In Focus

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Program Areas Education

Fundamental Freedoms

Public Safety

National Security

Equality

Public Order Policing Session

Public Order Policing: the Canadian Experience and Lessons Learned

Large public events frequently give rise to large protests, particularly when the event is of international significance. In recent years Canada has hosted a number of large international gatherings including the Calgary-Kananaskis G8, the Vancouver Olympics and the Toronto G20. These events spawned mass protests on a variety of issues and included large groups of peaceful protestors as well as incidents of vandalism and property damage. This panel will look at how Canadian police forces have policed these large events, compare the approaches taken by different forces at different events, and consider lessons learned for public order policing in Canada going forward.

This session will be held on Saturday, October 22nd from 9 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. Full conference program and further details available here.

Speaker Bios

Barry Clark, Superintendent, Calgary Police Services

Superintendent Barry Clark joined the Calgary Police Service in 1973 and has worked in numerous areas of the organization, including Sex Crimes, Tactical Unit, Chief Crowfoot Learning Centre and Human Resources. Along with posts in these sections, Superintendent Clark was selected as the Operational Commander for the 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis. Superintendent Clark led more than 400 police officers from across Canada in one of the largest security operations in Canadian history. This represented the first international gathering of the world’s economic leaders following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S.

A guest Incident Command instructor at the Canadian Police College in Ottawa, and one of the founders of the National Incident Commanders Working Group, Supt. Clark was instrumental in the creation of the Calgary Police Service’s Real Time Operations Centre (RTOC), a tactical and intelligence-driven centre that co-ordinates the Service’s resources for all major incidents and operations.

Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Nathalie has been General Counsel of Canadian Civil Liberties Association since July 1, 2009. She was previously Dean of the Faculty of Law – Civil Law Section of the University of Ottawa from 2004 to 2008 and President of the Law Commission of Canada from 2000 to 2004.

She obtained an LL.B. from Université de Montréal in 1981, an LL.M. from Harvard University in 1984, and an honorary doctorate from the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2004. She became a member of the Québec Bar in 1982 and of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1987.

From 1987 to 2000, she was a member of the University of Western Ontario’s Faculty of Law. She served as law clerk to Supreme Court of Canada Justice Julien Chouinard from 1982 to 1983 and then worked in private practice until 1987.

She is the past President of the Canadian Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities, of the Canadian Council of Law Deans, of the Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario (AJEFO), and the Canadian Association of Law Teachers. She was a member of the Environmental Appeal Board from 1988 to 2000 and a member of the Ontario Law Reform Commission from 1993 to 1996. She received the Médaille de l’Université Paris X in 2007, the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) Partnership Award in 2004, the Medal of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1999, and the Order of Merit from AJEFO in 2000.

Grace Jackson, Legal Research Assistant, University of British Columbia

Grace Jackson is a 3rd year law student at the University of British Columbia, and temporarily articled at the UBC First Nations Legal Clinic. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Environment and Resource Studies from the University of Waterloo. She has worked for regional and federal levels of government, as well as in the private sector. Grace is currently co-authoring a paper on the interjurisdictional issues associated with public order policing with Wesley Pue and Robert Diab.

Gillian Steward, Vice-President, Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association

Gillian Steward is a Calgary author and journalist. She currently writes a regular column for the Toronto Star, teaches at Mount Royal University and University of Calgary, and is a PhD candidate in communication studies. She was the managing editor at The Calgary Herald from 1987 to 1990, and was the publisher/editor of Alberta Views Magazine 2006/2007.  Gillian is vice-president of the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association and in 2002 was a monitor for Alberta Civil Liberties and Amnesty International which combined forces to organize the first monitoring project of its kind in Canada for public demonstrations in connection with the G8 meeting.

Moderator: Clif Purvis, Executive Director, Alberta Serious Incident Response Team

Mr. Purvis is a career prosecutor, who has devoted his entire professional life to public service. He has appeared in all levels of Court in Alberta conducting both trials and appeals on behalf of the Attorney General. He has also advised police agencies on many complex investigations. While assigned to the Special Prosecutions Branch Mr. Purvis was the Coordinator for Organized Crime investigations and prosecutions. He has lectured and provided training to, both police and prosecutors on a broad range of issues.

He is currently seconded to and responsible for the establishment and implementation of ASIRT, an initiative of the Solicitor General Alberta. ASIRT is an independent investigative agency whose mandate is to investigate police misconduct and incidents that come within the scope of s. 46.1 of the Police Act – specifically, incidents where the actions of a Police Officer cause serious injury or death or, incidents of a serious or sensitive nature. As the Civilian Director of ASIRT he is responsible for ensuring independent, objective investigations into incidents involving Alberta’s police.