Ipperwash Summer series: Policing ‘critical incidents’ after Ipperwash: 15 years of the ‘Framework’, no evaluation
September 6, 2020, will mark the 25th anniversary of the shooting death of unarmed protestor Anthony “Dudley” George by an Ontario Provincial Police sniper at Ipperwash Beach. The Anishinabek News will feature an Ipperwash Summer Series to highlight the history, trauma, aftermath, and key recommendations from the 2007 Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry. First Nations in Ontario understood that the Inquiry would not provide all of the answers or solutions, but would be a step forward in building a respectful government-to-government relationship.
For information on the 2007 Report of the Ipperwash Inquiry, please visit: http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/closing_submissions/index.html
By Tia Dafnos
In February 2020, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) arrested 10 people and dismantled the camp near CN rail tracks on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory that was established in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders. CN quickly obtained an injunction in six days, and the OPP enforced it 12 days later. Over this time, OPP spokespeople referred to the “Framework for Police Preparedness for Indigenous Critical Incidents” to explain both the perceived delay and their eventual enforcement of the injunction. Police representatives and politicians made references to Ipperwash as a reminder of the potential consequences of taking aggressive, escalated police action. These comparisons to Ipperwash imply that the current approach is inherently better than past practices, supported by the fact that Ipperwash Inquiry Commissioner Sidney Linden had described the Framework as a “best practice.” However, Commissioner Linden also recommended that it be subject to “independent, third-party evaluations” with “meaningful” involvement of First Nations representatives. This recommendation remains unfulfilled.
The Ipperwash Inquiry remains one of the only official inquiries in Canada to address the policing of Indigenous struggles; its findings and recommendations were directed at the OPP but reverberated widely in policing. Underlying its recommendations was an emphasis on recognizing that the distinctiveness of Indigenous struggles within a settler-colonial context makes policing more complex than in other conflicts such as strikes. Commissioner Sidney Linden’s broad policy recommendation was that police forces should adopt a “peacekeeping” role during conflicts involving First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. This approach emphasizes negotiation and mediation “to minimize risk of violence”, “preserve and restore public order”, “facilitate the exercise of constitutionally protected rights”, and build “trusting relationships that will assist the parties to resolve the dispute constructively”, while “remain[ing] neutral as to the underlying grievance.” These principles were accompanied by specific operational recommendations, including that police should address the “uniqueness” of Indigenous “occupations and protests” including their “historical, legal and behavioural differences.” Many of these recommendations are reflected in the OPP Framework, which became a Critical Policy in 2005.
The Framework is a guide for how police should respond to “critical incidents” using “negotiation and mediation” to minimize the use of force and respect constitutional rights. While “Indigenous” is in the title, it applies to all protests, “major incidents” and “critical incidents”, which could include hostage situations or disasters. The Framework does incorporate recognition of the complexity of Indigenous conflicts by defining “Indigenous critical incidents” as: “any critical or major incident where the source of conflict may stem from assertions of inherent, aboriginal or treaty rights; or that is occurring on a First Nation territory; or involving an Aboriginal person(s), where the potential for significant impact or violence may require activation of an OPP Integrated Response.” One implication of this definition is that assertions of self-determination are treated as potentially higher-risk because of the underlying “complexity.” If an event is considered a “critical incident”, it may involve an Integrated Response, which means the use of the Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU), Emergency Response Team (ERT) and/or crisis negotiators. In 1995, it was a TRU officer who shot Dudley George.
Twenty years after the first version of the Framework, it has become a model for other police forces. In October 2019, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police released a “National Framework for Police Preparedness for Demonstrations and Assemblies”, drawing significantly on the OPP’s Framework, as a “suggested best practices document” for police across Canada. With Commissioner Linden’s endorsement, a “neutral” positioning, and overarching language of reconciliation and trust-building, the Framework appears to have become a self-referencing accountability measure in itself. If the organization decides that officers have followed the Framework, it seems to shut down any need for further examination of police actions.
Since 2013, the OPP has published annual reports summarizing their use of the Framework, fulfilling another Inquiry recommendation. According to these reports, the OPP has responded to 575 “Indigenous critical incidents” and 1,060 “non-critical” Indigenous and non-Indigenous-related protests between 2007 and 2017. The continued lack of independent evaluation and scrutiny of practices is concerning as the OPP has been involved in so many “incidents”, including high-profile actions at Ardoch Algonquin and Sharbot Lake, Six Nations, Aamjiwnaang, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, and Tyendinaga. The Framework may indeed have contributed to reducing potential lethal police violence at reclamations and demonstrations, but the OPP’s uses of force during these and other events have not been subjected to independent review and accountability. For example, Amnesty International has repeatedly called for transparency regarding force used at Tyendinaga in 2008. There are also questions about the less visible roles of ERT, TRU, intelligence, and whether liaisons can hold “trusting” relationships with “all involved parties” when their organization shares information with private companies. This was recently highlighted in Tyendinaga. After the OPP enforced the CN injunction, CN asked for information on specific individuals involved so they could take them to court. The OPP gave them this information so that their liaison officers wouldn’t be subpoenaed. While the OPP positions itself as a neutral “peacekeeper” during conflicts, police are state representatives enforcing laws created and interpreted by a settler-colonial system. As the Yellowhead Institute’s Land Back analysis shows, in the past 20 years this has meant enforcing private companies’ injunctions. The report suggests that private injunctions have increasingly become a strategy for getting around the growing affirmation of constitutional Aboriginal rights. It allows police forces to continue to assert their “neutral” role and respect for Indigenous rights while being obligated to enforce these injunctions. The Framework may have reduced lethal force, but it has not reduced infringements of Indigenous self-determination and jurisdiction.
The Framework and liaison programs have changed since Commissioner Linden’s endorsement in 2007, and so has the broader social context. The OPP’s annual reports provide only limited transparency, presenting activities from the organization’s perspective. While previous annual reports stated that the OPP was planning for an independent evaluation, there is no mention of it in the most recent report released in 2018. As time passes, the recommendation for an independent review of the Framework appears to be fading.
Dr. Tia Dafnos joined the University of New Brunswick Sociology department in 2015 and is currently the Law in Society program coordinator. Her doctoral research examined changes in the policing of protests and activism in Canada since the mid-1990s, with a focus on the policing of Indigenous peoples’ protests after the 1995 Ipperwash reclamation.