Island tension running high with riot fallout

The atmosphere has been tense and emotions are running high on Grand Manan in the wake of the now infamous July 22 riot that left a Cedar Street house in ashes and a suspected drug dealer and his entourage badly beaten.

Gunshots were fired after a group of about 40 men, mostly local fishermen, stormed the home of a suspected drug trafficker early on the morning of July 22. The group of so-called "vigilantes" demanded that the suspected drug dealer and his friends leave the island and stop selling drugs like crack cocaine and the prescription drugs OxyContin and Dilaudid to local youth. At least one resident used a vehicle to block off the entrance to Cedar Street, preventing firefighters from putting out the blaze. The regular RCMP officers on the scene had little success in controlling the angry mob.

"We look at what happened July 22 --that situation blew out of control to the point that four of our responding officers had minimal effect on civil disobedience," says a spokesperson for the RCMP, Cpl. Kevin Jackson.

Four Grand Manan residents have been charged in connection with the incident and are currently being held by police on the mainland. Matthew Lambert is being held on two counts of possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace. Carter Foster is charged with the unlawful storage of five firearms and possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace. Michael Dean Small is facing charges of arson and of possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace. Gregory Guthrie is charged with one count of possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace. All four have an August 15 bail hearing date. At that time, they are also expected to decide whether to plead their case in front of a jury.

There are at least two other Grand Manan residents, one man and one woman, who were arrested and have been released on a promise to appear in court at a later date. At least three other residents were arrested, interrogated and then released. Police expect there will be additional arrests and more charges will be laid in the coming days and weeks.
The arrests have stirred a heated response in the community. A group of residents planned to organize a demonstration near the home of another alleged drug trafficker in the village of Seal Cove on the night of August 1, but the planned public protest didn't materialize. Only about 30 people gathered outside of Frosty's convenience store in Seal Cove, and approximately the same number collected near the Castalia convenience store. Some insist there isn't a family on the island who hasn't been touched by drug addiction in one form or another. "I've got a lot of friends who are in rehab or who were in rehab," admits Gary Urquhart.

Some of the people who did come out to voice their support for the men charged claim the more than 70 RCMP officers that arrived on the island that day succeeded in scaring residents into staying home. On an island of only 2,600 residents with four full-time RCMP officers the police presence was certainly visible. The heightened force included members of the provincial SWAT team, police emergency responders and a police dog.

"If the Mounties had put a fraction of this effort into the drug problem we wouldn't be where we are today," says Grand Manan resident Larry Urquhart. "It never should have gone this far."

It is a sentiment echoed by a lot of supporters for the so-called vigilantes. "None of this would have happened if the job had been done," agrees Sarah McDonald, a close friend to some of the accused men.

While attendance was low for the planned demonstration Tuesday evening, residents came out in full force for the public meeting hosted by police on August 2 at the Grand Manan Community School. More than 400 people packed into the school cafeteria, and others stood in the hallways or framed in doorways trying to catch a glimpse of the meeting. It was one of the hottest nights of the summer, but residents braved the nearly stifling conditions in the cafeteria to listen to what police had to say.

Many of those who stood up to ask a question expressed frustration over the way they say police have handled the ongoing problem of drugs on the island and the ongoing investigation into the events of July 22.

"The system let us down big time," said one speaker to great cheers, "and we had some young people from 18 to 30 years old that stood up -- now they're being watched all over Canada."

The assembly also erupted into loud applause after Grand Manan Mayor Dennis Greene voiced support for the men in prison. "I ask that we be calm and rational," he said, "although we have a hard time knowing where this is leading and feeling that the wrong people are in custody."

As questions and comments became more pointed, police took a short recess to play a videotaped message from two of the men currently in custody. Carter Foster and Michael Dean Small spoke into the camera asking the community to remain calm and cooperate with police. The men appeared handcuffed in the video, a fact that seemed to incite a heated response from some members of the assembly. When the message ended, cries of "Free our boys" could be heard from the back of the room.

