Diplomatic Conventions and Undiplomatic Performances

"The pictures speak for themselves." 

"The furniture is full of cockroaches. Pieces of furniture are scratched and scuffed. Some are missing."

"Everything is dirty."

"The landlord has convinced the court that all the hazards experienced with the tenant exceed the foreseeable hazards and normal conditions of owning a building for rental purposes."

Anne A. Laverdure, administrative judge

The Gatineau Police Service in Quebec is responding to an accusation from the government of Senegal that officers beat an on-duty Ottawa diplomat earlier this week. (Michel Aspirot/Radio-Canada)

 

In June Oumou Kalsoum Sall was ordered by the rental board of Quebec to pay a former landlord over $45,000 for damages she caused to a furnished house she rented and occupied from November 1, 2018, to October 31, 2020. The tribunal found she had caused flooding in the house leading to structural damage. Her obvious misuse of the rental property left the owner of the house, Michel Lemay, in a position of having to replace most of the house furniture.

The house owner, Lemay, was awarded $13,500 by Judge Laverdure in compensation for the structural damage done to the house, along with another $23,000 to pay for the furniture required to be replaced. Another several thousand dollars was awarded by the administrative judge for other, allied damages caused by the renter.

According to court records, the debt went unpaid, causing a bailiff to present to another rental residence in Gatineau, Quebec on August 2, rented by Kalsoum Sall -- for the purpose of seizing property in lieu of the unpaid debt. At the embassy of the Republic of Senegal located in Ottawa, Kalsoum Sall is a first counsellor. The Senegalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims its diplomat was physically abused and was  hospitalized after police handcuffed and beat her.

An investigation into the matter has been opened by Quebec's independent police watchdog. Gatineau police explained they were called to the residence by a bailiff who required assistance. There, they arrested a woman with diplomatic status.The diplomat had slapped a female police officer back and forth on her face. As another police officer attempted to place handcuffs on the diplomat to put an end to her violence she bit him.

 

"Faced with an aggressive person who refused to cooperate, the police intervened to explain the process and to ensure that everything went smoothly", explained a police spokesperson. "During the intervention, a policewoman was punched in the face and injured.The police then decided to arrest the person in order to put an end to the offence, for the safety of those present.The person was then brought to the ground to be subdued. The same day, shortly after 3 p.m., the paramedics called [the Gatineau police] for assistance when they were working with this person and about ten people were present."

The diplomat was temporarily arrested by police in an effort to stem her violent physical attacks. "They [some diplomats] can be aggressive because they know that they have immunity, so they believe that they can do whatever they want", explained Gilles Rivard, in an interview -- a former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and to Haiti. 

 

Officially police are not ordinarily permitted to arrest diplomats, though a police officer might handcuff someone while they wait to confirm the person's diplomatic status. "But if after that, that person shows that she is a diplomat, or he is a diplomat, normally they have to be released." The Senegalese Embassy asserts its diplomat was physically abused as a result of police violence, addressing its outrage to the incident.

"The investigation's objective is to determine the exact sequence of events with as much precision as possible."

"At the conclusion of the investigation, the file will be transferred to the directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, whose role and prerogative are to determine if charges should be filed against the officers involved."

Gatineau Police Services spokesperson

Communique

The charge d’affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, was consequentially summoned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry for officials there to "vigorously denounce and strongly condemn this racist and barbaric act."

"The government of Senegal has demanded that an investigation be launched without delay and that charges be brought against the perpetrators of this unacceptable assault, which constitutes a serious infringement of the person’s physical integrity and human dignity, as well as a flagrant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."

Senegalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dakar, Senegal

"The police verified that ... the legal officer who authorized the court order had been informed that the person had diplomatic status. Faced with an aggressive person who refused to co-operate, the police intervened to explain the process and to ensure that everything went smoothly."

"The person resisted arrest and bit a second officer. The person was then brought to the ground to be subdued [and] was detained in the back of the patrol vehicle, under the supervision of a policewoman, until the bailiff carried out his order and the situation returned to calm."

"At no time did the person mention having been injured or having pain when questioned."

Gatineau Police Services

Gatineau police. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia