Protesters filmed at Alberta upgrader hearing
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 |
CBC News
(CBC)Private landowners who protested outside a public hearing into an bitumen upgrader northeast of Edmonton Tuesday were filmed by security guards hired by the project proponent, French energy giant Total S.A., CBC News has learned.
"What are they so afraid of?" landowner Anne Brown asked on Wednesday. "Why are they taping us?"
The two men videotaped the group as they held a peaceful protest outside the Fort Saskatchewan hotel where the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) is holding a hearing into the project.
When they were confronted by the landowners, the men identified themselves as security guards and said they would be handing the tape over to their employer, whom they declined to identify.
That employer was later revealed to be Total.
Company spokeswoman Elizabeth Cordeau-Chatelain said the unarmed guards were hired to make sure computers and other company equipment weren't stolen from the hearing room. Total did not ask the guards to film the protesters, she said.
"Actually, you brought it to our attention and when we found that they did, we asked them to stop immediately."
Armed sheriffs present at 4 hearings
This revelation comes the same day an Alberta official said the province has been stationing armed sheriffs to "keep the peace" at several environmental hearings in the province over the last two years, including the hearing now underway in Fort Saskatchewan.
The head of security for Alberta's Ministry of the Solicitor General and Public Security confirmed that sheriffs with sidearms have been present at at four environmental hearings since 2008.
"I've only been involved since August of 2008," Dan McLean told CBC on Wednesday. "Since my time, there has been at least three other hearings where security has been provided in the form of armed sheriffs."
CBC News first became aware of the presence of the armed sheriffs Tuesday, the day the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) opened hearings into Total's proposed bitumen upgrader northeast of Edmonton.
The French energy giant wants to build the upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan.
A coalition of environmentalists, farmers and residents have opposed the project, and some of them expressed shock that their opposition would be met with such heavy-handed security tactics on the part of the province.
Board unhappy about armed guards
ERCB spokesman Darin Barter said the board is not happy about the presence of the guards either.
"We don't like to see armed guards anywhere; nobody does," he said. "This isn't our choosing. This is a provincial government initiative."
A provincial spokesperson said Tuesday that the guards were sent "to prevent things from happening."
On Wednesday, McLean also declined to specify what prompted the province to station armed sheriffs at the hearing.
"I won't be discussing the threat level with you," he said.
Even though Total has hired its own security, it has no problem with the additional security provided by the province, Cordeau-Chatelain said.
"We feel that protection, whatever the government decides, is something that we will respect."
With files from Faiz Jamil and John Archer
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/06/02/edmonton-sheriffs-fou...
