From TriRudy James writes about his uncomfortable encounter with the RCMP in Gatineau Park over the weekend. With snow on the road shoulders he was one of few cyclists or motorists out and described being stopped for a warning.
He (and many people would agree) felt that the encounter was unnecessarily adversarial and closes his recounting by asking how is it “that the relationship between the Gatineau Park RCMP and the cyclist has reached this point and how can it be repaired?”
The RCMP and the NCC are separate entities and operate quite independently, however, incidents like this only tend to make Park users additionally edgy about their relationship with “authority” in the park. The objective of having Park users act as partners in respecting the rules of the Park can only suffer when an adversarial relationship is engendered.
I have also had a few unpleasant experiences with the RCMP — Canada’s brain dead police force, the one whose commissioner lies to Parliament and gets away with it; the one that uses Tasers to murder innocent victims. Among so many other crimes and misdemeanours…
My first experience happened in the fall of 2001 along the park’s North Loop. Walking my dog on a leash, I met two officers near the parking lot. One of them started yelling at me, saying he saw me walking my dog off leash in the woods. I told him he was wrong, and then he went completely RCMP brain-dead, yelling at me not to look at him with “those shotgun eyes,” as though he was trying to get me to lose my composure and do something that would allow him to cuff me.
He was completely hysterical… More evidence that the RCMP needs a good kick in the rear end …
The second and third times: driving along Meech Lake Road, I encountered the prime minister’s motorcade. The police punk ( I hear the PMO staff refer to them as “pimples” given their average age of 26 years …) driving the lead car took it upon himself to be heavy, driving two feet over the yellow line, flashing his lights and accelerating towards me on my side of the road.
I mused that next time someone tried this, they’d feel the full impact of my Mitsubishi’s front bumper…
Canadians should oppose and denounce RCMP tyranny in all its forms. They are not our superiors; they are our servants.
Shame on RCMP goons in Gatineau Park!
Next-day responses on TriRudy included this from Avery:
“There has been ample proof over the past few years that officers have been pursuing an aggressive anti-cyclist policy…”
Responses continue…
http://j.mp/9WdYGB
http://j.mp/9DQHPw
http://j.mp/dmYJFZ
http://j.mp/9uLMMy
Harrassing bikers while allowing dope growers to ply their trade in Gatineau Park, inclulding the one who used to live at 464 Meech Lake Road, and who works for Transport Minister John Baird…
Shame on the RCMP, NCC, and minister!
And continue
http://j.mp/coyq3s
at least there’s a sense of humour about it though
http://j.mp/9xqqCf
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