BREAKING NEWS::: Student Marc Kelly wins trespass trial - Cops, University, Crown were wrong

[Photo: Marc Kelly through the window of the SFUO-SAC office just before Ottawa Police barged in to arrest him.]

OTTAWA, December 14, 2010: Marc Kelly court decision released - victory for students and for student sovereignty over student space.

The February 2, 2010, campus arrests of mathematics-physics student Marc Kelly and student union president Seamus Wolfe at the University of Ottawa were depicted in two popular Youtube videos (HERE, HERE) and were reported in the national media HERE.

(The videos were made by student University Senate member Joseph Hickey.)

By using a student union lawyer to bargain for diversion (community service), Wolfe effectively admitted guilt to the false-arrest charge of "disturbing the peace by swearing" for saying "fuck face" under his breath to the Ottawa Police sergeant on the scene (Sgt. Mallet) who had overseen the false-arrest of Kelly.

Kelly pleaded not guilty, went to trial self-represented against the Crown, the cops, the University, and University Legal Counsel Alain Roussy who attended the entire trial, and won in a precedent-setting ruling released today by judge L. Girault at the Provincial Offenses Court in Ottawa, Ontario.

The charge was trespass despite the fact that Kelly was in the Student Appeal Centre (SAC) office of the student union consulting on the University's illegitimate trespass order against him.

The scholarship student had previously been unilaterally de-registered from his study program and exiled from campus without justification (HERE) by a vindictive administration that did not take kindly to Kelly's well known (and TV-broadcast) direct appeal to president Allan Rock, revealing Rock to be verbally abusive (HERE).

The ruling establishes what should have been obvious to Roussy (or co-Counsel Kathryn Prud'homme, who informed the police otherwise) that the student union, the Student Federation University of Ottawa (SFUO), not the University is the legal occupier of SFUO offices.

Indeed, Roussy and Prud'homme were in the possession of an agreement between the SFUO and the University of Ottawa, signed at the highest university level (VP-Resources), which explicitly stated that the SFUO was the legal occupier. (Arguably the SFUO still owns the University Centre!)

The main part of the trial had been held on December 2, 2010, where an impressive array of large men and women in and out of bullet proof vests testified or were present to testify against Kelly:

• Claude Giroux, campus police chief
• D. Levesque, Ottawa Police
• Nicholas Lavoie, campus police
• Ryan Macdonald, campus police
• Alexander Macpherson, campus police
• Brian Vissers, spy camera coordinator, university
• Nathalie Charlebois, lead investigator, campus police
• Sgt. Mallet, Ottawa Police (not present on Dec.2nd)

In addition, Roussy attended the trial and consulted with Crown lawyer Bruce Lee-Shanok, and dean of the Faculty of Science Andre E. Lalonde had been subpoenaed but was on call in lieu of showing.

Lalonde had spotted Kelly in the SAC office on February 2nd and, apparently recognizing the significant and immediate danger to the institution, had called campus security presumably in a panic.

The behaviours of Roussy/Prud'homme and Lalonde were unprofessional but so was that of Ottawa Police.

The Ottawa Police consulted only Roussy/Prud'homme and disregarded the the clear and repeated legal occupancy information provided to them by SAC Director Mireille Gervais (a law graduate), SFUO President Seamus Wolfe and teacher assistant union (CUPE Local 2626) President Sean Kelly (see video). Ottawa Police then told the SFUO president they would wait for him to produce the rental contract of the office space and then five minutes later (see video) forced their way into the SAC office without a warrant and arrested Kelly.

After that, you wonder why they didn't also knee him in the thigh repeatedly and strip search him?

In addition, Constable D. Levesque of Ottawa Police blatantly lied under oath at the December 2nd trial hearing. He said he had an excellent memory of the events and that he had most definitely watched the Youtube video but that he himself had not asked for the rental contract (see 54 seconds into the video when he clearly asks Wolfe for the rental contract). Levesque added that if he had received the contract he would have reconsidered the arrest but that he had already waited (he inferred from his notes) approximately 29 minutes (see video, less than 5 minutes passed between asking for the contract and the decision to arrest). One wonders what Constable Levesque's testimony would be like if he did not have an "excellent" memory additionally supported by an unedited Youtube video that he watched?

At trial Judge L. Girault refused to look at the video that Kelly repeatedly asked to show to the court and that would have established the many improper actions of the police and Levesque's perjury.

