With more than 1,000 arrests at the G20 meeting in Toronto, most of
which were unjustified since most were released without any charges
laid, it's no wonder a growing number of voices are demanding a full
public inquiry to look into this mess.
The sheer number of
arbitrary arrests is astonishing enough, but it becomes downright
surreal given that these arrests were made at the G20 in just a few days
and were more than double the number made during the entire 1970
October Crisis when the Trudeau government suspended fundamental
liberties by invoking the War Measures Act, giving way to more or less
500 mostly unwarranted arrests of intellectuals, poets, artists and
university professors.
This request for a public inquiry is
increasingly being heard in opinion pages in newspapers and by some
journalists. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Amnesty
International also want one. Yesterday, in Le Devoir, more than 40 law
professors and lawyers from across Canada said the same thing.
They
signed an open letter to federal Public Security Minister Vic Toews,
noting arrests are justified in cases of violence, but the fact that
nearly all those arrested have since been released with no accusations
made against them indicates that these arrests weren't related to any
displays of violence.
Which leaves one thing: Arrests were made
for no other reason than to intimidate citizens and stifle their right
to exercise their freedom of expression. Profoundly troubled by the
events -and rightly so - this group of lawyers and professors also
contend that the arrests are actually part of a tendency in Canada to
criminalize dissent.
Here is the email I received from Andrea Horwath:
Dear friend,
Two weeks after the G20 summit and Toronto looks like Toronto again. But though the protesters and world leaders have gone, critical questions remain. And they’re the kinds of questions that will only be fully answered by calling an independent public inquiry.
There’s no question that Dalton McGuinty would like the questions to go away. But the growing volume of stories coming from that weekend are causing more and more people to question what happened: The mother left to worry after her two children were swept up in the mass arrests despite having no part in the protests; the 57-year-old man whose prosthetic leg was forcibly removed and confiscated by police; the individual arrested for allegedly breaking a newly-passed law that the public was never told even existed. Stories like these have shaken public trust. We need some real answers.
We’ve been pushing hard for an independent public inquiry into the G20 - but Dalton McGuinty’s not making it easy. We need your help.
The efforts made so far are making a difference. This morning Ontario’s Ombudsman (the same one Ontario Liberals tried to fire) announced that he would be investigating Premier McGuinty’s secret law that made it illegal to stand on a sidewalk in downtown Toronto during the G20. The Ombudsman understands that people in Toronto deserve the facts. But the Ombudsman’s investigation will be limited in scope. People deserve the full story and for that we need a full public inquiry.
Tomorrow, I’ll be joining concerned citizens demanding an inquiry at Queen’s Park in Toronto.
Please join me at the South Lawn by the War Memorial at 12:45 pm tomorrow, July 10. You can find directions here
We’ll need help circulating our petition calling for an inquiry - so if you can make it early please do so.
If you’re interested in more details, or you can’t make it but would like to help, you can contact us at NDPCaucusOutreach@ndp.on.ca
I hope to see you there,
Andrea Horwath
Leader, Ontario’s New Democrats
“I don’t think there should be an inquiry or review,” of police
actions, “none whatsoever,” Ford said.
with the protesters,” in the face of taunts and worse, he added.
“If I was chief, I would have moved in Saturday afternoon andcleaned house,” instead of waiting until Sunday to make mass arrests,
Ford said. “I think our police were too nice. I would have had a
zero-tolerance approach,” he said, adding he realizes councillors can’t
tell the police chief what to do.
Summary of police actions (that the council just commended):
Saturday - police were ordered to stand down and allow about 100 vandals smash windows and burn police cars, and to let the cars continue to burn for a long period of time; basically allowing unchecked property damage into the thousands if not millions of dollars, and to allow the safety of the public to be threatened by allowing police cars to burn for long periods of time.
Saturday & Sunday - after the vandalism, the police brutally assaulted hundreds of innocent, peaceful demonstrators and illegally arrested and detained them. While detained, many were not allowed a phone call, water, or food or medical assistance. They also robbed these people of personal property.
It's time to re-think re-electing any of these blind fools on the council come Fall.
Further reading:
Toronto
Council Votes to Silence Dissent
Clowns
to the Left & Jokers to the Right: the G20, the Police & Civic
Democracy
Sorry Fillibluster, your comment was eaten by Blogger errors.
Here it is:
"I have emailed my city councillor expressing my dismay at this shameful
endorsement of brutality. I would urge anyone who live in Toronto to do
the same. All city council emails are here:"
http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp
More than 1,000 arrests were made relating to the G20 summit and
multiple reports have emerged alleging peaceful demonstrators or even
bystanders were caught up in the mass arrests — most notably, at the
Esplanade’s Novotel Hotel on Saturday, where demonstrators tried to
stage a sit-in, or at Queen St. and Spadina Ave., where a large crowd
was boxed in and detained for several hours in the rain.
