As usual, on July 1st, I want to wish everybody out there a Happy Canada Day.
But it doesn’t feel like a very happy Canada Day, at least not for Canada — or for Toronto, in particular. In the aftermath of the G20, reading the reports, it is impossible not to think that Canada is a place that is less free than it was when I left a few years ago.
A lot of people seem to be angry with the protesters — which seems fair enough. Events like the G20 attract protesters, not all of whom are there to try to have their voices heard. People come spoiling for a fight with the police, for whatever reason.
But, to paraphrase David Cameron in his announcement of the findings of the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday, a state must hold its agents to higher standards than it would expect of criminals, thugs, or terrorists. Reports I have read indicate that police at the G20 did not hold themselves to such high standards, and suggest that a significant number failed to hold themselves to any standard whatsoever.
There is no denying that a police officer at an event like this has a difficult job. Police cars are being set on fire, everybody protests their innocence, and the officers themselves are — of course — only human. But there are two frightening elements to the behaviour of the Toronto Police during the G20, that go beyond human errors of individual misjudgment, poor strategy, and overreaction.
Targeting Journalists
First, it seems that accredited media were often treated as though they were there as part of the protests, rather than to report on them. There was the assault and arrest of a reporter from the Guardian who had the temerity to refuse to leave the scene of a protest he was reporting on. There is the Globe and Mail writer who was told that her “goose would be cooked” if she returned to the protest site. And there is freelance journalist Amy Miller who was told (while in a makeshift jail cell) that she would be repeatedly raped in order to maker her “not want to be a journalist again” (video here).
There are more instances — I failed to bookmark the first few I saw as being anomalies, and have not bothered to actually go out looking for examples — but they all add up to one thing: Police were treating reporters and journalists as criminals.
This is completely unacceptable.
A free society depends on the freedom of the press, and the freedom of speech. Reporters must be free to report — particularly on confrontations between authorities and those exercising their right to free speech. When reporters are kept out, arrested, assaulted and threatened, our natural conclusion should be it is because the police do not want their behaviour to be on record — because it is appalling.
The actions of the Toronto police in this regard are more in line with totalitarian states than democracies.
Making it up as they go along
Yet this horrible treatment of the press is not the worst thing that the police did.
The police made up a law that “allowed” them to demand ID from protesters and search them. They “could” arrest anybody who did not comply.
Even though this was not a law — they could only demand ID and search those that entered the secure area beyond the security fence — the police advised individuals otherwise, carried out searches and arrested people on this basis.
Before we go on, I would like everybody reading this to appreciate how stupid this is. By doing this, the police have undermined a huge number of the arrests that they have made over the course of the G20. It doesn’t matter if somebody was planning on bombing the G20, assassinating world leaders, or just there to protest. The cases will be thrown out of court, because many of the searches conducted were illegal.
Every piece of evidence is tainted. And this is before they made the moronic mistake of claiming that props from a roleplaying game are dangerous weapons found on protesters.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is demanding an apology from the government for the illegal searches — which seems appropriate. But what of the arrests? Were there any? I have read about at least one person who was arrested on the basis of this law, but they might have been within the secure area — which apparently makes being arrested on the basis of a secretly passed and unannounced change in law OK.
If there were actual arrests made, the situation becomes far more serious. If somebody handcuffs you, takes you off the street and puts you in a cage, there are two options:
1. You are suspected of breaking a law, and arrested on this basis.
2. You have been kidnapped and forcibly confined.
The first is the regular business of the police. The second is a serious crime for which you can serve life in prison.
My thought is that any police officer who knew the law and made such an arrest should be charged. And any of their superiors who encouraged such charges be made (including, apparently, the police chief) should be charged with conspiracy.
Because that is what it is. It does not matter what your job is. It does not matter if you are supposed to be working. If you pull somebody off the street without cause and stick them in a cage, you have kidnapped them.
For the most part, the police should be in the clear on this — they were doing their job, however badly — but if they cannot claim that they suspected an actual law was being broken, and were instead arresting people on the basis of (what they knew to be) a fictitious law.
Well, that’s not even arresting someone on trumped up or fraudulent charges. That’s just plain old kidnapping.
There need to be ramifications
While hoping for kidnapping and forcible confinement charges might be a bit much, there certainly do need to be consequences.
The police are charged with protecting the public, and instead they victimized them. Not on an individual basis, or as part of a misplaced strategy with the best of intentions, but through a concerted effort from the top of the organization to the bottom.
“To Serve and Protect” is their motto, and they have a mission statement and values.
Their mission is to keep Toronto the best and safest place to be.
Their values are:
Honesty — to be truthful and open in their interactions;
Integrity — to be honourable, trustworthy, and strive to do what is right;
Fairness — to treat everybody equally and impartially;
Respect — to show understanding and appreciation of the differences between people;
Reliability — to be conscientious, professional, responsible and dependable;
Teamwork — to work with communities to achieve goals.
With the possible exception of fairness — I suppose you can argue that they treated everybody “equally and impartially” — it is fair to say that they failed on every point.
The people of Toronto should not put up with this. They need a police force that can hold true to its core values, rather than one that perpetuates lies and tries to quiet free speech.
(Postscript: I was going to add photos throughout, but didn’t. Go to the Big Picture for some, instead.)
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