Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Hires Former Mountie for Olympic Security

By Bob Mackin, 24 HOURS, November 6, 2008

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada wants to award an Olympic security contract without tender to a former top Ontario Mountie.

On Friday, it published a direct award notice of a $100,000 deal to Bradley C. Holman of Durham, Ont. Holman joined the RCMP in 1975 and retired abruptly as assistant commissioner and commanding officer for Ontario in 2004.

The Toronto Star reported in December 2006 that Holman was subject of an internal probe for inappropriate behaviour.

But he announced his retirement before the investigation was finished.

Indian and Northern Affairs wants Holman to analyze regional and national requirements for 2010 Olympic and B.C. earthquake exercise participation and to assist the department's B.C. regional office "to be operationally ready" for Vancouver 2010.

Holman's qualifications include top-secret security clearance and "in-depth knowledge of the legislative requirements surrounding emergencies on First Nations reserves."

The department is required to receive objections to the hiring from potentially qualified suppliers until Nov. 17.

Opponents to the 2010 Games from the Native Youth Movement are organizing a mass convergence of indigenous people from throughout North, Central and South America on Vancouver in February 2010 to protest the Olympics. They were endorsed at an October 2007 gathering of natives from the Americas in Sonora, Mexico.