Support reached an all time high on the island with the creation of the Concerned Citizens Legal Defence fund and a red ribbon campaign. Sporting signs that read, "Free our boys," and the like, about 50 people with red ribbons in tow rode in a separate section of Saturday's Rotary Festival parade. Numerous cars and homes on the island are already decked out in the trademark red ribbon, conventionally associated with AIDS awareness, and there are several signs posted in public places, including the grocery store and the Castalia convenience store, urging residents to tie a red ribbon on to their car or house in a show of solidarity.

The fund, which has received approximately $3,000 in donations so far, was started by Soni Gatta, a long-time island resident and friend of the suspects. He says he created the fund after people approached him wanting to help. "We had people offering money, people wanted to give money to help out, but there was no place for the money to go," he explains. "We've set up a post office box so people can send money to that."

Gatta says he tried to set up an official account where people could send their money, but none of the banks he approached were interested in getting involved. While Gatta is pleased with the amount of donations so far, he says, according to a legal expert he spoke to, lawyers' fees for the accused could reach as high as $100,000. Still, he remains optimistic about the effort. "We want them to be able to have the very best counsel for as long as they need it. We don't want them to be disadvantaged at all."

Most of the more than 70 police officers left the island last week, but there are still some additional RCMP officers on Grand Manan. According to the RCMP, they will likely remain here for the foreseeable future. "The whole emergency responders unit and tactical troupe have left," says Sgt. Greg MacAvoy of the RCMP headquarters in St. George. "There's still some additional personnel, the investigation is still proceeding with every person we speak to."

The RCMP says it is difficult to predict how long it will take to complete the investigation. Police are looking into those involved in the July 22 incident, determining who played what role and whether charges are warranted. "Are we closer to the end or not? You really never know that until you are at the end," MacAvoy adds.

While the police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronald Ross for possession of a firearm, no drug-related charges against him or any of the island's other alleged drug dealers have been laid. Ross, considered Grand Manan's most well known drug dealer, was living in the suspected "crack house" torched to the ground on July 22.

That is what some islanders are finding hardest to swallow. Signs are popping up across the island asking, "Who is the real criminal?"

Greene, a long-time public servant and mayor of Grand Manan since 2004, says he can empathize with residents on this issue. "If we can bring in a guy and hold them without charges for 24 hours, why can't we bring in a drug dealer and hold him without charges for 23 hours and 59 minutes?"

Police say that one of the goals of Wednesday night's public meeting was to communicate to residents the way that the country's legal system works. "Frustration is often rooted in misunderstandings," says MacAvoy. "Hopefully we can continue to relay information to folks so that they can have a better understanding of the legal system. We're one aspect to one answer to these issues."

Constable Terry Pomeroy, one of the four full-time RCMP officers on the island, cautioned many in the audience on Wednesday evening to refrain from placing all of the responsibility for the island's drug problem on the shoulders of police, noting that many of the statements police receive in regards to drug sales and drug use are not signed. "Nobody wants to stand up by themselves and say they want to do something about it," he told the crowd. "But if everybody makes it known that they are police friendly and that they will go to police C we can let the drug traffickers know that they are not accepted here."

Drug use is a community problem, and parents need to take responsibility for their children's drug use, according to Kelly Wilson, a spokesperson for the Charlotte County chapter of the John Howard Society. "When a person is addicted to a drug C it effects every aspect of their life," she said in an interview late last week. "When the breakdown happens, parents are at a loss as to what to do with this child.
"
Wilson says parents need to provide checks and balances for their children and keep the lines of communication open. She says many of the youth on Grand Manan are lacking adequate adult role models. "A child needs to have three other adult mentors in his life besides their parents," she notes, adding that many children on Grand Manan have no other adult support network in their lives besides their parents.

Wilson spoke at Wednesday's public meeting, telling the group that those who work in the criminal justice system have known for some time about problems on Grand Manan. She urged residents to act now to improve the situation.

Still, many on the island say that drug use on the island will be reduced simply because there is one less person selling drugs. "Bottom line is -- we're rid of one crack house and one crack dealer," cried one speaker at Wednesday night's meeting.