statism watch

Todd Howe, WeAreChangeToronto
December 8, 2010

Imagine the following. It’s dusk and you’re walking with your best friends down a quiet side street in a major urban centre. You all stop for a moment under the pooled glow of a streetlight — maybe you light a smoke, or send a text. A few minutes later, someone looks up and so you do, too. There on the utility pole above is a cluster of cameras, their dark spherical globes the strange fruit of an uneasy era, and a sign — Warning: This area under surveillance. In that moment, you see your image reflected in the glassy blister as you regard the camera eye. Freeze frame.

What goes through your mind? Do you feel a little uneasy? Do you feel protected? Or do you think nothing of it?

It’s an encounter and a question that an ever-expanding number of Canadians will experience for themselves in the coming months. On November 15th, Toronto police chief Bill Blair announced his intention to ‘buy back’ 52 of the 67 cameras the Federal government had purchased to monitor the June G20 summit (riot gear and LRAD acoustic cannons for crowd control are to be transferred as well in the federally subsidized arrangement). The G20 cameras, installed in May, were to be removed at the end of the summit and indeed came down in July as promised. It will come as no surprise to those following these developments, however, that they are now back on the agenda. For the past number of years, the Toronto Police Services have been building out the CCTV network in the city through a program of ‘pilot project’ installations and rotating trials that amount to nothing more than a shell game.

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Dana Gabriel, BeYourOwnLeader
November 29, 2010

Canada is under pressure from U.S. officials to further comply with American security rules which in some cases, threatens its sovereignty and the privacy of its citizens. As a result of the war on terrorism, the U.S. government now has more power to restrict air travel and is not only dictating North American, but also international security measures.

Bill C-42, An Act to amend the Aeronautics Act would require Canadian airline carriers that fly over the U.S. to provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with passenger information. This includes name, date of birth, gender, as well as passport and itinerary details when applicable. Airlines landing in the U.S. already have to supply this information, but allowing personal data to be shared on passengers who are only flying through American airspace essentially shreds existing Canadian protection and privacy laws. Bill C-42 complies with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Security Flight Program which would take effect globally at the beginning of next year. Most Canadian commercial flights pass over the U.S. while en route to Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe which in many cases would give the DHS the final say on who is allowed to travel to and from Canada.

Under Canada’s Passenger Protect Program, “airlines must compare passenger’s names against a list that is controlled and managed by Transport Canada before a boarding pass is issued.” Secure Flight transfers that authority from airlines to the DHS. TSA will be responsible for pre-screening passengers and their personal information against federal government watch lists. According to the Secure Flight Final Rule document issued in 2008, “If necessary, the TSA analyst will check other classified and unclassified governmental terrorist, law enforcement, and intelligence databases, including databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, National Counter Terrorism Center, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.” With many well documented issues surrounding the accuracy of security watch lists, U.S. mistakes could further prevent more Canadians from flying to foreign destinations. There are also concerns that data collected on Canadian citizens will be readily accessible to a broad range of U.S. agencies and just what might be done with the information.

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Todd Howe, WeAreChangeToronto
October 31, 2010

Early on the morning of Sunday June 27th, police burst into the University of Toronto’s Graduate Student’s Union. There they arrested around seventy sleeping political activists, protesters, guests from out of town that the GSU had billeted for the weekend and allowed to crash on the floor of the gymnasium. They were seized and led away (some barefooted) to waiting buses for the trip to the freezing cold, perpetually illuminated cells of Torontonamo Bay – otherwise known as the Eastern Avenue detention center. Fast forward three and a half months to October 14th, and all charges of conspiracy and unlawful assembly have been dropped. In fact, of the roughly 1,100 people arrested over the course of the G20 weekend, charges have been dropped against all but 100 detainees as of this writing.

Two other glaring instances of detention and mass arrest occurred during the evenings of Saturday June 26th, outside of the Novotel building on the Esplanade, and Sunday June 27th at Queen and Spadina. In the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s preliminary report on the summit, the authors write “it appeared that after 5pm on Saturday, the constitutional protection against arbitrary detention and unreasonable searches had effectively been suspended across downtown Toronto.”

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Todd Howe, WeAreChangeToronto
October 14, 2010

Photo: Michael Hudson

It’s been three months since the Toronto G20 upended this city’s downtown core, and October has produced a promising crop of critical and artistic reactions to the summit. Local documentarian Adam Letalik released his new film Toronto G20 Exposed to a packed room at Ryerson University October 6th. The Hindsight’s G20/20 multimedia art retrospective of the summit was exhibited this past weekend at Studio 561. And on October the 20th, Steve Paikin is scheduled to interview TPS Chief Bill Blair on TVO’s The Agenda.

