Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Disgraced former RCMP deputy commissioner demands justice

She was a distinguished, proud and grateful 30-year veteran of the RCMP before it all, unjustly, came crashing down five years ago.

"I can only put it to the equivalent of travelling through the nine circles of hell," former RCMP deputy commissioner Barbara George said in an exclusive interview on the Global News program The West Block with Tom Clark.

The downward spiral began in 2007, when members of a House of Commons committee said she lied during testimony in a high-profile inquiry. Then a Liberal MP took to national airwaves to repeat the allegation that she committed perjury, and, finally, with her reputation in shambles, she was forced to resign from the force.

Individual RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police investigations both exonerated her of the allegations that she mismanaged RCMP pensions and insurance funds. But those did nothing to salvage her deteriorating career.

"From all perspectives, I had no credibility," George said from her home in Trinity, N.L. "My integrity had been questioned. I had been called a perjurer. As one can imagine for a 30-year veteran of any police service ... that is the end of a career. Once your reputation and your credibility are shorn to bits, there's nothing left for you to do as a uniform police officer."

Five years later, the former Liberal MP who led the charge against her, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, has issued a public apology.

But back in February 2007, Wrzesnewskyj told the Commons public accounts committee he was "very concerned that deputy commissioner Barb George has perjured herself before this committee."

He was referring to George's denial that she tried to dismiss the officer tasked investigating allegations of mismanagement.

The accusation prompted the RCMP commissioner to suspend her until, eight months later, an internal investigation concluded she had done no wrong in managing the pension plans.

Even with that, the public accounts committee continued its hunt until finally, with no debate, Wrzesnewskyj and all other members ruled her in contempt of Parliament.

Her reputation in tatters, she was forced to resign once and for all; the pursuant OPP investigation that also cleared her of wrongdoing didn't help.

Thomas Hall, who acted as clerk of a Commons committee in 2007 -- not the one conducting the RCMP inquiry -- has studied this case extensively.

"She was run over with a bulldozer, in a sense," he said on The West Block. "But the committee wasn't meaning to be malicious. They got carried away and confused with their own procedure."

So although the committee had the right to do what it did, the outcome wasn't what committees were intended for in the first place, Hall said.

Five years later, Wrzesnewskyj has changed his tune.

The former Liberal MP issued an apology Sept. 19 as he and George settled a $4-million lawsuit she had launched in response to the statements the then-MP made on a TV news broadcast.

Parliamentary privilege protects MPs from legal repercussions for comments made in the House of Commons or committees. But that privilege does not extend beyond those few walls, and so when Wrzesnewskyj appeared on a national broadcast network and accused her of lying under oath, he forfeited that privilege and opened himself up to a lawsuit.

"I realize that deputy commissioner George has suffered a personal and professional injustice," he wrote in the public apology, acknowledging George did not commit perjury. "This injustice resulted in an abrupt and painful end to her career and damage to her credibility and reputation."

The change of heart, Wrzesnewskyj wrote, came after reviewing the OPP report as well as sworn affidavits "which, for various reasons in 2007, had not been made available" to the committee that found her in contempt.

While the public apology is a good start, George said, it's not nearly enough; although Wrzesnewskyj led the charge, MPs of all stripes joined in.

"I want my name cleared," she said. "I want the public record cleared ... I'm absolutely, fervently hoping that our parliamentarians of today will see fit to rescind the citation of contempt against me."

Only then, will she be able to move on.

No current MPs who sat on the 2007 committee would comment on the case.

Today's Conservatives, when asked whether George deserved a wider apology either from members who sat on the committee or from Parliament as a whole, were evasive.

"This is a matter between Mr. Wrzesnewsky and Ms. George. We have no comment on how the former MP ... decides to handle his legal battles," Government Whip Gordon O’Connor wrote in an email.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said Parliament should look into the issue. "We need to discuss this question. Parliament needs to take it up," he said in an interview.

"Committees are not courts. They're political bodies."

Until more apologies come, George will continue to live what she feels is a stunted, cheated life.

"I am where I was when I watched Parliament issue the citation of contempt against me. I can't move forward and I need, I absolutely need, to have this rescinded before (my family and I) can go on with our lives completely."

Original Article
Source: globalnews
Author: Amy Minsky 

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