Victoria police brace for annual Canada Day madness
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 | 7:02 PM PT
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Video
- Heather Robinson reports: Victoria police have declared public transit a booze-free zone this Canada Day (Runs: 2:06)
- Play: Real Media »
- Play: QuickTime »
IN DEPTH: Canada Day
- INTERACTIVE: Canada's great ones
- Monuments, hockey players, music, inventions and film
- Poll: Trudeau, Niagara Falls among Canada's top icons
- Survey asked: What best defines Canada?
- Maple Leaf defines Canada, survey says
- Immigrants, general public share visions of what defines Canada
- First Nations added to list of defining Canadian icons
On Canada Day in 2008, Victoria police officers boarded buses and randomly searched passengers, seizing unopened bottles of alcohol. (Submitted by Zelda Sun)Police in Victoria are bracing for another Canada Day party that, in recent years, has been marred by rampant drinking and rowdiness, turning the national holiday into the busiest day of the year for law enforcement.
Up to 50,000 people are expected to crowd into Victoria's Inner Harbour area Wednesday to take part in Canada Day festivities, which culminate at 10:30 p.m. PT with a fireworks show.
"Swearing, urinating, people passing out, vomiting — a lot of families are thinking, 'I don't want to bring my kids down there'," said Sgt. Grant Hamilton.
In an effort to make this year's event more friendly to families, more than 200 police, some wearing new body-mounted video cameras, will be conducting liquor searches and B.C. Transit is banning alcohol — even in unopened containers — from its buses.
"Last year, they had a tremendous amount of damage: assaults — a couple years you have stabbings on the bus." Hamilton said. "You have a responsibility, yes, to civil rights, but there's also that general public safety concern.
Hamilton recalled one recent Canada Day when Victoria's four-lane main street, Douglas Street, was down to a single lane while crowds of intoxicated people tossed bottles at each other over top of police cruisers.
"That's when we revised our entire operational plan," he said. "We decided at that time if we were going to continue this event, we needed to take some steps with regards to some early liquor interdiction."
Citing the Liquor Control and Licensing Act, police last year started searching people suspected of possessing alcohol, in many cases seizing the booze. Last year, police jailed 60 people on Canada Day, Hamilton said. In 2007, police jailed 82 people, with 16 arrested on criminal charges ranging from assault to mischief.
Rights complaint
The ban on alcohol on buses sparked a complaint last year by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which said the searches were not legal.
"The spectacle of transit employees patting down bus riders and pawing through their purses, bags and satchels is disturbing," association president Rob Holmes said in a statement.
"People are entitled to respect for their persons and effects. The police and B.C. Transit are showing scorn for the law and for the civil liberties of all persons, most particularly those who choose public transit on a public holiday."
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP conducted a public interest investigation based on the complaint and found the practice unlawful.
Nevertheless, police said they would again be searching people suspected of carrying alcohol, and B.C. Transit is refusing to allow people carrying alcohol onto buses.
Bus drivers will not be searching people, but they will be asking police officers to remove intoxicated passengers or people carrying alcohol from buses, said spokeswoman Joanna Morton.
Residents divided about holiday rules
The strict measures are welcome news to people like Randy Cunningham.
"If this is what they have to do to have a safe party downtown, then that's what they gotta do," the new father said.
However, the rules rile other residents, including Shauna Eiriksson.
"I don't drive, so if I'm gonna go to [a friend's] house. I want to pick up a six-pack to have some beer in the backyard," Eiriksson said. "I can't do that, because I can't take it on the bus. I think that's absurd."
Some, including Kris Constable, even fear it could lead to drunk driving.
"If you're saying, 'Don't take public transit,' what other options are you giving people who live out in the rural communities?" Constable said.
Victoria is one of the few cities in Canada that still stages a major night-time Canada Day party, and families and the elderly attend by the thousands. But if the rowdiness persists, police said, the city-sponsored festivities could be cancelled in the future.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
Latest British Columbia News Headlines
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- B.C. Premier Christy Clark says she is not happy with the RCMP decision to transfer a disgraced Alberta Mountie to the West Coast. more »
- RCMP officer charged in fatal crash
- An RCMP officer has been charged in connection to a late-night fatal collision in Agassiz, B.C., last July. more »
- Video of West Vancouver arson attack released
- Police are asking for the public for help identifying a man who set the home of a former West Vancouver police chief on fire earlier this year. more »
- Missing gun recovered by Vancouver police
- Vancouver police have recovered a handgun lost by one of their officers during a foot chase Wednesday. more »
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- B.C. Premier Christy Clark says she is not happy with the RCMP decision to transfer a disgraced Alberta Mountie to the West Coast. more »
- Henrique's OT goal sends Devils into Stanley Cup final
- The New Jersey Devils will vie for a potential fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history after defeating the New York Rangers in six games in the Eastern final, courtesy of rookie Adam Henrique's goal early in overtime. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- Third B.C. salmon farm quarantined
- RCMP officer charged in fatal crash
- Tsunami motorcycle heading to Harley museum
- Missing gun recovered by Vancouver police
- Province considers BYOB in B.C. restaurants
- Summer rescue boat service planned for Vancouver
- Metro Vancouver gas prices match record levels
- Super microscope installed at University of Victoria

