|
stories
written by reporters across the country regarding Frank Quennell's
press conference to announce he would appeal Klassen/Kvello civil
suit | StarPhoenix editorials
Update
to sermonette where we predicted Quennell"s political demise:
we were wrong!
| 2005: Quennell announces
mnney for Milgaard Inquiry and Martensville |
Quennell won't let mess
drag on
Murray Mandryk, Saskatchewan
News Network; Regina Leader-Post, November 10, 2004
Make no mistake that Justice
Minister Frank Quennell is ready to step in to resolve the mess
at the Saskatoon Police Service in the wake of the Neil Stonechild
inquiry.
Quennell on Tuesday clearly
was signalling the Saskatoon police commission and Chief Russell
Sabo that, unless they get their act together ASAP, provincial
government intervention will be a matter of when, not if.
The only real question is:
How?
What was also crystal clear
Tuesday is that the action Quennell intends won't be the immediate,
guns-a-blazin' approach that some in Saskatoon argue is necessary
to clean up their police service.
"My expectation is that
the Saskatoon police commission will be responding to the report,"
Quennell told reporters on his way into the weekly cabinet meeting.
"I have asked for a plan of action from the local leadership.
"That plan of action is
going to be reviewed by the Saskatchewan Police Commission --
as is their responsibility under the Police Act -- and we will
be moving forward."
While he stressed that the
Saskatoon police commissioners and others "need the opportunity
to demonstrate some leadership," Quennell repeatedly stressed
that the provincial police commission has a role here. And he
added, somewhat ominously:
"I want to see a plan
coming out of meetings that are starting this month."
Of course, some will question
the wisdom of the justice minister becoming involved in such
matters, especially given his track record.
You may recall the decision
by Quennell's department in January to appeal Justice George
Baynton's highly critical ruling on the malicious prosecution
of 12 innocent members of the Klassen and Kvello families on
sexual abuse charges. Baynton accused Crown prosecutors of "the
lack of any regret or remorse for what was done to the plaintiffs."
Not only did Quennell's office
appeal the judge's damning decision but the justice minister
also stressed that "no apology" would be forthcoming
to those involved in the case: "It's not the position or
practical for my office to be extending apologies where prosecutions
don't proceed," Quennell explained. "That's how the
system works."
Given that he wound up apologizing
later and given that Justice shelled out $1.5 million to the
plaintiffs, the system didn't work -- not for the Klassen-Kvellos,
Quennell or for us.
That said, it does appear the
minister has learned from the experience. In fact, Quennell has
been one of the few principals in this story who has demonstrated
any consistency or aplomb in his position.
"The death of a 17-year-old
boy is a tragedy," Quennell said last month as he immediately
accepted commissioner Justice David Wright's findings and recommendations
in the Stonechild inquiry.
"It deserves our attention.
It deserves our very best efforts.
"We may not always be
able to determine with certainty what happened in the case of
a tragic and premature death, but we must try our best."
While stressing that evidence
presented to the Wright inquiry "did not meet that standard"
needed to press criminal charges, Quennell added that the file
remains open. And he further stressed that he had initiated discussions
with Sabo and the Saskatoon police board to establish a plan
to respond constructively to the report. Tuesday, he was not
wavering.
Now, contrast that with the
leadership Saskatoon is seeing from Sabo, who initially accepted
Wright's conclusion that Stonechild was in the police cruiser
of Constables Larry Hartwig's and Brad Senger and that they had
the time to drive him to the edge of the city.
"This community has waited
a long time for a resolution on this. I want to expedite this,"
Sabo said.
But on Saturday, the chief
reportedly told members of his force that he personally didn't
believe Hartwig and Senger -- who have been suspended with pay
but who face dismissal from the force today -- were responsible
for Stonechild's death.
Coupled with Mayor Don Atchison's
admission that he only recently read the report, what we have
here is a rather serious leadership void that must be filled
if confidence in the Saskatoon Police Service is to be restored.
It's here that you have to
admire the position that Quennell has taken.
While he acknowledged that
blowing up the Saskatoon Police Service by bringing in the RCMP
-- something that requires a major legislative change and would
be costly -- isn't his preferred option, it's important to note
that Quennell didn't totally rule out the option.
He only said that it would
be "premature" to talk about replacing the city police
with the RCMP. That's quite different from ruling it out altogether
. In a story that's been all about hair-splitting, that's an
important nuance.
"There should not be any
question about my commitment and resolve to see changes here,"
Quennell told reporters. "And what is necessary will be
done. But I don't want to do more than is necessary. I believe
a measured response is an appropriate response."
While that may sound a bit
too MacKenzie-King-esque for some tastes, it's exactly where
the justice minister should be at this point. He's struck a diplomatic
balance among respecting loyalty within the Saskatoon police
union, respecting the local police board's autonomy to handle
this issue itself and making it known that the province will
step in to find a solution if they won't.
Saskatoon police and civic
officials should know that Quennell is ready to step in. The
only questions are, When and How?
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2004
Frank Quennell, Q.C.
: New Justice Minister playing an old game
The response
to Frank Quennell's performance yesterday was varied, but none
was positive.
CTV local news
ran a poll: Do you agree with the Justice Minister's decision
to appeal the Klassen judgment. At noon today, the response was
Disagree: 87% | Agree:13%. By six, those disagreeing constituted
89%.
John
Gormley's
talk show on CKOM heard from people with the whole range of responses.
One lawyer supported Quennell's decision, accusing Gormley of
interfering with the course of justice which must proceed properly
and methodically. He also accused the Klassen supporters of lacking
perspective and interfering with the right of individuals to
appeal to higher courts.
This was very
much a minority view.
At injusticebusters,
and among our visitors who are closely watching this drama unfold,
many of whom have been following it for many years, we have always
stood for the proper and orderly unfolding of the court process.
We have also
seen an Appeal Court judge tell a defence lawyer to "Sit
down and shut up." We watched Appeal Court judge Marjorie
Gerwing show clear bias during a hearing for Peter Klassen to
extend the time limit for appealling his conviction in the infamous
"plea bargain" which was talked about in the recent
hearings. This was not a plea bargain but a metaphorical gun
to the head of a broken man who served four full years when it
was clear that three of the four crimes he pled to never happened.
She flirted with the prosecutors and compared ith them golf greens
in Regina and Waskesieu as she hurried the witnesses through
their testimony so she could get in her car and drive north for
some r & r.
What should
have been an orderly unfolding of the court process in this case
was at no time civil, or proper, and there were many situations
which were not even brought before Judge Baynton's court. There
was enough, though. He got the picture. He watched the tapes.
He listened carefully to the testimony. He took careful notes.
From his notes he made determinations on credibility.
.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