All arrests this weekend were made under the criminal code and not
the Public Works Protection Act, according to the province.
...
More calls for a public inquiry
Of 1,090 people detained over the G20 period, 714 were charged with
“breaching the peace” and taken into custody, according to police
spokesperson Const. Tony Vella. All were eventually released
unconditionally. (Some 113 were released at the scene of the arrest with
no charge.)
According to section 31 of the criminal code, officers can arrest
anyone found to be “committing the breach of the peace or who, on
reasonable grounds, he believes is about to join in or renew the breach
of peace.”
But according to criminal lawyer Paul Calarco, there is “no
legitimate basis” for many of this weekend’s arrests.
grounds (for arrest),” he argued. As for arresting peaceful
demonstrators en masse, “that is not a proper use of Section 31. That is
an intimidation tactic,” he said.
is not a breach of the peace.”
A further 263 of those arrested were charged with criminal offences — some because they had pocket knives or similar common items in their
backpacks — and were sent for bail hearings.
rights were violated, said Jonathan Dawe, criminal lawyer with Sack
Goldblatt Mitchell. He pointed to reports of people being denied their
right to legal counsel or to not be arbitrarily arrested or detained.
“I can’t imagine how (police) could not have known that what they
were doing is unlawful,” Dawe said. “I’m shocked at what seems to have
been a wholesale decision on the part of the police to abandon the
Charter.”
Another officer said they didn't want to hear about my rights.
They then proceeded to demand I remove the earphones from my ears,
forcing me to get off the phone with my colleague. I told them I was on
the phone to which another officer responded, "we don't care."
black shirt". To which I replied, that I did not consent to any
searches. I told them that I would not resist them, and that any search
they conducted was under protest. They simply said, "we don't care.
We want to make sure you don't have any bombs to kill us with."
protest. To which they told me they didn't care again.
Then one of the officers told me that, and I quote, that I (me)"don't care about the security of the city." To which I protested. They
then called me "ignorant".
they simply denied that any such language had been used. Despite having
literally sworn at me multiple times, seconds prior.
looking at me somewhat sympathetically. I sensed that he was not
comfortable with what his fellow officers were doing.
contrary to my Charter Rights. And when I protested my treatment, I was
repeatedly told that they "don't care". They accused me of not caring
about the security of Toronto, and they called me ignorant twice. I
should note that I was never given any chance to really say much to them
at all, so I can only assume that they had some prior knowledge of who I
was.
And I would swear a legal affidavit on the above facts.
14:08 - 32:15 Amy Goodman is the host of the radio/tv/podcast
Democracy Now! Friday night, at the Council of Canadians event Shout Out
For Global Justice, she spoke about what it means to have an
independent media, and why it is important.
Rabble.ca - Judy Rebick: On Saturday's G20 arrests and detentions
2:38 minutes - listen at the link
The author, writer and journalist argues that police arrested “the most
important grassroots organizers in the province” on Saturday to try and
discredit them. “Hopefully, the media will smell a rat and start to see
that this whole thing was a setup,” she said, in an interview on Sunday
afternoon.
WE ARE CALLING AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IN THE
MEANTIME, DISTRIBUTE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE.
willing to testify in front of a court of law, tribunal or hearing to
attest to the validity of these statements. Much of this is now recorded
on video and we have some contact information for the victims. We will
NOT consent to contact with any police representatives (municipal,
provincial, or federal) nor will we consent to speaking to other
security agencies (CSIS, Canadian Forces, etc.). We can be contacted at
lex.gill [at] gmail [dot] com, or jackgiovannetti [at] gmail [dot] com.
We just got back to our computers and are frantically writing this
message. It is 4:45 a.m. on Monday morning. We are the only people who
seem to know the extent of this story. Coffee and adrenaline keeping us
going. When we got to Queen and Spadina after leaving the Convergence
Centre raid today, we had already been blocked off by police lines. It
was pouring rain, and we could hear a confrontation taking place further
down the street. The cops didn’t care whether or not we were media — in
fact, we heard that media was forced to leave before we arrived. Police
acted violently and with sheer disregard for the law, attacking
peaceful protesters and civilians unrelated to the protest. Tired,
frantic, and feeling defeated, we came home and posted the message
before this one.
