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All right, all right, all right.

We admit it, there is absolutely no hard evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld actually showed up for that Fortress North America/Deep Integration Forum that took place in Banff a couple of weeks ago.

However, one should bear in mind that very little hard evidence about anything that happened there has emerged so far.

Luckily for us there is one reporter that actually went out and did his job. An what's more, he actually had editors that let him write about it.

His name is Aaron Paton and he writes for the 'Banff Crag and Canyon'. We quoted from his original story here.

Now, because it is not yet available online, someone purporting to be Mr. Paton* has been good enough, through the magic of the comment thread, to send us his latest piece on this week's protest against the Conference.


Protesters gather at hotel following secret forum
By Aaron Paton Banff Crag & Canyon staff

A handful of protesters gathered in front of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel Monday to show their disapproval of a secret forum held earlier in the month in Banff that featured politicians, business elite, top military generals and weapons manufacturers from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The protest came almost two weeks after The North American Forum was held at the Springs from Sept. 12 to 14. and drew a crowd of about 10 protesters, some bearing signs like "we want our country back" and"lost liberty hotel."

The spark of protest was ignited when former National Party leader Mel Hurtig posted news of the meeting on the Internet as it was happening. He has also provided the media with a schedule and a list of attendees dated Aug. 31. Canadians on the list include federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, Admiral Roger Girouard (Commander Joint Task Force Pacific, Cdn. Forces), Alberta Minister of Energy Greg Melchin and Roger Gibbons of the Canada West Foundation.

Former Green Party candidate Chris Foote was appalled that Banffites had been denied what he said was their right to protest during the event and that the media had ignored the issue."What they're really talking about is making one unified North America," Foote said. "It's highly unpopular in all three countries and that's why they're trying to keep it a secret. The business community and (politicians) want to push this through and they don't want anyone to know about it."

Apart from local Bow Valley newspapers, coverage of the event in English has come mostly from bloggers and online news sources, CBC radio and an article written by Council of Canadians national chairperson and activist Maude Barlow in the Calgary Herald and theToronto Star. The story appeared in large Mexican daily newspapers like La Opcion in Chihuahua and La Jornada in Mexico City this week, after coverage appeared first in last week's Crag.

Local activist Aaron Doncaster said the forum is a serious issue that should be addressed more thoroughly in the Canadian media. "It's not necessarily about taking out the borders, but it's about blurring them until they're irrelevant," Doncaster said.

He added that if people aren't informed of meetings like the forum they will be voting for a government that lacks transparency and accountability. "They will vote for a government and they don't know what these guys are up to," Doncaster said. "That's not right. If you lose that knowledge then you've lost democracy completely."

Banff RCMP took pictures as protesters spoke with passersby at the bus stop in front of the hotel. They didn't take kindly to being photographed. "What are you doing here and why are you taking my photo?" Doncaster asked police. "Will this be used against me later?" He accused the RCMP of gathering intelligence on protesters and activists, something he considers a violation of his privacy.

The officers responded by saying that they were "just doing their jobs."

"They have files on everyone from the United Church to peace activists and the Raging Grannies," Doncaster said. "That's part of the reason why people don't want to protest. It's bullying."

A hotel worker at the protest who said they were working during the forum said that U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, instead of U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, gave a speech on military co-operation. Rumsfeld was scheduled to do a speech entitled Opportunities for Security Co-operation in North America — Military-to-military co-operation, according to Hurtig's information provided to media. Pace's name did not appear on a list of scheduled attendees that was leaked to the Crag soon after the meeting and is now widely available on the Internet or on www.wikipedia.org.

"The atmosphere was really tense," the employee said. "There were alot of people there and there were secret service agents walking around the back of the room."(General Pace) came in and walked around the room meeting all the right people, he got up to do his speech, said what he had to say and they moved on to the next meeting."

The employee added that there was nothing particularly sinister about what was said at the forum but admitted to not paying close enoughattention."To me it sounded like all that shit you hear them saying on the news," the employee said. "I didn't really realize the gravity of the situation at the time."

Fairmont Banff Springs spokesperson Lori Grant said the hotel appreciated the peaceful nature of the protest. The office of Stockwell Day said that it does not comment on the private meeting and would not say if the public safety ministerattended the forum.

Banff RCMP did not return phone calls.


Like government, I guess people get the secret deals they deserve.

Sheesh.

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*We have no reason to believe that the story did not come from the real Mr. Paton. It's just that we have not yet received confirmation from a solid second source, or the movement of a potted plant on Deep Crag's balcony.