If judges don't show initiative in examining police behaviour then students on campuses will continue to be mistreated by Ottawa's finest only too happy to serve the Rock administration.

Nonetheless, Kelly's closing arguments (delivered after he was arrested in court at lunch recess on December 2nd on unrelated charges of failing to appear in court!) were sharp and legalistic, leaving the court little room to find him guilty.

This case is precedent setting: The SFUO is the legal occupier of its premises. You can thank Marc Kelly.

RELATED POSTS:
Our previous report of the Marc Kelly trespass trial

A link between the Kelly exile and the Rancourt firing: The link is Rock

Prosecutors fumble in Marc Kelly trial

Will the media cover this or will it prefer to stick with the U of O banned bottled water story?

SOME BACKGROUND

Remember these remarkable videos about ludicrous arrests of students on the campus of the University of Ottawa?





One student (Seamus Wolf, then president of the student union) plea bargained. Student Marc Kelly did not plea bargain and is representing himself at his own trial.

Kelly, a former scholarship student in mathematics-physics, was arbitrarily barred from registering for courses to finish his B.Sc. degree, expelled from his program of study, and trespassed from all University of Ottawa grounds by the Allan Rock administration.

The Student Appeal Center (SAC) of the student union is defending Kelly's academic rights and Kelly was in the SAC office when he was arrested for trespass after the dean of the Faculty of Science Andre E. Lalonde called police on spotting Kelly in the SAC office.

Ludicrous.

Allan Rock has a history of confrontation with student Kelly: HERE.

Several background articles about the Marc Kelly case at the University of Ottawa are HERE.

RECENT DEVELOPMENT

On Monday September 4, 2010, Marc Kelly was in court at 9 am to defend himself over the false arrest ordered by the Rock administration.

Well the Prosecutor had to ask the judge for an adjournment because she "only realized late Friday" that, after months of preparation, her office had not subpoenaed her witnesses (the many Ottawa Police and campus police officers involved at the scene or in the background).

The Judge ruled that an adjournment was granted but that the onus was now on the Prosecutor to produce her witnesses at the next trial date which was set for:

9 am, Monday October 4, 2010.
Courtroom 101
100 Constellation Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario.

This means that the Prosecutor will either be ready for trial or the charges will be dropped.

Kelly had obtained a subpoena order for dean Andre E. Lalonde but this order will now need to be re-issued for the new trial date.

If the charges are dropped or beat this will open the door for Kelly to then sue for malicious arrest.

Either way, it will be a long road to the B.Sc.

U of O student found not guilty of Trespass on University property

OTTAWA, June 2, 2010 – U of O Master’s student and Senate member-elect Joseph Hickey was found not guilty today of a politically motivated charge under the Trespass to Property Act. Mr. Hickey is the second student politician in the past year to be trespassed by the Rock administration from all U of O lands and buildings.

Mr. Hickey, represented pro bono by Caroline Cyr of Crystal Criminal Law Office, was arrested and removed from campus on December 11, 2009 while booking an appointment with President Allan Rock to have the no trespassing notice revoked.

Ex-minister of Justice Mr. Rock, Vice President Diane Davidson, and their legal counsel Alain Roussy were subpoenaed to appear as witnesses but were not needed once the prosecutor Terry Callaghan, after contacting the university, reported to Mr. Hickey’s lawyer that she would present no evidence at trial.

“The university has developed a habit of arresting and charging students only to contact the Crown Attorney’s office and have all charges dropped as soon as its executives have been subpoenaed to take the stand in open court. This is another incidence of irresponsible institutional behaviour by an administration that shoots first and then avoids the questions six months later,”

said the scholarship graduate student, who is also a Teaching Assistant and member-elect of the university Senate.

“What is going on between the police and the university when the administration can repeatedly have students handcuffed and arrested and then never answer to it in court? I will work hard at Senate to get to the bottom of the university’s continuing abuse of the legal system to attack its students. Our fundamental freedoms must be protected, especially on campus”

he continued.

The U of O Senate has a vibrant history, such as the December 1, 2008 arrest of two-time Student Union presidential candidate Marc Kelly who was banned from all of campus after he video recorded a Senate meeting. Following student protests, all Senate meetings are now video recorded and broadcast online, making it possible for everyone to tune-in and watch.

Ms. Cyr will continue to defend Joseph Hickey against a criminal charge that he participated in the painting of the message “These Walls Belong to Students” on a blank campus billboard wall on December 7, 2009. A full-day trial has been set for February 2, 2011.

