There is no record of their arrest and, as far as anyone knows, no charges laid or comment made about their release if charges weren’t laid. There has been no indication from any group present at the protest that any of their members have been released without being charged, or that they had been taken into custody at all. There is, of course, the possibility that the three men were there alone, but there again – when did they show up, what do other protesters remember of them and their actions, and what sort of conversations did they enter into with other protesters?
Neither the RCMP, nor the Sûreté du Québec, is offering any substantial information about the incident, nor will they answer direct questions as to whether or not they plant operatives at protests – especially ones that are there to promote violent behaviour.
If it turns out that the three men were indeed police, information which I highly doubt that the authorities will ever willingly provide, then what has occurred is a very serious matter, one that could have far reaching implications. In no way is it legal for any member of an authoritative branch or police force to be ordered to infiltrate a public protest with the aim of attempting to incite others to violence. At the very least, if the three men were members of any law enforcement organization, or even CSIS, they should be immediately relieved of duty, as should their superiors, including anyone in government that had first hand knowledge of the initiative. Further, a wholly public inquiry into the matter should be launched no matter what is claimed by the authorities, and even the office of the Prime Minister should not be exempt from its scrutiny.
I’m sure there are some of you that don’t consider this to be all that big a deal. But the reality is this – if it’s being done, where does it stop? And if we’re not prepared to stop it, then we might as well concede the fact that a free society is certainly not something that we live in.
