I have already written extensively about the G20 police abuses of our Charter Rights and have cited the McGuinty Government's collusion in those abuses as the main reason I cannot vote for the Ontario Liberals in October. However, a story in today's Star is well-worth reading to remind ourselves of how hard the authorities are working to obstruct any efforts at justice, in this case for Dorian Barton, who was severely beaten for snapping a few pictures last summer at Queens' Park, the so-called official protest zone during the G20.
The refusal of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair to compel identification of the officer responsible for the beating, despite the fact that it was witnessed by 11 other officers, speaks volumes of how politicized the entire process is, as does the failure of the SIU to accept a civilian eyewitness account of the incident.
Yet Premier McGuinty still insists he has nothing to apologize for, despite the fact of his collusion with the police to wait until the G20 was over before revealing that the secret law regarding a five-metre perimeter around the security fence was, in fact, non-existent. I am convinced that it was the fiction about this law that emboldened police to overstep their authority at every opportunity, leading to mass mistreatment and jailing of thousands of people that notorious weekend in June.
1. There's a cop with no conscience and no sense of personal responsibility still patrolling the street. He's the first who should be obliged to act by filing the report and essentially putting himself before, not above the law.
ReplyDelete2. There's a supervisor and 11 other cops who are as rotten as the man above who fail their duties to uphold the law by failing to report this incident. This is a cover-up, plain and simple. So there are at least 13 people who know what happened. They fail to uphold their sworn duties.
3. These people expect us to cooperate with them? It isn't a lawful order if the police fail to identify themselves.
I am baffled by your over-emphasis on McGuinty. You only cite his responsibility because you think he's the only one you can punish.
There are a lot more people in line in front of the Premier who should be punished first.
p2p
My antipathy towards McGuinty stems from the fact that much of what occurred over that shameful weekend could have been avoided had he stood up for Charter Rights over the expediency of security. I still don't think he has any appreciation of the magnitude of the consequences of his refusal to set the record straight very early on. If you look at the footage readily available on You Tube, you will see that many of the police thought they were untouchable in their arrogant abuse of innocent people. That arrogance was no doubt aggravated by having the Premier keep silent.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that many others deserve to be punished; however, with an election coming, as a voter I at least have the opportunity to try to hold the Premier responsible for his fecklessness.