We then did the only thing left to do, and headed to 629 Eastern
Avenue (the G20 Detention Centre, a converted film studio), where
detainees from the demonstrations were being taken. We knew people were
being released sporadically so we grabbed as many juice boxes and
granola bars as we could afford and set off with medical supplies.
Journalists were basically absent, showed up only to take a few seconds
of video, or simply arrived far too late to be effective.
It is next to impossible to set the scene of what happened at the
Detention Centre. Between the two of us we estimate that we spoke to
over 120 people, most of whom were released between 9:30 p.m. and 4:30
a.m. Despite not knowing each other, the story they tell is the same. It
goes like this. Most were arrested at three locations: the Novotel on
Saturday evening where the police arrested hundreds of peaceful
protesters (look @spaikin on Twitter); Spadina/Queen’s Park all day
Saturday and early Sunday, as people were arrested all over the downtown
for many different (and often bogus) reasons; and the University of
Toronto, where hundreds of Quebecers and others were woken up and
arrested at gun point early Saturday morning.
What follows is a list, as detailed as we can make it in a blog post,
of what we saw and heard.
People were held for up to 35 hours with a single meal. None
seemed to have received food more than twice daily, the meal they did
receive was a hamburger bun with processed cheese and margarine
described as a centimeter thick. Detainees had to create loud noises for
hours to receive any food at all. All reported feeling more ill and
dehydrated after eating than before. Some vomited and received no
medical attention when they did. Water was not provided with the meal.
Inadequate water, as little as an ounce every 12 hours.
Although
some people reported receiving approximately an ounce (a small Dixie
cup) of water every three hours, most seemed to have received far less
than that. They had to create loud noises and continuously demand water,
only to receive it up to an hour and a half later. Sometimes rooms with
over a dozen people were only given a handful (four or five) cups of
water and forced to share. Some reported the water as yellow-coloured
and smelling of urine, which they didn’t drink.
Facilities over-capacity.
There were many reports of “cages”
filled with 40 people, though a police officer told one detainee that
they were intended for groups of no more than 15 to 20. Each cage had a
single bench, with only enough seating for five people. There was only
one toilet in each cage and it was without a door. Women were creating
barriers with their bodies for others to create some semblance of
privacy.
Major delays in processing.
Many detainees were told that the only
reason they remained at the Centre was due to unexplained delays in
processing. Most detainees seemed to go through a three step system
whereby they were put in an initial holding cell, only to be moved to a
second cell after meeting a Staff Sergeant in a board room. This is
where they were told what they were arrested for. Eventually they were
moved to a third cell before release. This process seemed to take no
less than 10 hours. Others were never told why they were arrested and
never signed any documents. A few were released immediately upon
arriving at the Centre and were never processed. Some were never brought
to a cell, only made to wait in a line to be let out.
Inconsistent charges.
Groups arrested at the same time and for
the same behaviour were given different charges, with some let out and
others given court dates. Many felt the police simply assigned a charge
or did not know why they were being arrested. Some charges were changed
or dropped before the detainees were released.
People put in solitary confinement.
Most of the openly queer
detainees reported to have been transferred to a “Segregated Zone.” In
cages built for one, couples of men and women were held. A lesbian is
reported to have spent nearly 10 hours alone. Another woman said she was
kept alone in a large cell for hours, asking to be moved the whole
time.
No pillows or mattresses to sleep.
No bedding was ever provided
for detainees, who were told to sleep on bare concrete floors. Detainees
were stripped of all but a single shirt and legwear. Many said they
could not sleep during their day long detentions.
Unsanitary and unsafe living conditions.
Many of the floors of
the cages were covered with dirt and the residue from green paintballs
used to identify suspects in crowds. Vomit was also on the floor and no
cleaning of the cages took place.
Police intimidation of released detainees.
With many of the
detainees released and standing across the street from the detention
centre, getting food and water from community volunteers while waiting
for friends, police stood menacingly across the road. Almost all the
detainees were frightened by the police presence and feared an attack.
The police used the headlights of rental Dodge Caravans to light up the
crowd, citing a need to “keep them visible.”
Non-stop light exposure/loss of natural light rhythm/sensory
deprivation.
Detainees emerged with a broken day/night cycle, being
deprived of all connection to the outside world or any other time-based
events (ie. set eating times). While in their cages, detainees were
subject to constant light.
Exposure to extreme cold.
Detainees complained of the air
conditioning in the building being very high. Many of them said that
they were frozen and asked for blankets, a request which was always
refused. Due to having only a single layer of shirt and sleeping on
concrete floors, the cages were extremely cold.
Sexual harassment of women and Queer people.
