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Vindication.
That's what the Ontario ombudsman's Andre Marin's report sounds like to me.
As a peaceful protester during the G20 demonstrations, I saw and experienced Toronto as a police state where the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms no longer applied. While the mainstream media couldn't tear the cameras away from burning cruisers, police officers were conducting illegal searches, used excessive force and the provincial government quietly withdrew our rights.
Of all the piece-meal inquiries and investigations looking into spending and security around the G20, Caught in the Act, Andre Marin's scathing report of the provincial government and police conduct, is the first to honestly acknowledge what thousands of peaceful protestors experienced that weekend: our civil liberties, those rules we thought shaped citizenship, were trashed.
Marin's discussion of the Public Works Protection Act raises a number of very disturbing questions. The original document was a "war measures act" that was created in 1939, shortly after Canada declared war on Germany. What does it mean when a war measures act can be re-hashed without our knowledge or consent? What does it mean when the government feels it's acting in our best interests to revamp a 71-year-old act that pre-dates the Charter of Rights by 43 years?
Perhaps it means that by agreeing to enact this measure, during what we have traditionally understood as a peacetime, the government (and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair) is suggesting that hosting an international summit is the equivalent to being at war.
And maybe they're right.
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Similar to a military, the G20 doesn't work according to democratic practices. A hierarchy of a few select leaders are afforded the power to make decisions and issue directives for the majority of the world. The top brass outline the plan while populations, some more than others, are expected to execute the orders.
Like war, the policies of the G20 have collateral damage. The "fiscal consolidation" urged by the G20 have translated into the austerity measures we are now seeing in places like the UK, Ireland and Greece. The G20's unrealistic and unremitting adherence to unlimited economic growth has consistently required deep cuts in social services which, at street level, is essentially a war waged against the poor and marginalized.
To fight a war, one of the main requirements of any government is to effectively repress all forms of dissent, especially at home. This is why our "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression," "freedom of peaceful assembly," "the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure," and "the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned," as protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms since 1982, were not adhered to on that now infamous weekend in June.
So the provincial government changed the rules, at the request of Chief Blair, and attempted to quietly dismantle our rights. In effect, the war was brought to the citizens and demonstrators of Fortress Toronto via illegal searches, falsely interpreted laws, rubber bullets, tear gas, kettlings, mass arrests and arbitrary beatings.
Thankfully we haven't turned away from this unexpected war.
Despite the heavy-handed policing that attempted to scare people off the streets and into silence, thousands refused to ignore the suspension of our rights. Thousands decided that dissent is a valuable means of protecting our rights and freedoms.
It is through protest we are able to speak back to institutions like the G20, Toronto Police Services and the provincial government. It is through protest that we indicate our non-compliance with abuse of power, intimidation tactics and injustice. It is through protest that we oppose the G20's wars.
The hundreds of complaints, photos, videos and statements protestors provided were the foundation upon which Marin could build his report. Without our presence on the streets taking photos, filming, recording and uploading, the denial of our Charter rights could have easily slipped into the past. Especially with Chief Blair working so hard to withhold information, dismiss the illegality of the supposed five-metre law (which never existed) and attempting to discredit activists' accusations of excessive force.
The worst thing we can do is collectively turn a blind eye to war, allowing its violence and injustice to fester in the dark. If we silently allow our rights to be removed, even for a weekend, we are paving the road to repetition and escalation. Marin's report is a validation of dissent as a form of political engagement. But, perhaps Marin knows this already. Hopefully his report will help educate our government.
Sarah Jean Harrison is a Toronto-based freelance writer, social justice activist, feminist, community artist and university instructor.
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Well said, Sarah.
The Ombudsman's report is a very important document, and probably the closest thing we will ever get to an independent public inquiry on the G20 police riot and the denial of civil liberties.
Still, there are those on the armchair left who ridicule the report for its exposure of the treacherous roles of Chief Blair and the Ontario Government. They insist that the G20 police violence and denial of our rights was all the doing of Stephen Harper and the RCMP. Phony progressives like Joe Pantalone and his supporters think Chief Blair did a great job at the G20. They prefer to direct their indignation at the handful of anarchists who caused property damage, rather than the Toronto cops and their enablers in the Ontario government who passed unconstitutional legislation in secret, as a trap for law-abiding citizens.
I think I remember watching TVO recently where Steve Pakin was falling over himself in discussion with Janice Stein about the "MUNK Institute" @ Trinity College in the University of Toronto is a recognized leader in interdisciplinary academic research on global issues that integrates research with teaching and public education.
