Ex-Commissioner Says Civil Rights 'in Sync'

He talked with Penticton Western News reporter Wolf Depner before accepting an honorary award from the Federation of Child Family Services of B.C. which held its annual convention at the Penticton Lakeside Resort... [snip] ...PWN: Let me ask about relations between Canada and its First Nations. Hughes: Well, I am not involved in any way in the Kelowna Accord. What I am involved in is the (residential school) program I just mentioned to you and the former government had laid out a process based upon a report ...which calls for a new approach, including the common experience payment to all residents and the new government has stepped up to the plate and acknowledged full participation in the process and that money will be there to make it work. I was not part of the Kelowna matter, but I was very much interested whether the new government was going to meet what I consider to be its responsibility with respect to survivors of aboriginal residential schools and they have met that expectations 100 per cent. As a matter of fact, the first cheques have already started to roll out of Ottawa. PWN: Let me ask you about the APEC inquiry, looking into the student protests at UBC. We are going now on the tenth anniversary of that incident. How close do your policy recommendations match existing policies? Hughes: My understanding is that police forces across the country took the recommendations we made and have used what we suggested in their training programs. Events of that kind now are undergoing a proper planning process which was very haphazard and very inadequate in as far as the preparations were for that particular event. Security at high profile occasions of that kind now is a much more significant factor that is being accepted and found as necessary. And of course, the events of the age that we are in ... shows the need for security. Unfortunately, in our daily lives, we have seen that unfolding in Canada and internationally in recent times. PWN: How would you describe the state of civil liberties in this country? Hughes: I feel that there is a balance that has to be maintained between the liberty of the individual and the state accepting its responsibilities to keep the public safe. And while organizations like the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, for which I have a lot of time, have always been very helpful in bringing issues to the fore that need remedy and attention, my judgement is that the balance is pretty much in sync across the country on the issue that you raised. "Full article:link" http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=102&cat=48&id=666981&more= [Edited to add more info from the article, 1:50 MST June 12--Editor.]

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