Mar’s role in garden raid queried
Civil rights group wants investigation
ACalgary alderman’s involvement in uprooting a group of guerrilla gardeners is not small potatoes to a local civil liberties group, which has asked city officials to probe how police handled his complaint.
The Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association is asking for an investigation into the May 21 incident, when Ald. John Mar showed up in a police vehicle after phoning in a complaint about a group trespassing on a vacant lot near his Scarboro home to plant potatoes.
“Our concern was police were taking their direction from a politician,” said Kelly Ernst, secretary of the civil liberties association.
The group is also questioning why several officers responded to the scene, where several volunteers were gardening and painting a dilapidated fence.
“We thought that was a pretty blatant response to a tiny issue,” Ernst said.
Calgary police officials said they are reviewing the incident in response to the group’s concerns.
“Elected officials have no more rights or no more authority than any other citizen in Calgary or in Canada — they also have no less right to call the police than any other citizen,” said Supt. Kevan Stuart.
Part of determining whether the police response was appropriate depends on the information Mar initially gave dispatchers.
“We’re reviewing what information we had that led us to the scene,” said Stuart.
For his part, Mar said he welcomes the scrutiny and that he didn’t use his post as an alderman to influence the police.
“From a governance and transparency perspective, anybody has the right to question whether this was above board,” said Mar.
A resident who lives next door to the vacant lot, Donna Clarke, said she wanted to beautify the derelict property and make good use of it by planting potatoes she intended to donate to local agencies for the needy.
Clarke and some volunteers had moved several old tires onto the property, which they filled with dirt to use as planters.
Mar said he was initially concerned the group was preparing to squat on the property because he saw the slogan “Occupy Calgary” painted on one of the tires and spotted one of the principal participants in last year’s Occupy protest that camped in Olympic Plaza for several weeks.
Mar said he was at home and phoned the head of bylaw services, Bill Bruce, about the tires on the property. Bruce, in turn, told him to call police about the trespassing issue.
Mar said he phoned the police — using the line intended for non-emergency calls from the public.
A few minutes later, Mar said he saw a police van arrive in the neighbourhood, but it looked like the officer couldn’t find his way.
Mar said he went outside in his stocking feet, flagged down the van and climbed in to show the officer where the lot was.
It may have looked untoward when Mar arrived with police, but the alderman said the explanation is far more innocent.
“From a perception perspective, do I get what they’re saying? Of course I do,” Mar said.
He said the city has asked the Calgary police commission, the civilian board that oversees the police, to look into the incident.
No matter what the initial police response was, Stuart said officers did the right thing by leaving the matter in the hands of the bylaw department.
“When we were there, it was quite apparent quite quickly this was not a matter for the Calgary police to be involved in,” he said.
Bylaw officers issued an order for Clarke and the volunteers to remove the garden because they were on the land without permission from the owner, a Vancouver-based company.
The company declined to let the gardeners return after it was contacted by the city about the incident.