Mother to join protesters
By DONNA CASEY-- Ottawa Sun
OTTAWA -- As area police forces brace for the threat of terrorist attacks and violent protesters at this weekend's G-20 meeting, one Ottawa police officer could come face-to-face with one high-profile agitator -- his mother.
Const. William Barlow still doesn't know what his duties will be, but the patrol officer hopes his mother, renowned Canadian activist Maude Barlow, won't get caught in any violent skirmishes.
"I don't want her getting into the violence, for her sake," said the 32-year-old, who's been on the Ottawa force for three years.
Maude Barlow said she and the son she calls "my sweetie" have joked about the possibility of her youngest slapping the cuffs on mom.
"We figure he'll say 'I remember that time I asked you for that raise in my allowance and you didn't give it to me -- you're under arrest,' " said the chairwoman of the Council of Canadians in an interview from the World Trade Organization talks in Doha, Qatar, which wrap up today.
"I don't think it will come to anything."
She praised the Ottawa police's handling of a springtime demonstration at the Foreign Affairs building as "quiet, dignified and very polite" and "a good model" for how police should handle large-scale protests.
She said she will devote her energy this weekend to low-key events. On Friday, she'll attend a teach-in on the global poverty crisis at St. Matthew's Anglican Church. On Saturday morning, she'll take part in a peaceful march to the Supreme Court. She said she has no plans to protest near the G-20 meeting site at the Conference Centre.
In the recent CBC Life and Times documentary on his famous mom, William Barlow recalled his boyhood outings to feminist rallies with his mother.
He saw men yell sexist slurs and throw pornographic material at his mother and other protesters and he watched his mother's determination thrive in the face of adversity.
He said he feels "a little bit" reassured by his mother's plans to take part in only peaceful marches this weekend.
"If that's what she says -- if she actually does it is another matter," said the skeptical son, noting that his mom did inhale her share of tear gas on the front lines at the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999.
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
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