Berg-Wyman, a fashion designer, chaired the rally. She said that through her experiences she had “lost total faith in the concept of ‘to serve and protect.’ There is an alarming pattern of how marginalized people are handled by the police department.”

After an internal police inquiry ruled there were no problems with her brother’s treatment, Berg-Wyman hired a private investigator. He found three witnesses who gave statements that Jeff Berg did not resist arrest but was beaten when he tried to surrender. An autopsy concluded that the cause of death was an aneurysm brought on by a blow to the neck. On June 23 the British Columbia police complaints commissioner ordered a public inquiry into Berg’s death.

Berg-Wyman encouraged people to sign a petition for “a judicial inquiry into the Vancouver Police Department internal investigation of complaints of police misconduct.”

A range of speakers exposed other cases of police brutality.

Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, addressed the crowd. “From a Native perspective, too many people have died at the hands of law enforcement,” he said. “But despite numerous inquiries with hundreds of recommendations, nothing has been implemented.”

Berg-Wyman pointed to the example of Frank Joseph Paul, a Native man, who froze to death in an alley in the early hours of Dec. 6, 1998, after police dumped him there in the rain. A videotape shows him nearly comatose at the police station. His family says that dumping him outside in his condition was a sure death sentence.

Paul’s sister, Francis Jourdain, who lives in Maine, declared, “What they did to Frank shouldn’t have been done to a dog.”

His death parallels those of Natives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at the hands of the Saskatoon police officers. They were driven out of town in sub-zero temperatures and left to freeze to death without their coats.

Berg-Wyman read a message from Cameron Ward, a civil-rights lawyer who was handcuffed, denied immediate access to a lawyer, strip searched, and arrested on Aug. 1, 2002. His car was impounded because the cops claimed he resembled someone who threw a pie at Canada’s prime minister.

Charlotte Airlie, mother of Barry Lawrie, spoke of how her son and two others were detained and beaten by police in Stanley Park January 14. “There was no crime being committed,” she said. “They were not suspects. They were not loitering. They should not have been terrorized, beaten, and tortured.” The three and Shannon Pritchard, who was with them at the time, filed a civil suit against the police. “The lesson I learned is stand up for yourself and fight,” Pritchard said. These police officers have also been charged with 33 offenses including assault with a weapon and obstruction of justice.

Two groups have filed reports critical of the actions of the Vancouver police. The Pivot Legal Society report includes 50 different cases. The provincial police complaints commission began its investigation of these incidents June 9. The affidavit of Eric Amos, a Native, states that he was assaulted by a police officer in an alleyway in the Downtown Eastside. José Cardona, a Honduran who was granted refugee status in Canada, was kneed in the groin after an officer asked him to open his mouth so police could search for drugs.

Jill Weiss, executive director of the Canadian Pelvis Inflammatory Disease Society, saw two male officers beating an unarmed man; one of them repeatedly struck the man with a baton. When she asked police to stop, Weiss and a number of other bystanders were pepper-sprayed by the cops.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the Downtown Eastside police crackdown, which was launched April 7 on the pretext of fighting drug trafficking and use. The group’s report details accounts from 20 individuals about police action including kicking, hitting, or stepping on people suspected of having drugs and conducting random street searches.

Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell responded angrily to this report. He said the group made allegations about police misconduct that “appear to be unfounded,” adding, “We are not Afghanistan. We are not a country that tortures people.” Campbell, a former coroner and RCMP officer was elected last November as the candidate of the Coalition of Progressive Electors. COPE presents itself as a progressive alternative to the Civic Non-Partisan Association, which governed city hall before.  
 
 
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