ee Castlégar News october 25, 1989 Police get tips onh The federal government is providing guidance to ‘Canadian police forces in deating with foreign diplomats. Their diplomatic immunity means police could face some tricky situations. OTTAWA (CP) give him a bfeathalyser test Don't tell him he’s under arrest And don’t laya charge If there's a suspicious-looking suitcase in the back seat of the car, don’t try to open it If he’s carrying a gu, ask him politely to hand it over but don’t insist if he refuses This fiay ‘not be the usual recipe for law enforcement, but it’s standard procedure for policemen dealing with cer tain privileged people — foreign diplomats who live in Canada. The hélpful hints are taken an eight-page booklet, bearing the Canadian coat of arms onits light-blue cover, entitled Guide for Law Enforcement Officers on the Diplomatic and Consular Personnel in If he's driving drunk, don’t try to from Immunities of best-thumbed copies belong to in the Ottawa area, where some 2,000 embassy families live and where cars bearing the diplomatic plates are a probably patrolme staff and their distinctive, bright red familiar sight But the External Affairs Department has also been shipping copies across the country to police forces that have to deal with the 6,900 consular officials and dependants in Canada. “It’s long overdue,”’ says Michael Warren, an dfficial in the protocol office at External and author of the booklet “There was a real need for some kind of guide like this for many years.” licence CREATES NEED The need arose from a pair of international agreemen: ts, negotiated in the 1960s, known as the Vienna conven. tions on diplomatic and consular relations One of the long-standing principles of international affairs that were codified by the two accords: Diplomats are not to be arbitrarily arrested or detained and are not criminal and civil laws of their host countries There are differences in detail between the legal im munity granted to the staff of national embassies and with with rare exceptions subject to the lower-level officials in consular offices who deal routine passport, tourist and immigration matters But the basic intent is to ensure that all of the of politically motivated harassment. And since any gover nment is reluctant to let another-draw the line between legitimate law enforcement and harassment, often a blanket immunity from prosecution The rule against arbitrary detention, in means a diplomat too drunk to drive straig arrested or charged. He can be taken into what is ingeniously described as “temporary protective custody,”. meaning the cop can bring Itim to the station and call somebody to take him home. If he’s toting luggage that could contain illegal sub- any policeman or customs are free the effect is practice, nt can’t be stances — drugs, for example officer who demands a search better have good evidence “Only on the strongest suspicion would a request even be made to open the baggage," says Warren. And then Investigator sets up workplace stings By ROB CARRICK The Canadian Press to The sting private in vestigator Harry Lake stages for com panies that want to trap workers selling drugs on the job surgical precision to them Lake vestigation office in with an operative have operations trust,” he says have—an—almost of the Canadian Introspec in- stance director of the abuse Toronto, starts posing as an em ployee. “First, our agent will set up a buy Lake explains then gets gradually we've got a bring the police in Orchestrating the arrest is a matter of taste, so Lake gives h choices ““Some prefer we do the bust on the premises, to act as a deterrent,"’ he says. *‘Or, ‘He starts off small, When quantity, we bigger teeth,’ sufficient caring drug abusers clients two work, union’s we can do it away from the We don’t company to avoid publicity pushers, Introspec, which aso investigates- our corporate fraud, industrial espionage and computer misuse four calls amonth from clients looking for help with drug problems, says. part. is guilty, gets three or Lake to an He says customers have included a workers. major bank, a brokerage, large hospital and an in dustrial construction company CAUSE ACCIDENTS “Drugs in industry are a cause of ac cidents, theft and a breakdown in em ployee Birnie Floyd, also a private investigator who retailers, a It's usually Toronto work, F eyed, Undercover Security and effectiveness,”” says there would have to be somebody from the embassy and somebody from External present as witnesses. The blue booklet doesn’t bother getting into details, It just tells policemen that, as a general rule, baggage can’t be searched © As for firearms — if a diplomat is waving a gun around he’s considered a public danger and he can be subdued. But the rules say hands-off if he’s packing a pistol and hasn't made a move to draw it “All you could dois ask him for it, you can’t fight with him physically to get it,"” says Warren. ‘If he doesn’t give up, you do a report on it and the Department of External Affairs would pursue the matter."