The president of the University of Ottawa student federation was arrested Feb. 2 for disturbing the peace after he called an officer “fuck-face,” shown in a video posted on YouTube and confirmed by the Ottawa Police Service.
Police said Seamas Wolfe, president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), used the insult after having been warned by the officer not to swear or he would be arrested. Wolfe appeared to be frustrated with the officer’s conduct in the arrest of Marc Kelly in the Student Appeals Centre (SAC) just prior to the incident.
Kelly was arrested for violating the Trespass to Property Act after police received a complaint.
SAC co-ordinator Mireille Gervais said the real reason for the arrest was that Kelly “is an effective political activist.”
Gervais said because the SFUO was the occupier of the SAC and was leasing the property from the university, Kelly was not trespassing, and the officers had no right to arrest him.
He said Kelly was at the SAC to work on a case to appeal his deregistration at the university, which is a “serious and ongoing case of targeted political discrimination.”
When police came to arrest Kelly, Gervais said members of the SFUO tried to convince the officers that the organization was the occupier of the premises, and Wolfe was told to find the lease.
After Wolfe left, the officers entered the SAC.
“They just barged into my office,” Gervais said.
In the YouTube video, Wolfe confronted the police.
“We own part of that building,” Wolfe said to the officer in the video. “It’s in the contract, right here, that you told me to go and get, but the moment I left, you just broke in without a warrant or anything.”
Ottawa police have not elaborated on the issue.
“I can’t get into the details on the full file since it is in front of the court,” said Const. Jean-Paul Vincelette of the Ottawa Police Service.
“If we are called to the address and the person in charge tells us they have the authority over the address, normally the officers would take that as reality and would act accordingly,” Vincelette said.
In the Trespass to Property Act, the occupier of a premises is defined as “a person who is in physical possession of premises or a person who has responsibility for and control over the condition of premises or the activities there carried on, or control over persons allowed to enter the premises.”
According to Gervais, the video was shot by Joseph Hickey, the student at U of O who recently had a No Trespassing notice against him revoked by the university. It is titled “SFUO President and student arrested on student space — Feb. 2, 2010.”
It shows the officer repeatedly denying that the students owned the SAC.
It is unclear whether that is the official position of the police department as they were unable to comment on the case. The video also shows Wolfe holding the lease that he says states SFUO ownership.
Gervais said that no matter the outcome of the court proceedings, the SAC would continue to help Kelly with his appeal case and meet him in the centre.
“All students whether they have a trespass notice in place or not are welcome in the SAC.”