Three Letters On the BC Rail Scandal
This is the first part of a four part series. Three letters to “officials” I believe are in dereliction of their responsibility to law and the administration of justice. The fourth part is an overview placing the BC Rail Scandal and the Gordon Campbell government in relation to the present, persistent attack on democratic accountability across the Western World.
The first – to Gary Bass, RCMP Deputy Commissioner (BC) and Commanding Officer of “E” Division. Copies sent by surface mail and e-mail to Gary Bass.
Dear Deputy Commissioner Bass:
Earlier I wrote to you to ask you to undertake criminal investigation of the actions of Gordon Campbell and his associates in the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR.
I pointed out to you that a mass of evidence has been brought forward to the Supreme Court of B.C. by the disclosure applications of Defence counsel, and that they – in open court – have repeatedly claimed that evidence exists that the accused in the Basi, Virk, and Basi case were following the policy of their seniors, and/or were acting as mandated to do, and/or were directly instructed by seniors.
In the material I have referred to – and more that would be available to your organization – I believe evidence rests to allege criminal breach of trust and perhaps more, by the Gordon Campbell group.
Further, reasonable investigation by the RCMP of BC Rail matters would almost certainly bring to light more evidence – despite the destruction of key materials by the Gordon Campbell structure – almost two years of key e-mail materials – without satisfactory explanation or any investigation by the RCMP, your Force.
An investigation, moreover, into the dessication of BC Hydro would, I believe, also reveal criminal behaviour by Gordon Campbell and his associates. I formally ask you for an investigation of the separation of BC Hydro into parts, the move to prevent it from expanding energy generation, the agreements involving the participation of Accenture in formerly BC Hydro work, and all other aspects of the de facto privatization of what were traditionally BC Hydro activities.
Beyond making here a formal request for criminal investigation of the BC Hydro matters, I will confine the subject of this letter to the BC Rail Scandal.
You have refused to conduct the criminal investigation I have asked for in the BC Rail Scandal matter – the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to CNR.
I remind you that the B.C. RCMP – at the instigation of people connected to the Gordon Campbell constituency office [you being a highly placed BC RCMP officer at the time] - undertook a criminal investigation of long duration and at high cost to determine if then-B.C. premier Glen Clark had criminally received benefit from eight to twelve thousand dollars worth of sun-deck work he had done at his private residence in Vancouver’s East End. [But you will not investigate Gordon Campbell and his associates in the corrupt billion dollar transfer of BC Rail to the CNR.]
After 136 days of expensive Supreme Court trial presided over by Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett – despite the concentrated efforts of your B.C. Force - Glen Clark was acquitted of all suspicion of wrong doing. Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett would grant no considerations of false or faulty procedure though the whole case bristled with suspicious activity.
You will, of course, remember well some of the suspicions aroused by the case against Glen Clark. I refer you, for instance, to the Globe and Mail, January 7, 2002 – front page. The story there reminds us that the chief investigating RCMP officer on the Glen Clark case was a political ally of Gordon Campbell and was asked by Campbell – on more than one occasion – to run for office. Peter Montague played out his role while you were, at least, a senior RCMP officer.
You will know, too, that the investigation I requested into the (generally accepted) dubious investigation techniques of the RCMP in the Glen Clark matter was shut down by experienced RCMP officers. The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP reported the investigation I requested was wrongfully shut down. I wonder if you ordered the wrongful closing of that investigation?
Peter Montague was a bizarre choice as chief investigating officer in the Glen Clark case. In the earlier “Gustafsen Lake stand-off” in 1995, he was deeply involved in what has been (with mountains of supporting evidence) repeatedly alleged to have been an RCMP, B.C. government, Canadian Army, B.C. Supreme Court, and Mainstream Press and Media “operation” in defiance of all Canadian law to subdue some twenty or more Native people attending and attempting peaceably to protect a Sun Dance celebration.
Peter Montague is alleged to have lied to CBC in order to get special radio time. He is alleged to have taken part in the falsification of documents to the Department of National Defence in order to justify a military presence at Gustafsen Lake. In the Vancouver Province of January 21, 1997, Holly Horwood refers to the RCMP’s “disinformation and smear campaign” at Gustafsen Lake. Sgt. Dennis Ryan admits to using the terms. Horwood goes on: “On the tape, parts of which are missing, RCMP information officer Peter Montague says with a smile that : “Smear campaigns are our specialty”.
In an interview with Arthur Topham of The Radical in November 2000, John (“Splitting the Sky”) Boncore, deeply involved in the events, tells of the false story about armed Natives. Boncore says “they [RCMP] had forgot to shut the camera off and so we had the footage which showed that the statements make by Peter Montague of the RCMP and subsequently reiterated by Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, that the two men jumped out of the truck with AK-47s and were shooting at the police and which precipitated the whole shooting incident where thousands of rounds were fired into the [Native] camp was nothing but fabricated lies”.
[One has to ask if that kind of behaviour is not echoed in the Globe and Mail Editorial of December 9, 2009. The Editorial reads, concerning Robert Dziekanski: “The RCMP brutally killed a new-comer to Canada, put out fake information into the public sphere while investigating themselves, then refused to correct the record….” That was done with you as top RCMP officer in the Province, and one has to ask if you sanctioned the false information provided to the public, referred to in the Globe editorial?]
The Basi, Virk, and Basi case, I believe, is a cover-up action – whatever the guilt or innocence of the accused – bleeding attention away from the alleged criminal activity of Gordon Campbell and his associates in the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR.
Defence counsel repeatedly has claimed that the RCMP was delaying, stalling, responding inadequately, providing chaotic materials … and more in the Basi, Virk, and Basi pre-trial hearings. A reasonable Canadian watching that process, as I did, might well believe your officer Force, the B.C. RCMP, was deliberately attempting to confuse and obstruct the administration of justice.
The trial of the three accused cabinet aides which is to begin on May 3 cannot have, I insist, credibility. The Special Crown Prosecutor was appointed, I allege, in violation of the prosecutor legislation. The RCMP responded to disclosure requests, I believe, in a way which casts suspicion on their intentions. And – of key importance – from the beginning of investigation, RCMP appears to have (and is alleged by Defence counsel to have) carefully cut and fitted the investigation activities, “targetted” them, in order to avoid charges being laid against anyone senior to the aides accused.
When I suggested in my last letter to you that racism may have been involved in the charges against the accused, you expressed alarm and consternation. If, however, as many believe, some “White” people were protected in the investigation and three Sikhs were charged … who can dictate what conclusions will be drawn?
All of those anomalies can only be corrected by a full, publicly announced criminal investigation of Gordon Campbell and his associates in the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR. I formally request you to undertake that investigation without any further delay.
Respectfully,
Robin Mathews
Stumble It!
Milton