* The vigor of External’s pursuit depends on the gravity of the offence. But the strongest weapon in the diplomatic arsenal is andling diplomats expulsion from Canada — which may well be a public disgrace and a setback to the diplomat’s career, but is a far cry from the jail term and criminal record an ordinary citizen might face In the last decade, embassy staff in Ottawa have escaped prosecution on potential charges of public drunkenness, impaired driving, assault and drug traf- ficking. Andrejs Berzins, a 16-year veteran of the provincial Crown attorney’s office, lists shop-lifting and child abuse among the other allegations that have been investigated But he’s thankful: there has never been any real mayhem AWAITS TEST “That's when the system would be put to a real test,” says Berzins “L've often shuddered and thought how difficulit it would be to deal with a situation where someone has com mitted a very violent crime — murder or rape — and then is able to claim diplomatic immunity." In ase that serious, the embassy involved would almost certainly be asked to waive its legal protection and permit prosecution, says Warren. ‘1 want to stress that immunity is not a licence to commit offences."” He acknowledges, however, that except for parking tickets or minor traffic offences he can’t recalla single case in which a country has agreed to waive its immunity. The usual practice in more serious cases is to quietly recall the diplomat to the home country “That's a fact of international lif foreign courts says Warren States don’t wish to have their representatives sitting in Of 4,501 parking tickets issued to diplomats in Ot- more than 90 per cent were unpaid. On cking charges, iplomats also sometimes get off scot-free. It’s all because of diplomatic immunity. By JIM BROWN OTTAWA (CP) — It was a warm summer day in July 1983. Rodolfo Palacios, the third-highest diplomat at the Nicaraguan Embassy, left a shoulder bag at an Ottawa car wash When attendants opened the bag looking for iden tification, they found 35 grams of cocaine anda .38- calibre revolver. When police went to the diplomat’s absent-mindedly home they found a semi-automatic handgun and a can of Mace. Palacios, claimed that prosecution. But his tour of duty had officially ended 15 days before his arrest, a loophole stized by federal lawyers to charge him. with possession of cocaine for purposes of trafficking and unlawful possession of weapons In the end, the courts ruled Palacios was immune The only thing the External Affairs Department could do was expel a man who already wanted to leave Canada. It also declared him grata, meaning he could never return KEYSTONE CASE Six years later, the case folklore because of a farcical chase scene in which Crown attorney Graham Pinos tried to personally serve Palacios with some legal papers. A lawyer for the Nicaraguan Embassy stepped between the two men and Palacios, 29, bolted from the courtroom with Pinos in hot pursuit — until he stum bled and the papers scattered over the floor “Graham came back to the office ready to punc! (the embassy lawyer's) lights out,.’ recalls a former colleague at the federal Justice Department following established as a diplomat he was legal doctrine, immune from persona non lives on in courthouse They've found they were starting problems “And you're trying to catch people, going to be outfoxed anyway."” Jim Kennedy, national co-ordinator Auto Workers’ sub program, reprehensible that undercover agents are being used against employees It seems to grow out of the feeling that you have to watch the workers or they'll steal the gold fillings out of your says Kennedy, union's counselling approach, intervention,” for As for people who sell drugs at he says that's a problem the national executive board is currently mulling over have but the basic assumption on innocent Kennedy says Floyd says he’s convinced drugs in the workplace are a menace employee's welfare and a potential danger for co- company who first detect a drug problem at loyd says ployee come to work high, or go on coffee break and come back all glassy: jobs at Investigation The charges against Palacios were the most serious anybody could recall against a foreign envoy in Canada, although the case didn’t match the scale of more recent prosecutions in the United States and Britain Evidence in those suggested that organized dope rings had recruited diplomatic couriers and used the sealed canvas pouches that carry confiden tial documents through customs without being opened or X-rayed Nothing similar has come to light in Canada, but it would be naive to assume it’s never happened, says a federal prosecutor speaking on condition of anonymity “The only way we find out is when someone does the discourteous thing and lays a charge. Then it’s on the public record and we’ ve got to follow through."” Two years after a provincial Crown prosecutor was confronted not by a diplomatic criminal but by a diplomatic victim. MURDER PLOT Koscun Kirca, the Turkish ambassador to Canada, was among the presumed targets when three Armenian Canadians ‘storrhed his embassy with guns blazing although the only victim turned out to be a Canadian security guard shot dead at the front gate As atrial date approached, the Turks served notice that Kirca was going home. He would give evidence it allowed to make his statement in Ankara but would not appear ina Canadian courtroom Crown attorney