The inconvenience caused by the recent Aboriginal Day of Action spurred many to criticize the OPP for not charging in with guns blazing, Commissioner Julian Fantino said in Cobourg last week. But the law includes an element of discretion, he added in an address to the Cobourg Rotary Club, and they felt a call to serve the greater good of all.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t have a repeat of what happened at Caledonia, we didn’t have a repeat of what happened at Oka, and we didn’t spill a drop of blood,” Commissioner Fantino stated.
The commissioner has also been criticized for speaking out bluntly but, as he pointed out, this is every Canadian citizen’s right - and he didn’t surrender that right in 1969 when he entered the field. He fails to mention how he tried to force Hamilton Police officer Dave Hartless to surrender his right to freedom of speech for being a resident of Caledonia.
“I am driven by the sense of doing what’s right because it is the right thing to do, and I really don’t care about the popularity contest,” he said. “If it’s the truth, and it needs to be said, I intend to continue doing that.”
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