The 'legal authorities paper' the RCMP and Alberta Justice don't want you to see
THE COVER-UP OF HIGH RIVER FORCED ENTRIES CONTINUES
On June 25, 2013, Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis asked his Deputy Minister, Tim Grant this question:
'What legal authority do the police rely upon to forcibly enter private property in the flood stricken area?' Deputy Minister Grant forwarded Minister Denis' question to newly appointed Assistant Deputy Minister and Director of Law Enforcement, Bill Sweeney (retired RCMP Commanding Officer for 'E' Division, the Province of Alberta).
ADM Sweeney then sent an e-mail to RCMP Assistant Commissioner Marianne Ryan asking her to answer Minister Denis' question adding:
'This was in relation to High River and breaking into homes to look for casualties. The Minister was aware that firearms that have not been properly stored were seized during the (sic) these searches and also anticipates that some residents will ask this question later.' Note: This was three days before the media and the public were made aware that firearms were being seized in High River.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Marianne Ryan (soon to be promoted to the 'E' Division Commanding Officer) sent this reply to Alberta Justice ADM Sweeney:
'You do raise a good point on communicating what legal authorities we are using and on that point, we will get something on paper from Crown counsel tomorrow morning to give to our folks speaking to the media for their reference and confidence in speaking to this issue to the public.' Note: Click on the link above to read the complete text of this e-mail obtained through
Access to Information Act request from the RCMP.
Any reasonable person reading this e-mail exchange would expect that Alberta Justice Minister Denis asked the 'legal authorities' question fully intending to use the answer to respond to High River residents and, further, that RCMP Asst. Commissioner Ryan intended release the results of the 'Crown counsel' paper to the 'media' and 'the public'. Here we are more than four years later and both the RCMP and Alberta Justice are going to great lengths to keep this 'legal authorities paper' out of the public domain.
Here's the latest I received from Alberta Justice and Solicitor General on Thursday, August 3, 2017 in response to my Freedom of Information Act (FOIP) request. 'There were a total of four (4) pages responsive to your request. Unfortunately access to these records is refused under the following section of the FOIP Act. Section 27(1)(a)--Privileged information.'
In April of this year, the RCMP refused to release this same paper advising the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
, '...the RCMP are adamant that release of the Crown council paper would negatively affect the court proceedings.' Here is a copy of my letter of complaint to the Information Commissioner.
A follow-up query by the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada to the RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa revealed that the RCMP did in fact have a copy of the High River Forced Entries 'Crown counsel paper' requested by Minister Denis; however, they claimed they were unable to release it without the consent of the Alberta Government. The RCMP were also kind enough to provide the title of the document:
'The Local State of Emergency-Mandatory Evacuation Order Police Officer Authorities'' written by Peter Mackenzie.'
Dennis R. Young -- Bio and
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Dennis Young retired to Airdrie, Alberta in 2007 after working for 13 years on Parliament Hill for Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville. Dennis is a member of the Calgary RCMP Veterans Association and a Honourary Life Member of both the Canadian Shooting Sports Association and the National Firearms Association. For his 20-year crusade for the rights of firearms owners, Dennis received the NFA’s David A. Tomlinson Memorial Award for 2014 and the CSSA’s John Holdstock Memorial Award for 2014.