Apparently, Fantino's an okay guy
Native protester Shawn Brant and his lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, have alleged Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino intimidated and even threatened Brant with death during a native standoff last summer.
That occurred when Brant and supporters shut down Highway 401 and a rail line to protest Canada's treatment of aboriginals.
Brant faces criminal charges as a result and it's up to the courts to determine his guilt or innocence.
But today, let's address these hysterical allegations against Fantino, aided and abetted by hysterical media who've been turning selective quotation into an art form.
These selective quotations are a few brief sound bites from several recorded telephone conversations between Fantino and Brant during the standoff, which, thankfully, ended peacefully.
Much has been made, for example, of a snippet in which Fantino said to Brant: "I don't want to get on your bad side, but you're going to force me to do everything I can within your community and everywhere else to destroy your reputation."
What you probably haven't heard is the next thing Fantino said: "I don't want to do that. I want to help you deal with the suicides (on native reserves) ... I've travelled to ... reserves. I know exactly what you're talking about. I've seen it. I've been to Kashechewan and some of these other places. I've been there ... "
Sounds different in context, eh? But don't take our word for it.
Here's how Brant described his talks with Fantino right after he had them, as reported by then Toronto Star reporter Tamara Cherry on June 30, 2007:
"While (Brant) denied OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino a face-to-face meeting yesterday, he said he respects the man who in recent years has become the nemesis to his protest work.
"Of the last of at least 'a half a dozen' phone conversations he had with Fantino early yesterday morning, Brant says: 'It was actually cordial and he thought that I wasn't necessarily sounding as bad as what people made me out to be. And I said, 'Well, same with you.' "
Case dismissed.
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