We heard many
first-hand accounts of cat-calls and crude sexual comments directed at
women from police officers at the Centre. Some women faced inappropriate
sexual contact (including one girl who was forced to endure a police
officer covering her body with detainee number stickers in order to
touch her), and rough handling from police officers. Openly Queer boys
were told to “straighten up,” and there was at least one completely nude
strip search preformed on a young woman with no reasonable explanation.
It is unclear whether the strip searches that took place were
consistently conducted by members of the same gender. It is also unclear
as to whether any Transpeople, if detained, were put in cells of a
gender of their own determination or in cells of a police gender
assignment.
Youth as young as 15 in adult cells.
Youth (under 18) detainees
were held in the same cells as adults, some of whom had not been charged
at all (and thus it could not be justified that they were being held on
adult charges). A 16-year-old was held in an adult cell for at least 12
hours, the police were fully aware of his age, and his parents were at
no point contacted.
Denial of legal counsel.
When detainees asked to see lawyers they
were told that they would receive legal counsel at a later time or at
the time of processing. Often, these times went by and no legal counsel
was provided. Those released without charge were told to avoid
contacting lawyers. Most detainees said they were never informed of
their rights.
No phone call.
About only one in ten of the detainees we spoke to
had been given access to a phone. Others were promised access at a
later time and never received it. There was a father waiting outside for
his 20-year old son who had been arrested Saturday afternoon or
evening, and had yet to receive a call. Many of the detainees were told
that only 20 phones were available in the building, holding over 500
detainees at the time. The offices of legal counsel also had no
landlines.
Belonging stolen/damaged.
Most detainees reported that at least
some of their confiscated belongings were not returned to them,
including passports, wallets, credit and debit cards, money, cellphones
and clothing. When detainees were escorted outside the Centre, many were
made to walk on the street without access to their shoes (sealed in
thick plastic bags only returned at the limit of the Centre’s property).
Some shoes were missing entirely. At least one extremely visually
impaired detainee’s glasses were put with his belongings and were
severely damaged when he recovered them (ie. broken in half).
Threats of assault/harassment.
Many detainees, but especially
French Canadian detainees (who were not served in French), were taunted
and threatened with assault. Homophobic slurs were used by guards and
one was told that if he was ever seen again in Toronto the cop would
attack him. Other degrading comments were made, including telling
detainees that they “looked like dogs.”
Obviously illegal civilian arrests.
Some civilians who were
completely uninvolved in the demonstrations were arrested while exiting
subway stations in the downtown core. Some were arrested after illegal
searches of cars turned up “dangerous goods” (like books about activism
and lemon juice). One fully-uniformed TTC streetcar driver was arrested
for hours. He had been ordered out of his streetcar by riot police and
was immediately arrested. We wish we were kidding.
No access to medication or medical treatment.
While doing medical
support, Lex met at least two people who had been denied medication.
The first was a woman who said that she was pre-diabetic and needed
medication for nausea and dizziness. She was denied access to medical
treatment, despite the fact that by the time Lex found her she was
extremely faint, barely conscious, and had difficulty sitting up. The
second was a young man who was prescribed anti-psychotics and had missed
several doses (he did not, however, have an episode at the time Lex met
him). We heard stories of at least one person with Type 2 diabetes
inside the Centre who had been deprived of insulin and fell unconscious.
Many stories of a man handcuffed to a wheelchair, missing a leg (and
his prosthetic) came from the released detainees. One recently-released
detainee had four extremely poorly done stitches on his chin and was
uncertain as to what shots (whether tetanus or anesthetic, or both) he
was given. He was given the stitches at the time of his arrest and the
wound was still bleeding badly (we had to sterilize it and applied
gauze).
Abandonment
Despite all of the above mentioned crimes against
detainees, most notably including medical issues, the Toronto Police had
no plan for the detainees after they were released. They were simply
escorted off the property and told to leave. Many had no idea where they
were, had no access to a phone, had not eaten in a day, had no
identification or money on their person, and were nowhere near mass
transit. Had community volunteers and fellow released detainees not been
present to assist them, we fear that some could have faced
life-threatening medical emergencies or death.
We will be continually updating this blog over the next few weeks.
Please share this with everyone you possibly can. People must know what
has happened in Toronto. For those of you attending the Jail Solidarity
rally tomorrow, please distribute this link widely.
QUICK UPDATE: Its been five hours since we posted this entry and
it’s climbing by hundreds of hits every half hour. According to those on
the ground, detainees leaving the Centre seem to now be avoiding the
group of supporters outside waiting for them. We fear this is due to
police intimidation within 629 Eastern Ave.. If anyone has further
reports, please post in the comment section.
Thank you.
For Justice,
Justin Giovannetti and Lex Gill