The Munk Centre for International Studies was opened in 2000. The Centre is named after Canadian business man and philanthropist Peter Munk, who made a $6.4 million donation to finance the construction.It was renamed the Munk School for Global Affairs on April 13, 2010 when Peter Munk and his wife made a $35 million donation. According to the University of Toronto..
http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/search/node/Barrick+Gold+Corp.+%2B+Canada
http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/2396
http://thevarsity.ca/articles/38377
http://www.gsu.utoronto.ca/newsevents.html
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2010/06/academic-freedo...
http://www.alternet.org/story/73504
http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/editorial_0498.shtm
Many of the undergraduate students are being relocated to 89 Chestnut, which is in reality, closer to the fenced area in downtown Toronto than their current residences. While food services across campus will be closed, the Faculty Club will continue operating to feed "ancillary staff" throughout the closure. Graduate students have been provided specific instructions on access to their labs and a University spokesperson confirmed that the G8 Research Group at the Munk School of Global Affairs will remain open throughout the summits. These discrepancies have led many in the campus community to question what is really happening at U of T and to its purpose. And it has led to further speculation on whether students are being shut out to accommodate additional security forces for the G20 at University of Toronto. When asked, University administration representatives would not confirm or deny whether additional security was being housed in the residences.
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2010/06/academic-freedom-an...
Over the course of the G8 and G20 summits, journalists working both for mainstream and independent media outlets faced significant police repression. Several journalists from the Alternative Media Centre were detained illegally, arrested, and/or had their equipment confiscated, including independent journalist Amy Miller, who was detained at the Toronto Film Studios and was subjected to threats of gang rape by police. The Canadian Association of Journalists and the International Press Institute have both come out against the actions of the police towards journalists.Independent Journalist Amy Miller on Violence and Threats Against Women in Detention Centre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXhEd_mDt4
The Ontario government announced the enactment of Public Works Detention Act around the G20 security fence, allowing police to search and request ID of anyone withing five metres of the fence, and to arrest anyone who refused to comply. The change in law ostensibly came into effect without any public notice or announcement, resulting in at least one arrest where the man had no idea he had broken the law.
On June 29th, it was revealed that the Toronto Police Service had lied and that the law was never actually enacted.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/blair-says-no-new-power...
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-p55/latest/rso-1990-c-p...
The police illegal searches and harassment not confined to fence area- people were being harassed, searched, photographed, their IDs taken, and being threatened with arrest if not compliant, as far north as Bloor St., many km from the fence.
They are trained to attempt to force you to give this information. It is not required (in most situations) but they make it sound obligatory. Then when you allow them, that's consent.
Important point : they are trained to violate your rights.
A fundamental principle of ethics states:
"If you fail to act against a wrong, you share responsibility for the consequences of that wrong".
When a crime is committed and it's not clear who out of a group was responsible, the police hold everyone responsible until someone fesses up.
We should hold the police to the very same standard. If they don't bring forward the guilty parties then there should be collective punishment.
Why this guy is still employed by the City of Toronto is bewildering. He was already caught lying several times before and after the G20.
And just who told the City's officers they were to remove their badge numbers?
If the individual police are unidentifiable, then their commanders are responsible. Our Government must learn, that they can not deploy thugs, and then deny responsibility.
If the officers can not be identified, then their commanders must resign and be charged.
If their commanders can not be identified, then the politians who ordered the events to take place in Toronto should resign and face the charges of criminal negligence.
140. (1) Every one commits public mischief who, with intent to mislead, causes a peace officer to enter on or continue an investigation by
(a) making a false statement that accuses some other person of having committed an offence;
(b) doing anything intended to cause some other person to be suspected of having committed an offence that the other person has not committed, or to divert suspicion from himself;
(c) reporting that an offence has been committed when it has not been committed; or
(d) reporting or in any other way making it known or causing it to be made known that he or some other person has died when he or that other person has not died.
Let us not forget what Blair so recklessly alleged:
There were NO charges against Mr. Nobody that needed to be 'withdrawn' by Chief Blair, as his apology letter implies.Blair had stated that:
"I've had that video examined..it has been tampered with..there is a significant segment of that video that has been edited out its quite apparent actually when you are watching the video and when the SIU is relying on tampered evidence on essentially a fabrication as corroboration of their assertion that they are on reasonalbe grounds to believe... I think it really calls into question the quality of their investigation"..........
"what we don't do is rely on fabricated evidence that clearly has been doctored to create a certain impression and I think quite frankly even a cursory examination of that video determines that its is that it has been significantly tampered with" .........."
Today he he admits that there is no evidence of tampering. Obviously everything he said above was a complete lie! A fabrication as he would say!
Blair had stated that:
"....officers were in the middle of arresting a violent ARMED offender and the use of that weapon was removed from that tape"
Today Blair admits that there was no weapon. Again, his allegation was a complete lie.
How can a Chief of Police CAUGHT lying be allowed to keep his job? How can the public have faith in him and his Police Force?
We can't!
Bill Blair MUST resign or be fired
Mr. Nobody's charges of 'obstructing an officer' and 'assault on an officer' were completely withdrawn 2 months ago on Friday October 1st, 2010. The Crown itself withdrew the charges stating lack of evidence and no 'identifiable' arresting officer listed on the arrest sheet.
These charges were already withdrawn way before Chief Blair started his campaign to smear both Mr. Nobody's reputation and Mr. Bridge's credibility.
Everyone ...just a reminder to not forget to forward your comments directly to the Police Services Board:
board@tpsb.ca
If you believe, as I do, that Blair should be removed be sure to put that in your message!