Andrejs Berzins didn’t press the matter, since he already had enough evidence to convict the three assailants for the first-degree murder of the guard “There would have been no public interest in pur suing it further,” “‘Had the evidence of (Kirca) been crucial, I don’t know how the thing would have developed — whether they would have waived the immunity or not.” The Turks had allowed a wounded commercial at tache to testify at a previous trial against three Ar- countries he says. Serious incidents rare menians who plotted to murder him They never publicly explained their refusal to let Kirca do the same. But Berzins believes the ambassador feared politically loaded questions from defence lawyers about such things as the massacre of | 5 million Armenians at Turkish hands during the First World War No cases in Canada rival the Palacios and Kirca af fairs, but other incidents on the public record include: A marine guard at the U.S. Embassy beat upa male hairdresser over a traffic dispute. The marine went home to Texas and left the military in what was described asa routine discharge. His victim, who woke up in hospital with his jaw wired shut and a cast on his nose, collected $6,000 from the Ontario C riminal In: juries Compensation Board A drunk diplomat from the African country of Upper Volta escaped charges when he plowed his car through the front of an Ottawa restaurant Miraculously, nobody was hurt A Saudi Arabian diplomat was sent home by his embassy after creating a drunken disturbance at another restaurant Another Saudi allegedly forced an Ethiopian- born maid to work 16 hours a day, gave her no day off ‘or two years and withheld her $150-a-month salary for ayear. External Affairs now demands a written contract that meets Canadian labor standards before letting a diplomat import a servant Michael Warren, the resident expert on immunity at External, won’t talk about any of those cases. And he can’t say how many others have gone unpublicized because he ‘‘doesn’t have the keep statistics The department has never liked to state how many of these cases occur, preferring private talks and frien: dly persuasion to public denunciation Five years ago, an alternative mation dried up when Ottawa police stopped releasing annual figures on diplomatic parking fines resources’’ to source of infor- Sandman wins Sandman Inn built up a big lead and coasted to. an 8-5 win in CRHL action Thursday .. » BI Pacific standard time returned this morning at 2.a.m. It you forgot set your clocks back an hour and enjoy the time you lost last spring LOTTERY NUMBERS The winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto 6-49 draw were I, 14, 28, 36, 47 and 49. The bonus number was 43. The winning numbers drawn Friday in the 1, 2, 5, 10, B.C. Keno lottery were and 56. The $1,000,000 winning number in Fri day's Provincial lottery draw is 5616685. 17, 27, 32 Inn re-opens Dorothy Hird, who cut the ribbon to open the Slocan dnn 23. years ago, pertérmed the same ftunttion last weekend as the inn re opened for business AT 42, No. 87 60 Cents NY, ~ lews BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29 CASTLEGAR 1989 WEATHERCAST Generally sunny shie Monday Sunny with 3 Sections (A, B& C) with employee besides, if you're says it’s who touts his called helping And. any love for until proven a threat own safety and supervisors They'll see an em Floyd's Civic Services ik oe does undercover work for business Where there’s drug use on the job, there’s usually drug peddling, Floyd says, companies to call in the undercover guys “As a rule, someone will be sup: plying someone else,” contagious thing, like passing around a pack of cigarettes.” Companies began spying on their employees long pilfering, says Phil Daniels, a specialist in workplace Stevenson, Kellogg, ney in Toronto Daniels says snooping ~ for became a ‘‘fad"' a few years ago in the business world after electronic sur veillance began cutting down on theft However, the practice is waning in popularity as more and more firms reverse their approach and introduce drug counselling programs, he says and that’s what usually prompts he says. “It’s a ago to combat issues for consultant Ernst and Whin drugs start with an operative who is slipped nto the workplace as a new employee, maybe the new Joe on the loading dock ora temporary executive secretary EYES ANDEARS Their job is to be the eyes and ears of the company. They would compile a dossier on|what is wrong in a particular department.” *THIS OFFER SUBJECT TO O.A.C. SHOP THIS OFFER EARLY!! Lake describes his typical prey as a male blue collar worker in his twenties, probably an employee in a warehouse or on anassembly line. Drugs of choice are marijuana, hashish and cocaine, which Lake says has a specific physical effect that makes users easy to spot “When a user is down, they’re very down,”’ he They're aggravated and they can’t get along with other employees.” Usually, it takes three or four weeks for an agent to establish who's using and who's selling drugs, Lakes says. notes A REPEAT OFFER! 