Toronto's fundraising cruise Saturday, Sept. 25, on Canada's largest river showboat, the Jubilee Queen, was fully attended, with 200 passengers aboard and turn-away hopefuls, requiring last-minute scheduling of additional food for the three-course, tastes-of-the-Mediterranean buffet, to accommodate the more than planned for demand.

The on-board entertainment available to the broad multicultural ship's passenger list included the musical group, Mraya, and renowned performer, George Sawa, historian of medieval Arabic music and expert player of the 26-stringed Qanun, similar to a zither.

Sunday June 27, Canada woke up to saturation media coverage of police trying to reassert themselves as the dominant force in protest-ravaged Toronto. Attention focused on the downtown core, where reports were coming in the morning of overnight raids at the University of Toronto and at the Novotel Hotel on the Esplanade. The geography of our city was being rewritten before our eyes on all news channels in a manner reminiscent of the breathless coverage of far-away wars.

Police states don't appear full blown, over night. They are, like any other social phenomenon, part of social and political process -- the end result of a long-term corruption of the political culture and the incremental diminishing of democracy. This is a process that has been taking place for at least 20 years in Canada and it should come as no surprise that the police in Canada are now willing to take actions -- at the direction of the politicians -- that escalate the threats to democratic expression and the intimidation of ordinary citizens.

Downtown Toronto is beginning to look more like a fortress that a city core in preparation for the upcoming G20, June 25 to 27. The city has removed trashcans, bus shelters and even young saplings from the summit area and erected a three metre high concrete and metal fence which stretches for three and a half kilometres.

Police from all over are moving into the downtown core and their presence is ubiquitous. Wendy Drummond of Toronto Police Services said the increase in officers, in part, is to make citizens used to seeing so many police. Toronto Police Service will spend $122-million in security budget that go towards salaries of 6,000 policing staff and protective clothing, covered by the federal government.

I have spent literally 15 years of my life thinking about alternative media. And a part of this process is reflecting on mainstream media, ingesting their images and words, and trying to fuel my anger into a process that is empowering and participatory. When I plan interviews or stories, I think about voice and representation. And when I interview community organizers, I am always conscious of making sure they don't feel used after the interview.