lawyer, with information about the case.

Staff-Sgt. Stewart said the officers were hurt by the allegations. "They say, 'Yes, you've done all these terrible things, although we're not going to tell you who did it, when it was done and who it was done to.'

"You're just tarred with this brush based on the allegations of these lawyers."

Kevin Doyle, one of the Victoria lawyers who made the allegations against the police, said he and his colleagues carefully documented every incident of abuse before going public with their concerns.

He could not be reached for comment yesterday but in earlier interviews said solicitor-client confidentiality prevented him and other lawyers from releasing names without permission from their clients.

Until their refugee claims have been heard, most clients are reluctant to complain publicly for fear it would jeopardize their cases, Mr. Doyle said.

Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said the migrants have good reason to be suspicious of an investigation launched by the very police force they are accusing of mistreatment.

"We called for an independent investigation," she said.

Sergeant Ian Ferguson, who headed the night guard shift at the makeshift migrant camp, said: "They can chuck all kinds of crap towards us and we sit mute and don't take any action. And our senior management doesn't want to take action on our behalf," he said.

Sgt. Ferguson said RCMP officers guarding the migrants did what they could to make the experience less traumatic for the people who had travelled thousands of miles on unseaworthy boats. "I'm the guy who went out and got Timbits for the fourth vessel."

Other officers used their own money to pay for sporting equipment for the boat people, he said.

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