I would also urge everyone to email Mayor Ford. Ford is a populist. He will not support Bill Blair (David Millers "man") if he knows that the public is overwhelmingly opposed to Blair. Here is Mayor Fords address:
mayor_ford@toronto.ca
Police tactics nowadays:
Excessive tazering at airports leading to death; stripping or beating suspects in custody; watching non-conseual sexual activity in jails; ignoring mentally challenged detainees who present danger to themselves; arresting people without cause at G20 meetings; assaulting people at the same meeting; taking off name badges to avoid accountibility etc, etc.
And, of course, publicly smearing people who document such abuses.
As far as I'm concerned, this 'investigation' is nothing more than a dog and pony show to trick Canadians into thinking they are looking into something they have no intention of investigating.
Ask the police chief to explain why nothing was done when police removed their ID badges during these protests. There is only one reason a cop would remove his/her ID, and that's so they could get away with beating someone and not be charged, even if it were caught on tape. Police supervisors and management should be fired and charged for that alone. If not, expect this to become the trend.
While watching the video referred to in this article I noted a swarm of officers maliciously punching Mr. Nobody as he lay on the ground, immobilized. It clearly showed that officers were completely out of control. They were acting with brutality. They made me ashamed of them, and should be ashamed of themselves.
There has been a great deal of concern about police lately, and many of them have been caught in situations where they were taped viciously beating up on unarmed, defenseless individuals. They are acting like psychos, not honorable men and women. Officer Bubbles' Facebook page says that his occupation is "Taking out human garbage".
Was my friend Junior, who is in a wheelchair, and was beaten by police for not getting out of the way fast enough, "human garbage"? Was the 57 year old farmer, an amputee whose artificial leg was ripped off, face pushed into the dirt, and who was ordered to "hop" to a waiting police van, was he garbage too? What about the media reps caught in the melee at Queen & Spadina? All liars? All human garbage?
Get a grip, Blair: your too-little-too-late apology for the impression you gave is scant comfort to those who were on the wrong end of police enforcement at the G20 debacle. Police actions, many of them not even remotely justifiable, do little to assure that our police work for the people, and that their duty is to "Serve and Protect". Serve whom? Protect whom?
To you police officers who want to protect the members of their elite club: Do your job fairly, and with honor, and you will have no grounds for complaint from anyone.
The only "intent to mislead" came from the police chief.
"These Hippies dont know how good they have it.... They speak with a luxury that can only be afforded to people who live in a free state.
Live ammo on some of those rioters would be interesting... bet you after the first black clad anarchist gets his head popped off trying to put a chair through a Starbucks window, the rest will loose their will to riot pretty damned quick...."
What I find chilling is not so much that someone 'in authority' could write these lines, but the fact that other members of the forum do not come out to repudiate the statement.
It's right there at the top of page 16:
http://forums.blueline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21829&start=225
Reading comments by officers on Blue Line Forums, a Canadian police oriented magazine forum is scary. Take a read at what some of them are saying from about the time of the G20.
http://forums.blueline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21829
The level of arrogance and total disregard for what their uniforms stand for has reached incredulous proportions. They are now an occupation force, far from accountability, lacking in any regard for the community they are supposed to 'protect and serve'. It seems that to them It is a job where benefits include 'scull cracking', 'human garbage collection', and 'herding of hippies'. Reading these comments is akin to listening to a wife-beating husband explain that it was his wife's fault that he to break her nose and cheek. It's nauseating. Are these the people that our kids should look up to?
The script is always the same. Identify a group of convenient 'enemies' by creating conditions where the they are seen as dangerous. In this case it's the G20 protesters. Insert several convenient targets for the protesters to burn, and splash it all over the media. Then, when the rest of the population condemns them, and demands more security insitutue new laws that seem to cater to that. Bit by bit the freedoms that we enjoy are taken away until one day you wake up in a police state.
If we look back at Montebello and the agent provocateurs involved there who tried to infiltrate and instigate a group well dressed and wise senior citizens, I can hardly say that these protestors, who were exercizing their right to question authority, as "tree hugging hippies".
. I guess you've conveniently forgotten how the RCMP pounded their chests and insisted "we run the ISU" and called the shots on treatment of protestors.We need a fully accountable citizen based watch group to police the police.
So protesters are wanted if they caused damage; with an entire squad investigating acts of vandalism at the protests, but police who used excessive force, remain unidentified to the public; and unaccountable? Anytime a group is given to much power; such as the force headed by Toronto's chief of police; arrogance and abuse follows.
So let me get this straight...The SIU were unable to determine how, exactly the complainants sustained their injuries....They didn't explore the possibility that half a dozen thugs jumped on him, did they? Ya gotta love the SIU's original thinking; We can't tell which policeman hit him therefore there's no police misconduct. Yeah, right.
Police investigating police: Okay boys and girls can you say "Conflict of Interest"?
by the way. why is it you can spot rioters who live 1000's of miles from here. yet you cannot pick out rogue cops who are there every day?
cover up?
We should hold the police to the very same standard. If they don't bring forward the guilty parties then there should be collective punishment.
Do you really want to go there? Are you really giving endorsement to the concept of collective punishment? 'Cause you know who's going to be hurt by it the most.