UBC APEC Student Support Committee

In the days leading up to the 1997 APEC Leaders' Summit, 6 APEC student protestors were arrested and forced illegally by RCMP officers to sign this affidavit as a condition of release:

"I will not participate or be found in attendance at any public demonstration or rally that has gathered together for the sole purpose of demonstrating against the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or any nation participating in the so named conference."

The RCMP banned these activists from the sites of protest and violated the protestors' fundamental rights to freedom of assembly and to free speech--both rights are guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982).

UBC APEC Student Support Committee

We are a group of UBC students who are canvassing for legal funds on behalf of the student complainants at the current RCMP Public Complaints Commission. As you know by now, the Canadian government has been funding the RCMP's lawyers but has repeatedly denied funding for the student complainants.

You may wonder why we are campaigning on the students' behalf. There have been many allegations of RCMP misconduct and abuses during the arrest and detainment of peaceful protestors. So many accounts of mistreatment of protestors by the RCMP merit further investigation in the courts. Some alleged instances of police misconduct include the following:

Nov. 23, 1997

The RCMP tore down a student-erected tent city at the Museum of Anthropology. Two arrested students were forced to sign a conditional release form containing the illegal clause listed above. Days earlier, four arrested students from the first "freedom's outpost" had also been forced to sign documents with the same clause.

Nov. 24, 1997

Anti-APEC activist Jaggi Singh was wrestled to the ground, arrested, and whisked away in an RCMP ghost car. Bystanders reported that Singh was walking alone in the moments prior to his arrest. Singh was not released until he signed an affidavit that banned him from the campus until the end of APEC.

Nov. 25, 1997--the Day of the APEC Summit

At Green College, UBC law student Craig Jones was told to take down a protest sign that was visible to the leaders' motorcade. Jones, seeing that the sign (which read "Free Speech") posed no threat or danger to the political leaders, refused, was wrestled to the ground, and arrested.

Female protestors were strip-searched by RCMP officers during their detainment while male protestors were not subjected to the same degrading treatment.

Students blockading a road that was part of the APEC leaders' motorcade were ordered to leave the site by the RCMP. Many complied and left promptly, but seconds later, they were still doused by pepper spray.

At the Graduate Students' Centre, the Mounties lowered a Tibetan flag which had been raised by graduate students, who wanted to send a message to Chinese president Jiang Zemin. The flag had been clearly visible from the Museum of Anthropology.

During APEC, dozens of protestors who were arrested were not charged; they were arrested for purely political reasons and not for reasons of public safety. The RCMP detained them in order to prevent them from speaking out.

In October 1998, government documents leaked from the RCMP inquiry point to a major concerted effort by the Canadian government to suppress free speech and political dissent. The possible participants include Prime Minister Chretien, the Prime Minister's Office, the RCMP, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The documents that have come to light include correspondences between officials in the Canadian embassy in Jakarta and Indonesian officials and RCMP memos describing the PM's desire to spare former-Indonesian president Suharto embarrassment: "security perimeter will have to be adjusted at UBC re: protesters. PM specific wish that this is a retreat and leaders should not be distracted by demos, etcetera." The Federal Court of Canada has declared that without state funding for complainants' legal costs, "there [would not be] a level playing field". In the words of Federal Court Justice Reed, the APEC complainants are "representatives of the public interest".

Recently, Solicitor-General Andy Scott has been caught lying about comments he made about the RCMP inquiry and subsequently forced to resign, and commission chair Gerald Morin has also resigned under a cloud of controversy. In the same month, conflict of interest commissioner Ted Hughes has been appointed as Morin's successor. These constant diversions underscore the need for a new independent judicial inquiry that not only investigates the RCMP's role, but also the Prime Minister's role in last year's summit. Canadian citizens must be vigilant towards any suspension of their constitutional rights by the state. The student protestors need funded lawyers in order to stop the federal government's legal maneuverings and diversions, and to force the government into revealing the truth about its role in the APEC fiasco.

Donations for APEC Student Protestors

Important...Please Note: Fundraising has been suspended in light of the Federal Government's decision to fund the APEC complainants. Please do not send donations in the meantime (Revised Feb. 18, 1999).

1. You can now make your donation through a cross-country, pay-per-call telephone number:

1-900-565-8100...It's a Matter of Justice--our new donation hotline.
You can donate $45 by dialling this number and staying on the line.
The charge will appear on your phone bill.

2. Cheques can be made payable to APEC Protestors Legal Support Fund. They can be mailed to this address:

APEC Protestors Legal Support Fund

c/o UBC Alma Mater Society

6138 SUB Boulevard

Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1

If you are on the UBC campus, cheques can also be dropped off in the AMS Business Office, Room 266, Student Union Building.

The APEC Protestors Legal Support Fund is a trust fund that is held in trust by an independent lawyer, Don Munroe. The fund has the full support of the Alma Mater Society (UBC's student society). Please include your address and fax number

(if you live in British Columbia and have a fax machine) so that we can acknowledge receiving your donation by mailing or faxing you a receipt. On behalf of all the APEC complainants, thank you!

Democracy Street Legal Support Fund, and please include your name, home phone number, mailing address, quantity, screen front desired, and size preference (M,L,XL). The Democracy Street Legal Support Fund enables us to buy additional fundraising t-shirts and to defray the costs of producing the t-shirts. Proceeds from this fund still go into our main trust fund, the APEC Protestors Legal Support Fund. The mailing address is the same as the one above. The screen fronts come in these three flavours:

UPC Bars

Chretien: Wanted

Serving Up Justice

More Information about APEC:

Operation Hot Pepper: an innovative and very topical site created by students from the University of Windsor.

Democracy Street: 27 APEC complainants who filed a group lawsuit against the PM, RCMP, and federal and BC governments

CBC's The National news: Archive of APEC documents

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Homepage: Facts about member economies and investments

APEC Alert!: Student Activists opposed to last year's summit, lots of personal accounts and documents

The People's Summit on APEC: an alternative summit to the leaders' summit

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade: Fact sheet about APEC '97 and APEC '98 in Malaysia

Check out the APEC

For more information about the UBC APEC Student Support Committee, contact
Andreas Berg via e-mail or phone (604)-822-8722. The UBC APEC Student Support Committee meets every Thursday from 12:30-1:20 pm in the SUB Meeting Room (right beside the SUB Business Office, 2nd floor). Website maintained and designed by Benson Chin (Last Updated Feb. 18, 1999).

Visits to this site