Bill 27, Police Amendment Act, 2010, Amendment

November 29, 2010

Mrs. Forsyth: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to rise in regard to the amendment brought forward by the Member for Calgary-Buffalo. I have to get on the record that I don’t support his amendment. I can tell you that having had the privilege of being the former Solicitor General from 2001 to 2004, I found it a great privilege to be able to serve and work with the police and peace officers in this province. I can tell you that 99 per cent of them do a very, very good job on behalf of the citizens of Alberta. Like any other profession there are a few bad apples in the police force – very, very few. Even 1 per cent might be stretching it a little bit. I can tell you that over the recent years since I’ve been there, you can see how the police chiefs in this province are dealing with them. We have a complaint process in place. We have the Law Enforcement Review Board in place.

I truly, truly believe that the police officers and peace officers in this province do an incredible job under very, very difficult situations, so I want it on record that we will not be supporting this amendment.

The Deputy Speaker: Standing Order 29(2)(a) allows for five minutes of comments or questions.

Mr. Mason: I just wanted to ask the hon. Member for Calgary-Fish Creek if she feels that, you know, a good bill dealing with checks and balances with respect to police – that is to say, the ability of citizens to bring forward complaints of misconduct – that should be easily dismissed on a number of pretexts and, in particular, by a chief of police who might determine, as the act says, that the particular complaint is not serious: is that really the kind of limitations on justice for people who may have been mistreated that we want to see?

Mrs. Forsyth: Well, in the time that I served, from 2001 to 2004, and from 2004 till 2010 under the current Solicitor General, I can only tell you that the police that I’m familiar with in this province and the chiefs – and I’ve been honoured to be able to keep in touch with them and know them very well – take seriously every complaint that they get. They look at it, they look at the complainant, and they look at the investigation of the police officer. Honestly, Member, I’ve never really seen anything that you may be saying.

There are some frivolous complaints, obviously, and those have to be dealt with, and the complaints that you’re probably referring to are dealt with very seriously by the police chiefs. I’m sorry. I just support them.

Mr. Mason: Well, I’ll just bring one example to the hon. member’s attention. I think this was probably before she served as the Solicitor General. There was a case in which a police constable in the Edmonton police force, who happened to be the son of the chief, tasered a passed-out man named Randy Fryingpan multiple times while he was in a vehicle. That resulted in a complaint which was dismissed, and ultimately the complaint process completely broke down. There are other examples as well.

Obviously, most police officers are respectful and responsible members who carry the enormous powers that they’re given on behalf of all of us very well. But when something occurs, then there needs to be a fair process. Simply saying, “Well, I know that all police chiefs are, you know, good guys or good gals, and they really wouldn’t do something” doesn’t fit the bill, as far as I’m concerned, with respect to what we need in this legislation.

Mrs. Forsyth: Mr. Speaker, I appreciate where he’s coming from. I am aware of that incident, and I don’t believe it was under my tenure. I can tell you that that was then, and this is now. The chiefs in this province have worked very, very hard, when you have incidents like that, to correct those incidents. We’ve had the previous Solicitor General from Calgary-Fish Creek, Calgary- Buffalo, and then it was, I think, Stony Plain, and now we’ve got the new Solicitor General.

That was a very rare incident. It was brought to the public. It obviously put some onus on the police chiefs in this province in that Albertans are not going to tolerate that. They want to see incidents like that dealt with. You now have the ASIRT team, that has been called in to deal with serious incidents if a police officer is involved.

So while I appreciate the incident that you’re using that I think was probably in the year 2000 – and I may be stretching my time – or even in ’99, it’s a good lesson. It was a lesson well learned by the police chiefs in this province. I think they can only get better and continue to do a good job on behalf of the citizens of this province.