Game 7: Disappointment after Disappointment

Wednesday June 15, 2011 will forever be remembered as the day the Vancouver Canucks lost 4-0 to the Boston Bruins on home ice, in game number seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, giving Boston their first Stanley Cup victory since 1971-1972. Vancouver was left without hoisting the cup for the third time in franchise history. The day will not only be remembered as the day our beloved Canucks lost the Stanley Cup, but also the day in which the city of Vancouver broke out in a massive riot. Multiple businesses were damaged along the Georgia Street and Granville Street corridor. Companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company, Bank of Montreal (BMO), London Drugs, Sears and many other smaller businesses had significant damage done to them. Not only were their windows broken but goods and products were also damaged and stolen. Garbage cans and vehicles, including two police cars were also lit on fire. The police were clearly unable to contain the 100,000 plus that gathered downtown to watch the all important hockey game.

Without being able to control the massive crowd, the police were forced to use the Riot Act. The Riot Act was originally brought into force by an Act of Parliament of Great Britain in 1715. As a colony of Britain, the law was incorporated into Canadian law and was later put on statutory footing. The Riot Act is found in ss.32-33 and ss.64-69 of the Criminal Code of Canada. A proclamation, worded as follows will be read out to the crowd, during a riot: “Her Majesty the Queen charges and commands all persons being assembled immediately to disperse and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their lawful business on the pain of being guilty of an offence for which, on conviction, they may be sentenced to imprisonment for life.” In essence, the Riot Act attempts to prevent unlawful assemblies of 12 or more people. Sad to say, the Riot Act was not successful in dispersing the large crowd that had gathered downtown Vancouver. A significant amount of damage was caused in the downtown core, and the costs for the damage are currently unknown, but are sure to be in the couple of million dollar range.

Questions are being asked as to how the city of Vancouver and its police department could have better handled the situation. Some critics are pointing the finger at the mayor and the city management staff claiming that they did not believe that there would be a riot and therefore they did not provide the police department with enough funds to adequately staff the downtown core for the hockey game. Others are pointing their fingers at the Vancouver police department for being ill-prepared for the riot and for taking too long to react to the situation.

Perhaps the finger should be pointed at the hooligans who engaged in such shameful behaviour. I don’t know what was more disappointing, losing in the Stanley Cup finals to Boston or the riot that tarnished the reputation of our world class city. Due to the actions of the few that wanted to riot, media outlets across the globe blasted our city as being violent. I only hope that the city could regain its reputation as a friendly, world class city. We have held successful mega events such as the Olympics in Vancouver and I hope that in the future we can continue to hold such large events in a successful manner without any negative consequences.