Pepper in Our Eyes: The APEC Affair

In November 1997, the world media converged on Canada to cover a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Vancouver. A student protest met unusually strong police response. Among many others, a news cameraman was pepper-sprayed by an irate-looking police officer, resulting in a dramatic video which has been played repeatedly.

Others news stories developed. Two dozen law professors wrote to the Prime Minister of Canada recording a number of serious constitutional violations which had taken place on campus. Lawsuits named Canada's national police force and the Canadian government as defendants, and a public inquiry was launched.