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For more information, please contact:

Joseph Hickey
student Senator-elect, physics graduate student

Mireille Gervais LL.L
Director, Student Appeal Centre (Student Federation of the University of Ottawa)
email: case.cresac [at] sfuo.ca

Student chalkers to U of O president Allan Rock: Play fair please

From: Joseph Hickey
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 4:00 PM
Subject: Upgrade to Freedom of Expression Walls
To: Allan Rock , allan.rock@uottawa.ca
Cc: student media

Dear Mr. Rock,

Immediately following the Chalking Day festivities of last Wednesday, Feb. 3, the Student Chalkers of the University of Ottawa (SCUO) invited you to read the messages left by students on the freedom of expression walls at Morisset Library. We also invited you to contribute your own message, in the spirit of freedom of expression.

We did not ask you to take over the entire area with posters portraying your own self-serving messages and in the process cover up and negate all of the ideas put forward by the student community.

The morning following Chalking Day, we and other participants were shocked to discover that you had unilaterally decided to bolt high-tech anti-graffiti posters over all of the freedom of expression walls. [see PHOTOS BELOW] These aluminum-backed laminated posters are held up by about 160 screws drilled into and thereby degrading the concrete. You will notice, as you walk past the posters, that you will want to keep yourself well away from the surface of the walls to prevent injury from the screw heads that protrude. Be especially careful at times when the passageway becomes crowded, such as during class changeovers.

These facts considered, we understand from conversations with the external company hired to install the posters, Bungee Banner, that the new anti-graffiti coating allows paint and paste to be easily cleaned off without damaging the poster surface. This fortunate upgrade to the freedom of expression walls will now allow student message sharing to be much more dynamic and up-to-date. Like whiteboards or blackboards in the classroom, students will now have access to an effective communication forum on the walls of the library. This will surely enrich the mental landscape of our campus.

Thank you for this new investment in student freedom of expression. We look forward to communicating with you on the library walls, but in the future please do not bolt or fasten coverings over top of our expression in any way, and consider consulting us before spending our tuition money on control technology.

Sincerely,

Student Chalkers of the University of Ottawa (SCUO)

Joseph Hickey (Physics, master's)
Liam Kennedy-Slaney (Biology, 2nd year)
Mireille Gervais (Law, master's)
Erika Yerly (Psychology, 1st year)
Anne-Marie Dubois (Environmental Studies, 3rd year)
Robyn Dalgleish (Undergrad, University of Guelph)

U of O's President Allan Rock goes berzerk against student Marc Kelly - Video

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The Rock administration at the University of Ottawa has applied its "final solution" against star mathematics student Marc Kelly.

This is the first video evidence of the consequences of Rock's determination to eliminate Marc Kelly from campus. The university unilaterally barred the ace student from registering for required courses in his study program and trespassed him from campus.

Here is what it looks like when three campus police goons come to get Marc Kelly in the graduate student association pub in order to expel him from campus:



I guess it was not part of their training that under the Ontario Trespass to Property Act the graduate student association is the legal occupier of its pub that it rents from University of Ottawa Inc? And, therefore, that the student has right of passage? Immobilize student and crush student head appears to have figured prominently in the training however.

The sound track is from a separate event when Marc Kelly went to try to meet President Allan Rock (who has an "open door policy"), after many frustrating months of trying to get his discrimination and harassment complaint recognized at any level of the academic administration.

[What you can do: Write to President Allan Rock and tell him to stop his mistreatment of Marc Kelly: president[at]uottawa.ca. Put the media in cc: chuotrain[at]gmail.com.]

U of O Branding War Spills onto YouTube

The Allan Rock administration's new corporate video (actually called that in the University's own Gazette Magazine) has frightened many students and community members.

One emotional response of self-defence was for students to attempt to message the temporarily empty poster installations on the outside South wall of the Morisset Library. In response, the bare cement posting frames were aggressively guarded against student expression using campus police, surveillance cameras, Ottawa Police arrests, and arbitrary applications of the Trespass to Property Act against registered students. Quite a show of maturity.

Now the students are fighting fire with fire and appear to have launched a branding self-defence campaign on YouTube. Can they compete with the University of Ottawa's publicly funded multi-million dollar branding propaganda? Will truth trump pomp? You be the judge.