Yet while memories of June’s G20 summit may still be fresh to political pros, activists, and residents of Toronto’s metro core, for many Canadians this memory is already fading, becoming history. The leader’s big top is dismantled, the circus long since latched on to its next international host. And why not? For those that caught the weekend’s news at home, the coverage in the aggregate presented a simple morality play of clashes between black-garbed ‘anarchists’ and police, leading inevitably to the rain-drenched roundup of hundreds of protesters, passerby and media on Sunday evening. And maybe this is explanation enough. Maybe the largest mass arrest in Canadian history was a regrettable yet unavoidable business in a nation that prides itself on Peace, Order, and Good Government.

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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 long term corruption of the political culture and the incremental diminishing of democracy. – Murray Dobbin

Related: G20 police ripped off amputee’s prosthetic limb, told him to walk before dragging him off | Release G20 ‘political prisoners’: rights groups | Canada Day: 2,000 protest G20 summit arrests | Civil liberties association to sue police on behalf of G20 arrestees | Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Toronto Police Lied: No five-metre rule existed in G20 security fence law | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Henry Stancu, Michelle Henry, Toronto Star
July 6, 2010

The province’s special investigations unit has begun probing five allegations that police caused serious injury to civilians during the summit.

It is unclear whether civilian or police information led to the investigation, with more details promised Wednesday.

“We’re currently looking into details surrounding those interactions” and speaking with witnesses, SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon said Tuesday. She would not say which police force or forces, of many drawn into G20 security, are involved in the allegations. The SIU can probe only the officers who work in Ontario, Hudon said, which includes municipal forces and the OPP but not the RCMP.

On the same day, a Toronto police services board meeting calling for an independent civilian review of the way G20 security was handled drew heated response from many people who came to vent about their treatment during the summit.

Thinking their voices would be heard at Tuesday’s hastily called special session at police headquarters, many shouted their objections after board chair Alok Mukherjee announced his recommendation that an impartial civilian overseer be chosen to conduct the review.

The chair said those in the rowdy gathering had “no automatic right to speak” at this venue, and that complaints should be filed in the form of written deputations.

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“You can’t pre-emptively violate rights and then ask citizens to sort it out in the future,” White said.

Exactly.

Related: Canada Day: 2,000 protest G20 summit arrests | Civil liberties association to sue police on behalf of G20 arrestees | Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Toronto Police Lied: No five-metre rule existed in G20 security fence law | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

The Canadian Press
July 5, 2010

The mass detention of people and widespread use of police force over the G20 summit weekend was a gross abuse of state power that demands an independent inquiry and the immediate release of “political prisoners,” a civil-rights coalition said Monday.

In addition, they said, those responsible for “one of the most grotesque public expressions of police brutality, intimidation and mass violation of civil liberties” need to be held to account.

Mark Calzavara, of the Council of Canadians, said police detained more than 1,000 people after some protesters broke windows and burned a few police cruisers.

“When the police are the ones that are breaking the law, that’s when all of society has to really start to pay attention,” Calzavara said.

“That is a far greater crime.”

While the vast majority of those detained were released without charge within 24 hours, about 250 people still face charges and more than a dozen remained in custody Monday, according to the Movement Defence Committee.

The groups called for the release of those still incarcerated, saying the mass arrests amounted to criminalizing dissent.

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Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. – Howard Zinn

Related: Civil liberties association to sue police on behalf of G20 arrestees | Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Toronto Police Lied: No five-metre rule existed in G20 security fence law | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

CBC News
July 1, 2010

More than 2,000 people demonstrated in Toronto and Montreal on Thursday against the arrests of nearly 1,000 protesters during last weekend’s G20 summit in Toronto.

About 1,000 protesters gathered at the Ontario legislature before marching south on University Avenue and then along a route that look them past Toronto police headquarters and back to Queen’s Park.

Groups including Canadians Advocating Public Participation called for an independent public inquiry into the way security was handled during the recent summit. Some also called for the resignation of Toronto police Chief Bill Blair.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has described the arrests as unprecedented, disproportionate, arbitrary and excessive.

“The CCLA is planning to help people who are seeking compensation to [initiate] a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Ontario,” Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the association, told the Toronto Star. “We have a couple of plaintiffs.”

Protesting police ‘intimidation’

In Montreal, more than 1,000 people, including women’s rights groups, union representatives and a provincial politician, marched to protest what happened in Toronto.

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Please consider supporting the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. They have a breakdown of the charges laid (or lack thereof) against the 1,105 people arrested here.

Related: Four detained journalists file complaints of assault, sexual threats against G20 police | Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Toronto Police Lied: No five-metre rule existed in G20 security fence law | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Jennifer Yang, Toronto Star
June 30, 2010

Overwhelmed with calls, Civil Liberties Association is working on suing police forces

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it is considering a joint lawsuit against the Toronto police and other police forces responsible for the G20 mass arrests.

