Robert Dziekanski's Short Citizenship

While the sound and sight of Robert Dziekanski's agonized final moments is a truly grotesque portrait of what passes for "law enforcement" in Canada in 2007, more troubling is the broader tapestry revealed; a cavalier "system" of official disassociation from the well-being of people necessarily forced through its maze of glass-walled corridors and opaque corrals. Never, from the time immigration and border officials allowed Dziekanski remain "missing," (though thirteen meters away, in a glass room!) for ten hours without mounting a search, despite the repeated and increasingly frantic imprecations of his mother, until the final RCMP despatch, was Robert Dziekanski treated (save by a few fellow travelers who despite their own captivity in adjacent holding-areas did try help) with anything but callous, casual disregard; much as a steer in a feed-lot might expect; right down to the electric coup de grace. And: What does that say about us? First Impressions Sofia Cikowski, Robert Dziekanski's mom, drove down from Kamloops; five, or so hours. CBC television news reported her saying Robert didn't speak English; "not having one word," she said. Cikowski spoke briefly in this day's CBC report, answering presumably to questions of how she felt when going to Vancouver to meet her now-dead son, who was arriving to move in with her, and begin a new life in Kamloops. What can it say to those back in Poland? What does it say to Canadians? Are we ready to make our border known as a place where visitors, travelers, and citizens can expect public electrocution? Are we willing to be recognized as a place where a risk is run, at airports and seaports and every border crossing, of being mistakenly perceived as a threat to Canada, or one of America's myriad enemies, and refused transit; or worse? Welcome to the New Canada: Take a Chance on Us The CBC edit of the Pritchard film I saw tonight showed some of the 24 seconds-long encounter between the RCMP and the just cleared "Canadian resident" Robert Dziekanski, his final experience, being tasered to death. Twenty four seconds, says Sofia Cikowskis' lawyer; citing the twenty four seconds recorded from the moment the RCMP walked on the scene, before firing the taser. In the interim, onlookers, already concerned for Dziekanski can be heard in the background telling police the man can only speak "Russian;" but they are ignored. As it turns out, Robert Dziekanski could only speak Polish, but it may as well have been Greek: the RCMP approach to the whole situation was the epitome of a "take-down" operation, where the facts on the ground, especially coming from "civvies" on the scene, police aren't interested in and here made no acknowledgment of. More: http://www.pacificfreepress.com/content/view/1869/81/ [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on November 19, 2007]

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