"Sir, it was my duty. And I will continue to do my duty."
Ravi Hira, lawyer for Kwesi Millington at Braidwood Inquiry.
Presumably on instructions from the RCMP, he finds himself as the point man in the attempted character assassination of Robert Dziekanski. When the transcripts are released I expect we will find the other Mountie lawyers in there up to their elbows as well.
Technically he's right of course, it is his duty to defend his client. We could wish that his client had a similar operational understanding of duty. And given that the Braidwood Inquiry has morphed into a quasi-criminal trial ... it is his duty to scrape the bottom of the barrel, tactically speaking - which is exactly what he is doing.
At the taxpayer's expense too eh? And not cheap either - gotta be a grand a day each for these guys plus disbursements ... say, half a million total to 'defend' the perpetrators. I would have preferred to be able to say 'represent' but there you go. They deserve representation - but their actions are indefensible.
That Ravi Hira 'storms off' in the words of a commentator, is the best that can be said of him - it shows that he knows very well that he has given up something important for whatever 'mess of pottage' the RCMP are handing out.
Thomas Braidwood eventually cut him off, "That is irrelevant. I've ruled against you." Good for Thomas Braidwood - he seems to be the only adult in the room. I note that he had a similar exchange with Don Rosenbloom, the lawyer for Poland at the Inquiry. He is an adult, and he is fair.
To put it in terms that most people seem to use (primarily) these days - this whole 'expense', millions upon millions of dollars, could have been saved if the RCMP had acted honourably from the outset.
Who to blame for this 'expense'? The 'perps', the guys who did the deed, Benjamin 'Monty' Robinson, Kwesi Millington, Bill Bentley, and Gerry Rundel; and, of course, the grand pooh-bah, William Elliott, who sets such a sterling example as a truth teller; and all of them at the various ranks inbetween for following the line: Stan Lowe, Al Macintyre & Wayne Rideout, Peter Thiessen, Pierre Lemaitre, Dale Carr ... the list goes on and on and on.
Why put 'expense' in inverted commas? Because the expense in money is ultimately irrelevant. It is the expense in 'human coin' that is important. The death of Robert Dziekanski, the endless grief of his mother, the several and collective reputations of the RCMP squandered, the shame felt by every Canadian at seeing the true north strong and free debauched.
With the exceptions of those at the true centre of this, Robert Dziekanski and his mother, any one could have stopped it.
The 'officials' and the 'bystanders' at Vancouver YVR airport could have stopped it before it began. Sima Ashrafinia or Paul Pritchard, relative heroes in the piece that they are, could have stopped it. Any single one of the four Mounties involved could have stopped it. Any single one of the scores of RCMP involved after the fact could have spoken out and seen to it that the matter was dealt with honourably. Any one of the 'running dogs and lackeys of the imperialist' RCMP like Ravi Hira could have done the same.
I'm an old red neck myself. I have used Denial as the tactic of choice many times in my life - it is only now, as I get older and find that denial doesn't work so well on arthritis, that I begin to see through it :-)
So what's your duty? The best I have found is this: ... and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6-8)
Down.
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