Canadian to head Commission of Enquiry - source

Patterson

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CANA:

A CANADIAN jurist is to head the Commission of Enquiry into civil disturbances in the West Kingston area earlier this month that disrupted normal activity here and damaged the island's international reputation.

A well-informed source close to the Government of Prime Minister, P. J. Patterson told the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) that a judge of the Canadian Supreme Court will be recruited to head the commission probing the disturbances that led to the death of 25 people and injury to 50.

The Canadian Government, the source said, was willing to release the judge to serve, and the final paperwork was being arranged.

Others on the three-member commission are said to be head of the Church of God in Jamaica Dr. Garnett Brown and former University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer and criminologist Dr. Hyacinthe Ellis.

The source said that the Canadian jurist is expected to confirm his participation by this week.

Mr. Patterson told the nation last Tuesday that he would be looking overseas for a head of the commission as he sought transparency and an acceptance of public confidence from not only the head, but other members as well.

"It requires persons in a commission who possess the requisite competence, the skill and the knowledge," he said then.

"I have made every effort to find commissioners who are able to command public confidence and whose objectivity is beyond question. I have taken into account the numerous suggestions and proposals as to the chairperson and having weighted them I have been able to identify an eminently qualified jurist whose release from present duties will require the approval of the requisite authority. This has been formally requested through diplomatic channels and I anticipate a response shortly," he added.

The commission, sittings of which will be held publicly and privately, will seek to determine why the security forces were in the vicinity of Tivoli Gardens, West Kingston, on July 7. It will also look into the circumstances under which civilians and members of the security forces were killed during the disturbances.

Attacks against police stations, the deployment, conduct and operations of security forces and the setting up of roadblocks and other forms of disruptions will also be looked into.

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