Unleashing a protest
Dog owner who claims he was roughed up by police plans beach demonstration
Rick Garrett is a dog walker with attitude.
The 64-year-old Charlottetown resident — a selfdescribed “professional shit disturber’’ — recently recalled in a detailed interview with The Guardian a heated confrontation over dog banning enforcement on Parks Canada property that he claims resulted in police going overboard.
Garrett, a widower and retired cable repairman, took his Golden retriever Bauwer last Canada Day to Tracadie Beach. The place is the pair’s regular stomping ground: a scenic, dogfriendly place Garrett describes as being almost spiritual. It’s also a beach he regularly works to keep clean of glass, metal and other debris and garbage.
When he started walking Bauwer on Parks Canada property on July 1, 2016, around 2:30 p.m. next to Tracadie Beach, a park warden told him he was in the wrong.
Garrett claimed he was in the right since he was walking the dog below the high water mark.
Adding to the conflict, his dog pooped and Garrett didn’t have a bag. He tried to bury the droppings.
“That was unfortunate that that happened,’’ he says.
“It raised the level of tension.’’ Still, Garrett never could have anticipated what would come next. He alleges as he started walking away from two park wardens, two RCMP officers and two conservation officers that were taking part in a joint operation for Piping Plover protection at Tracadie Beach, an RCMP officer grabbed him by the arm.
Garrett says he jerked his arm away, but the officer kneed him in the groin, threw him to the ground and cuffed his hands behind his back.
He says bystanders looked on in shock.
“I was thinking, ‘wow, they are really going overboard here,’’’ he says of the beach enforcement crew.
“I was scared and I was pissed off. The cuffs hurt. I had bruises on my hands for a while afterwards.’’
He says beachgoers started singing the national anthem as a form of protest against the rough treatment he was receiving.
In a court document obtained by The Guardian, park warden Roger Steadman stated that when Garrett asked whether his dog was allowed in the park below the “high tide line’’ Steadman replied that technically it was.
Steadman stated Garrett’s dog proceeded to walk above the high tide line a couple of times and then defecated on the beach near two women lying on the sand.
Garrett concedes he courted trouble on this day, but he is adamant that dogs should be allowed below the high water mark on all Parks Canada beaches.
To drive home the point in dramatic fashion, he is organizing a gathering at noon on Canada Day for dog owners and non-dog owners to walk with dogs at Tracadie Beach on to Parks Canada property below the high water mark.
“I am doing it for public awareness,’’ he says.
“I don’t want anyone to be threatened by any peace officer. For them to go to that extreme last year was overboard.’’
Charlottetown lawyer Brandon Forbes notes the area below the high water mark can be “a fairly expansive space.’’
He adds that Garrett “certainly had an argument’’ that he was not on Parks Canada property.
“It’s a grey area left to interpretation,’’ says Forbes.
Parks Canada would not comment on Garrett’s case, but resource conservation manager Brad Romaniuk noted Parks Canada takes actions to preserve national parks and contribute to the recovery of species-at-risk such as the piping plover.
“In order to protect wildlife and their habitats and provide a safe environment for visitors, domestic animals — including dogs, cats and horses — are not permitted on the beaches of P.E.I. National Park from April 1 to Oct. 15, 2017.’’
The prohibition of domestic animals, adds Romanuik, covers all beaches in P.E.I. National Park. Dogs are welcome in all other areas of the park, including trails and campgrounds, as long as they are on leash at all times.