The APEC Pepper Spray Scandal at UBC

In November 1997, the APEC summit was held here at the University of British Columbia, with eighteen Asia-Pacific leaders, including Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin, gathering at the Museum of Anthropology, which is just a short walk from here. It was the largest security operation in Canadian history at the time. Student protesters gathered on campus to demonstrate against the presence of leaders like Suharto, due to atrocities committed in East Timor, and to protest other human rights abuses. The RCMP set up protest pens and confiscated signs. Protesters who refused to move behind barricades were pepper-sprayed at close range by Mounties in riot gear.

Video of the pepper-spray incident, including an officer in a blue windbreaker spraying the crowd, aired on national television. Justin Bridgman, a law student, was one of those hit. A public inquiry led by commissioner Ted Hughes heard from over 150 witnesses. The inquiry concluded that the RCMP used excessive force and that political pressure from the Prime Minister's Office, aiming to avoid embarrassing visiting heads of state, influenced the decision to suppress protests. This scandal led to the resignation of the RCMP's commanding officer for the event. The APEC affair remains a controversial moment in UBC's history and a landmark case in Canadian civil liberties, with the sprayed students later winning settlements from the federal government.