“The CCLA is planning to help people who are seeking compensation to (initiate) a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Ontario,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the CCLA. “We have a couple of plaintiffs.”

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.

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Related: Inside the G20 Eastern Avenue Detention Centre | Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Black Bloc tactics sparked Saturday G20 vandalism, confrontation | G20 protesters clash with Vancouver police | ‘Anarchists’ leave trail of destruction, peaceful 3hr march forgotten | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | Naomi Klein and 500 marchers crash party at tent city | Protesters flood the streets on first day of Toronto G20 summit | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | Huntsville G8: Military, locked down security, few protesters | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | UK: Filmmaker Captures Absurdity, Empty Threats Of Police Terror Stop Laws | Canada flunks on indigenous rights: G20 native protesters | Marcus Gee: Why the G20 protesters won’t condemn violence | Peaceful protests continue in Toronto as G20 nears | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Anti-poverty activists occupy ESSO station during Monday G20 protest — for ten minutes | Toronto activists launch G20 alternative media centre | Ban G20 summit agents provocateurs: activist groups to PM | Oxfam astroturf march leads early G20 protest for bank tax | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Carmen Chai, Canwest News
June 30, 2010

A Toronto-based lawyer representing four journalists, who filed complaints with Ontario’s police watchdog and claimed that police physically assaulted and threatened to sexually assault the female reporters during the G20 summit, is calling for a full investigation into the alleged violence.

On Tuesday, Jesse Rosenfeld, Amy Miller, Daniel McIsaac and Lisa Walter each filed complaints about their arrests during the G20 summit with the Office of Independent Police Review Director.

Julian Falconer is representing the “Free Press 4” group.

“From our point of view, if peaceful protesters and journalists engaged in peaceful coverage are treated this way, this is a sad day for democracy. My clients are seeking accountability for what appears to be a serious overreaction by some police officers,” he said in a written statement.

Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said there were more than 100 cameras documenting everything that happened in the prisoner processing centres and on the streets so “it’s not someone’s word against someone else’s.”

“We have video of everything. We’ll make sure that we provide the best possible evidence to determine the truth or otherwise in these allegations,” he said.

Police “anticipated” people would make complaints.

“We have to consider the possibility that complaints are completely unfounded. There are people who have said things so far that are clearly lies,” Pugash said.

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Be sure to read these harrowing reports of 20 detainees as well.

Related: Outraged G20 protesters rally against police abuse and arbitrary detention | 20 G20 detention reports: ‘I will not forget what they have done to me’ | The G20: Brutal spectacle failed a city and its people | The G20’s ignominious end: Panic, outrage as police detain hundreds for hours in pouring rain | National Post photographers arrested, spend night in G20 detention camp | Peaceful Eastern Ave jail solidarity action attacked by Toronto police | Police Raid U of T Student Union for Hosting G20 Protesters | Guardian journalist beaten, arrested at peaceful G20 protest on Esplanade | Black Bloc tactics sparked Saturday G20 vandalism, confrontation | G20 protesters clash with Vancouver police | ‘Anarchists’ leave trail of destruction, peaceful 3hr march forgotten | Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court | Pre-dawn raids in Toronto homes result in four arrests | Naomi Klein and 500 marchers crash party at tent city | Protesters flood the streets on first day of Toronto G20 summit | First G20 ‘secret law’ arrestee plans Charter challenge | G20 law gives police sweeping powers to arrest people | Huntsville G8: Military, locked down security, few protesters | CP Reporter: How I was detained by G8 security | G20: Activists Arrested, Others Denied Entry into Canada | UK: Filmmaker Captures Absurdity, Empty Threats Of Police Terror Stop Laws | Canada flunks on indigenous rights: G20 native protesters | Marcus Gee: Why the G20 protesters won’t condemn violence | Peaceful protests continue in Toronto as G20 nears | No legislation, no precedent to limit G20 police powers | Anti-poverty activists occupy ESSO station during Monday G20 protest — for ten minutes | Toronto activists launch G20 alternative media centre | Ban G20 summit agents provocateurs: activist groups to PM | Oxfam astroturf march leads early G20 protest for bank tax | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Tim, BlogTO
June 29, 2010

The G20 detention centre at 629 Eastern Avenue was opened to media today. Staff Sergeant J McGuire did the honours walking a few dozen reporters through the now vacated maze of a building. We were told that the facilities had been cleaned up a bit since the last prisoners were released but half eaten cheese sandwiches, toilet paper and paper cups littered the floors and holding cells and the stench of urine was almost ubiquitous throughout.

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