OTTAWA (CP) - The RCMP used "excessive and unjustified force" to disperse protesters at the Summit of the Americas conference in Quebec City two years ago, charges the Mounties' civilian watchdog.
In an interim report, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP says police issued an inadequate warning before releasing tear gas to move a group of demonstrators.
It also concludes officers had no valid reasons for shocking one protester with a Taser gun and firing what appeared to be rubber bullets or gas directly at four others.
Most protests at the April 2001 summit were peaceful, though some demonstrators tossed rocks and bottles and tore down a section of a large chain-link fence set up to protect delegates.
The commission investigation was prompted by a formal complaint from New Democrat MP Svend Robinson, who was among those hit with tear gas.
While the complaints commission found the RCMP made "an inadequate and improper warning" to protesters before releasing the gas, there was insufficient evidence to support Robinson's allegation he was struck in the leg with a rubber bullet, rather than some other projectile.
The commission also said it did not have jurisdiction to determine whether RCMP members assaulted Robinson in violation of the Criminal Code, calling it "a matter for the criminal courts to determine."
The report recommends the RCMP apologize to Robinson and other activists, provide better instruction to officers and take sanctions against some members of a tactical squad.
Robinson called the report a "powerful rebuke to the RCMP" and encouraged fellow protesters to begin legal proceedings against the police force, as he is doing with a civil suit in the Ontario courts.
Robinson also urged Solicitor General Wayne Easter, the minister responsible for the RCMP, to tell the Mounties their behaviour was unacceptable.
"This is a shocking abuse of police power," Robinson said in an interview.
"This is just unbelievable conduct in a democracy."
RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli will take the "appropriate time" to consider the report and reply to the complaints commission, said Sgt. Gilles Deziel, a force spokesman.
The commission will then issue a final report.
It is too early to tell whether there will be an apology to Robinson, Deziel added.
A spokeswoman for Easter said the minister would not comment until after the commission's final report is complete.
In her interim findings, commission chairwoman Shirley Heafey said the RCMP tactical squad's use of a Taser against a lone protester was a clear abuse of authority as he was "not struggling and represented no threat to the members, to himself, to the public or to property."
Similarly, the conduct of squad members who fired upon four well-dressed, unarmed men and openly mocked one was "inappropriate and oppressive," Heafey wrote. "The four civilians were not aggressive and posed no threat."
It is not the first time the complaints commission has severely chastised the Mounties over their handling of public events.
In March 2002, the commission concluded several people were "adversely affected by the inappropriate conduct" of RCMP officers during a 1997 meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Vancouver.
A hefty interim commission report on the APEC gathering, long delayed by procedural wrangling, had criticized the RCMP for the unnecessary pepper-spraying of demonstrators, unwarranted arrests, improper removal of protest signs and intrusive strip searches.
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