0 Money Down 0 interest Charge NO Payment ‘til May 1990 On the Purchase of Furniture! NO Money Down NO Interest Charge 0 Payment ‘til February 1990 on the Purchase of Major Appliances! _~ HOME GOODS is. Furniture Warehouse Located halfway between Trail and Castlegar Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday Bakken bickers at Socred bash VANCOUVER Social «cP) Credit Bakken of Salmo got inio a shouting match Friday with a fellow Socred af Nelson reston delegate Iris ter delegates to the annual party con vention rallied behind Bill Vander Zaim The dispute here Premier occurred alter prominent Socred Michael Levy, who lost the recent Vancouver-Point Grey byelection to Tom Perry of the NDP. left the convention swearing to quit the Pagty Over a constitutional issue Bakken got into the shouting match with Frank Alpen-of VancouversLittle Premier supported, A2 Mountain Does party apart? the tiding held by longtime ¢ McCarthy she know you're tearing the yelled Bakken You saw the standing ovations (by delegates for Vander Zalm) “You're doing more har Alpen tried to say She feels that we're the dissidents and breaking up the Alpen said later all McCarthy said Socreds want unity we're party, That's not true at and “I think heard what they wanted to hear “What we're seeing Here today is a they party that wants to get on with doing the job of getting the party ready for Rywaczuk, who was born in Uruguay, and grandson Dani helped cut the cake ata reception at city hall after the official ceremony. Judge at d the THREE GENERATIONS . . . Cirilo Riwaczuk, 80, who came to Canada from the Ukraine, was one of 33 area residents to become Canadian citizens Friday. Riwaczuk's son, Juan dat the also Latta, left, who a native C being unified, getting said McCarthy, broke with Vander Zalm last year Asked if she i McCarthy replied that she is Social Credit party But does she back Vander Zalm? a the next election, its act together who behind the leader behind the reporter pressed {'ve given you my answer Othe in the party oppose the premier Socreds acknowledged som Regional Kootenay dire There are still some long knives out for Bill Vander Zalm,’* said Mark Toth of Saanich-The Islands. “But that’s why I came, to shield him from communit that because I think that’s nonsense he Levy's walkou 500 delegate r The reaction t¢ amid jeers from the 1, idents from tors can only work on behalf of the people they represent if the communfy informs its director of wants H director Bob Barkley told a group of Valley residents mation from the ministry is difficult and said he also has a hard time finding Central out what he wants to know when he speaks to ministry officials “They won't give me anything either,”* he said Barry Eastman, ways Kootenay r RDCK Area High told the Castlegar News recently that all Ministry of gional manager, Passmore and to discuss road safety By CLAUDETTESANDECKI Staff Writer District of The group decided to hold another meeting soon to discuss safety and Barkley agreed to attend if a meeting date can be set that will not conflict an RDCK director meeting be with his schedule as Barkley used to determine what kind of safety suggested the features the community wants to see Such as signs and restrictive speed Northern tax benefit likely gone By CasNews Staff and News Services OTTAWA (CP) — A tax break for people living in isolated communitic North. which would cut the cost of the $200. should apply only to. the million program substantially, says a federal committee northern Only truly areas” people in would continue to get. the commissioned Michael Wilson betiefits, says the repor py Finance Minister and released Friday Other remote areas such as those in Cape Breton Island and the interior of British Columbia would be cut off The committee x de ‘West-Revelstoke stiansen who has surprise Kootenay MP Lyle Kr fighting to been residents of isolated communi his constituency I was pretty sure thi (the committee mer oin to head with it,”” Kristiansen iF News Saturday Tastleg The New would comment MP ther on the com Democrat said. he mittee’s recommendation after he has had time to study its details with his NDP colleagues Monday But he indicated he is not optimistic about changing the recommendation I doubt if we'll be able * Kristiansen said to succeed in reversing it, **My major battle right now is to en. ure all the ones eligible for 1989 collect for that year,’’ added Kristiansen, who in September successfully appealed a Revenue Canada decision to deny the benefits to residents of the Slocan Lake area for the 1988 tax year Kristiansen successfully argued that he closure of Highway at the Slocan Bluffs for major road reconstruction for three weeks during 1988 meant the road could no longer be considered an all-weather” surface under Revenue Canada's rules. He said Saturday he hopes to win similar concessions for the 1989 tax yea continued on page A2 B.C. Hydro turns over lake property By CLAUDETTESANDECKI Staff Writer B.C. Hydro lands ir Lakes area that a Koote the provincial governmen' used for ‘*recreatic purpose government news release say The utility and the province hay reached an agreement in principle land, totalir Renata Edgewood Akolkolex Creek to the Ministry of Crown Land: transfer 16 parcels of about 70 hectares, around Fauquier and he release says. The agreement is curre TRAIL and observers, seemed to contirm the public