Activist Teacher banned from campus, arrested, cuffed, and fired

Activist Teacher (aka physics professor Denis Rancourt) was barred from campus on December 10, 2008, and escorted off the premises by university police at the University of Ottawa, under the pretext of having assigned high grades in one physics course (24 students) last winter.

The story has been covered locally (Ottawa), nationally (Canada), and internationally.

The best web site for relevant background, media links, letters of support, official documents, etc., is:

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ACADEMICFREEDOM.ca
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A+A+A+A+A+A+A+A+A+A+A+

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[Photo copyright Pawel Dwulit 2006]

U of O limits access and arrests community members to block threatening agenda items

Today (December 6, 2007) campus democracy has attained new heights at the University of Ottawa.

Two community members were arrested and all community members and all non-Faculty of Science students were barred from attending a normally public Faculty of Science Council meeting so that certain agenda items would not be discussed.

The dean of the Faculty of Science, André E. Lalonde, has used a process technicality to motion offensive agenda items off the agenda. This Code Morin technicality, which allows a vote without discussion, is traditionally reserved to remove insignificant agenda items.

One agenda item in question, to create a second-year activism course, was significant enough for 300 students to sign a petition in its support, for the university to use City of Ottawa police “services” to arrest community members on bogus trespassing charges, and for all Faculty Council meetings in the last year to be cancelled over it.

Such is the twisted logic of a dean’s understanding of democracy and collegiality, at a university that, in its Vision 2010 mission statement, calls for increased community participation in its governance, and at which its president celebrates the importance of activism in his letters to community members condemning the cancellation of the popular first-year activism course.

So the dean has cancelled a fourth Faculty Council meeting in a row. As a result, there has not been a regular Faculty Council meeting in over one year and academic program development has come to a stand still.

A short history of cancelled meetings…

> April 5, 2007: Dean cancels meeting because student Council member Severin Stojanovic persistently complaints about dean’s illegitimate veto of his agenda item to consider approval of a second-year activism course. Meeting lasts 20 minutes.

> May 22, 2007: Dean cancels meeting because community member and independent reporter Karen Dawe refuses to stop video taping the proceedings. Meeting lasts 5 minutes. (Dawe was arrested by City of Ottawa police today, outside the Council meeting room.)

Stojanovic spearheads a campaign to have the Faculty By-Laws respected by the dean. VP-Academic, Robert Major, intervenes twice to claim that dean’s veto is legitimate. Administrative Committee claims that it has no power to force the dean to follow Faculty bylaws in running Council meetings.

> November 6, 2007: Dean cancels meeting after Stojanovic complains that proper process was not followed, that would allow new agenda items to be proposed. Meeting lasts 0 minutes.

Community member Jane Scharf legally submits an agenda item to discuss adding five community member representatives to the 40 or so member Faculty Council. The item is refuted without valid reason. (Scharf was arrested by City of Ottawa police today, outside the Council meeting room.)

New student Faculty Council member Daniel Cayley-Daoust submits an agenda item to discuss why the first-year activism course was not offered in the fall 2007 term.

> December 6, 2007: Dean has now added Stojanovic’s agenda item but the item is immediately motioned off the agenda as meeting begins. Stojanovic objects. Dean cancels meeting after Stojanovic refuses to leave the room. Meeting lasts 15 minutes.

Physics professor Denis Rancourt was to present the activism course item to Council and objected to this “dirty trick” being used to filter out unwanted agenda items (while being surprised that it took the dean eight months to decide to use a Code Morin procedural tactic to his ends rather than blatantly ignore the Faculty By-Laws). The dean would not let Rancourt make his point about misuse of the Code and instead asked Rancourt to leave. Rancourt used his academic collegial right to stay and make his point.
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As the 2010 of Vision 2010 approaches at Canada’s university, we must wonder what the next Faculty Council meeting has in store for us. It does not look promising, as none of the tenured professor Council members saw anything anomalous in illegitimately invoking a Code Morin technicality to remove rather than discuss student and community supported agenda items…

Yet another milestone in applied democracy at the U of O!

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[Photo credit: University of Ottawa]

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RELATED AND FOLLOW UP:

December 17 = rabble.ca feature

December 12 = IndyMedia - meet Gilles Patry

December 12 = IndyMedia - Scharf's second arrest

December 8 = IndyMedia - Nye arrest with pictures

December 8 = IndyMedia - Dawe's reaction to violence

December 7 = IndyMedia - Scharf's report

December 7 = IndyMedia - Rancourt's report