PORTFOLIO-Riot police stand in front of burning police car in Vancouver June 15, 2011 after what the police are saying criminals and anarchists disguised as Canucks fans were responsible for last night's riot. (John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail)JOHN LEHMANN/The Globe and Mail
The general manager of British Columbia's liquor control branch says Vancouver police did not object to her decision to announce liquor store closings long before the puck dropped on Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
But the city's police force says just because it didn't fight the decision to let people know about the closings one day ahead of time doesn't mean the department supported the liquor branch's move.
The provincial government this week released documents related to the June 15 riot, which left millions of dollars in damages. Among the documents was a series of e-mails between Karen Ayers, of the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch, and other staff at the provincial Ministry of Public Safety.
In the e-mails, Ms. Ayers wrote that Vancouver police were interested in delaying notification about the early liquor store closings until the day of the game. However, she issued a statement on June 14 that indicated stores would shut down at 4 p.m. the next day, giving those who wanted to purchase alcohol ample notice.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail on Thursday, Ms. Ayers stood by her decision.
"For Game 6, we delayed notifying the stores until the actual day of the game because you've got the element of surprise," she said. "For Game 7, it was my assessment that we had already lost the element of surprise. The public and the stores were anticipating that the stores were going to be closed, so [I]made the decision that there was no public safety benefit to be gained from withholding the decision for Game 7."
Ms. Ayers said the early notification was partly made to minimize the impact on business.
"The concern over businesses and their employees, bringing people into work who are then going to be sent home, the cost to the businesses of that. There's obviously a cost associated with being prohibited from selling alcohol or being required to close early. [I was]trying to give them some advance notice so they could appropriately plan and deal with the staffing."
A report into the riot by John Furlong and Douglas Keefe highlighted how little effect the closings had before Game 7. When asked if it would have made a difference to delay notification, or shut down the stores earlier, Ms. Ayers said: "Twenty-twenty hindsight is a marvellous thing. I'm not able to conclude that." She said she did not believe the decision to announce the closings early was a mistake.
Ms. Ayers said once her decision was made on how to proceed, she e-mailed the police force's deputy chief and he did not voice an objection. "The response was, 'I understand.' "
However, police spokesman Constable Lindsey Houghton said just because the force didn't complain didn't mean it agreed. "It's like a judge handing down their decision," Constable Houghton said, adding it's up to the general manager to map the course of direction.
No charges have been laid in connection with the riot. Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu repeated on Thursday that hundreds of people will eventually be charged; he first said that in July. The chief also said, as he has before, that the first round of charges will be laid in October.
Vancouver police said Wednesday that 70 rioters have turned themselves in.
In one of her e-mails, Ms. Ayers wrote "pre-riotous behaviour" had been observed prior to Game 6. However, she told The Globe in the interview she had no reason to believe a riot would occur.
"There was no discussion about a riot, no information that indicated there would be a riot, and I think it's fair to say that no one – including myself – contemplated there would be a riot," she said. "I don't think the correspondence shows that a riot was predicted."
She said pre-riotous behaviour is characterized as alcohol-fuelled individuals climbing on telephone poles, streetlights and bus shelters, or engaging in violence. "That sort of thing is what I was referring to," she said.