display of unity Vander Zalm sought in his feel-good speech earlier Friday Some delegates, angered hy Levy's public split, followed him out Shame on you Van Leat houted uver-area delegate Scott “How dare you insinuate we're racist? continued on page A2 Vallican areas last week Barkley was responding to questions Wednesday night residents who are concerned about the from about 35 1 road and bridge project to link impact of underway their communities and what the residents call a lack of consultation and information from the Ministry of Highways on this and other projects in the Slocan Valley Barkley infor agreed soliciting property owners along the route of the living there six job was planned new road who were yeurs ago when the were contacted about the proposed work The residents conceded the road, which Highways officials say is nearly complete, is not likely to be stopped, but they want to see safety measures in troduced to protect people in the area especially children CASTLEGAR NELSON SHELL st SENELLE RAIL TRACKS Home Goods limits, before holding a meeting with the Ministry of Highways to present the listof demands Green, regiona Such steps would keep the meeting — forthe Kootenay with Highways from being reduced to The public is the residents, he acces from Victoria The t Kootenay Highways officials were invited tc the Wednesday mecting, according to the Robyn Reid continved on page A2 chairman of Slocan principle because transferred to the he titles mu minist © have tothe lands, Gre Parks Tourism Task Force the direction of Minister of S will be con Kootenay Howard Dirks, led through a land credit system cash exchange, said than a Penner, regional development officer for Kootenay is also minister responsible for ywn lands B.C. Hydro buys provincial Penner said ands egularly and the tran sferred lands, which he estimates ar ver $200,000, will be o be deducted next to the utility ye purchase price of the property Hydro buys from the provin voir in by Hydro inleyside e late 1980s for ke dam project, the ministry says, adding 10t offered for Hydro open sale recognized their properties B.C Herent value ft Ar grou Hy« sto the west side of trom Bur ecently the subject of con when a cattle company” continued on page A2 By CLAUDETTE SANDECKL Staff Writer chool be reed to The Castlegar rd has a in principle a proposed program to train primary B.C. school curriculum trustees over the district ucha program The program, proposed by Selkirk College, iy expe ne pul together by a committee of teacher ticipating school districts in the West Kootenay tinuing-education instructors from the college Ministry of Education staff Setkigk College. Andrews will head the project support chool teachers to cope with the changes now Heing made to the despite the concerns of som role in writing and running ted to be written and ready to begin in January and will from par con and said Craig Andrews, the director of extention and international education at Andrews said he is already working on writing the program and expects the first meeting of the planni and working committee to be held in November. The project is receiving Support from around the’ area and Trailin particular, he added Besides allowing some of its teachers to work on the program, each district will be expected to contribute part of the $30,000 needed to run the two-year praject, Andrews said Trustees Mickey Kinakin and Evelyn Voykin say Castlegar to chip in $6,000, this district’s calculated share of the costs, f that the Ministry of especially since the ministry has expressed approval of should not have ra program Education should be funding the project “If they think it’s so great, why don’t they come up Voykin asked during an inter view with the Castlegar News... hd with the money for it?” Why and give ou teachers to write a program for Selkirk College that will should we use our money be used to teach our own people? Andrews said the college has requested funding from the ministry and if it is granted each district's share will be reduced or eliminated Voykin is also skeptical of the quality of a pro; that will be written in two nfonths, noting that Castlegar school district can do a lot with $6,000. The ¢ implementing the new ungraded curriculum, which is astlegar board should spend its money on beginning now with the primary program that must be in place by the 1991-92 school year, and then consider program such as Selkirk is proposing, especially since so much is being done already within the district to prepare forthe changes, she said Voykin also wonders how teachers who are just beginning wha to come to grips w Trustees wary of proposed program h the new curriculum and will mean in the classroom will be able to wr program to teach others Maybe there are some teachers in our district tha eacher longa oykin tila draft will need to leave their cla for how long Andrew ‘omfortable and knowledgeable I find that hard to-believe about she said said that although there are no h ungraded classes in Castlegs area such as Trail and Grand Forks worked in ungraded classroom: also wants more details on what is exactly how many teachers sto work on the project and teachers will not be working full continued on poge A2