Stephen Owen, one of the leading participants responsible for orchestrating and directing the state's assault upon the Ts'peten Sundance Camp at Gustafsen Lake in the summer of 1995, has been appointed to the new Law Commission of Canada. Owen was deputy Attorney General to Ujjal Dosanjh, BC's New Democratic Party Attorney General and Human Right's minister. He met virtually daily with the RCMP during the siege and signed many of the letters requesting military arms for them.
Owen, 48, has been teaching law and public policy at the University of Victoria since March 1997. According to Canadian Press (June 5) "the Law Commission of Canada is an independent five-member body created to advise the federal government of issues related to the law... Owen served as BC ombudsman from 1986 until he left to head the commission on resources and the environment in 1992. In 1995 he was appointed deputy Attorney General, a post he held until he joined the University of Victoria. He has also served as legal adviser to Amnesty International since 1984."
The extensive connections of both Owen and Dosanjh within the human rights/civil liberties establishment are believed responsible for the virtual silence regarding Gutafsen Lake of human rights and civil liberties agencies both domestically and abroad. The June 5 Canadian Press article says that Owen advocates restructuring of almost every aspect of the legal process, from civil law to public policy on issues such as the environment and First Nations land claims settlements.
Imprisoned Shuswap elder Wolverine commented that Owen has obviously been rewarded with "a bigger trough... The law is clear. They make up new rules to cover up their criminal acts."
One insider within the Attorney General's ministry told S.I.S.I.S. that with the deep involvement of NDP government officials such as Dosanjh, Owen, Assistant Deputy AG Maureen Maloney in the Gustafsen scandal, it will be "an uphill battle" to achieve the full and comprehensive public inquiry increasingly being demanded.