Citizens' panel created on heels of G-20 protests.Ottawa Bishop Peter Coffin of the diocese DIOCESE, eccl. law. The district over which a bishop exercises his spiritual functions. 1 B1. Com. 111. of Ottawa is on a five-member panel hoping to find ways to restore trust between police and citizens and avoid the kind of clashes that marred the G-20 meeting in Ottawa last November. The Ottawa panel had its costs paid for by a loose group of citizens who had been. involved in the demonstrations and by the panelists themselves. It has no official sponsorship. It includes Jaqueline Pelletier, a consultant and broadcaster; Kenneth Binks Kenneth C. Binks (born 19 May 1925 in Ottawa, Ontario) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a lawyer by career. He represented the Ontario riding of Ottawa West during the short-lived 31st Canadian Parliament after winning the , a former judge, journalist and author; and Anne Squire, the first lay woman to be elected a moderator of the United Church of Canada The Moderator of the United Church of Canada is the presiding leader of the United Church of Canada, Canada's largest Protestant denomination. The church is highly decentralized and non-dogmatic and the moderator has only limited power. . It is chaired by former Ottawa Mayor Marion Dewar Marion Dewar was mayor of Ottawa, Canada, from 1978 to 1985, and a member of the Parliament of Canada from 1986 to 1988. She was born Marion Bell in Montreal in 1928, and was raised in the town of Buckingham, Quebec, just outside of Ottawa. . The panel was formed after a group of citizens asked the police services board to review police practices, but were turned down. "After that," said a panel organizer, Deb Byrne, "Marion Dewar stepped forward and said `we will conduct our own neutral, objective review.'" Ms. Byrne said the police also declined to participate in the panel's review process. At a news conference in February, Bishop Coffin said that none of the panelists had been in the demonstration, so no one had a particular bias going into the review. However, he added, "in a healthy democracy, voices of dissent An explicit disagreement by one or more judges with the decision of the majority on a case before them. A dissent is often accompanied by a written dissenting opinion, and the terms dissent and dissenting opinion are used interchangeably. must be able to express themselves in a safe environment." He added that he hoped that through the findings of the panel, the police, protestors and the community might be able to design a model where dissent can be heard which ensures the safety of everybody. Ms. Dewar said there were "worrisome reports from a number of our community groups that ... the trust between police and the citizens has been damaged as a result of those demonstrations." In these circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or , she added, the usual channels Usual channels is a term used in British politics to describe the relationship between the Whips of the Government and the Opposition. Essentially, this is to obtain co-operation between the two parties, in order to ensure as much business as possible can be dealt with in each "are insufficient for rebuilding trust." The panel had four public meetings between Feb. 21 and March 2 and accepted written submissions for a report that will be published in mid-May. The panel did not plan to review the conduct of police or demonstrators during the G-20 summit. "We're looking at the overview of how we are going to model crowd control in future demonstrations," Ms. Dewar said. A review of police conduct was not in the mandate. "That's not what we're here about." Protestors complained that several people were bitten bit·ten v. A past participle of bite. bitten Verb the past participle of bite by police dogs, a reporter was hit on the head with a police night-stick and others were beaten during a peaceful demonstration to protest monetary politics of the G-20. The demonstration, said Ms. Byrne, "was truly a frightening experience. I've been in peaceful marches all of my life." |
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