With Powers Beyond Those of Mortal Men (And Women)

Loathsome worm that I am, I have spent the past year regularly criticizing the police for their mass suspension of our Charter rights during last June's G20 Summit in Toronto. I saw them as a force gone wild, intoxicated by their own power, emboldened by a police chief (Bill Blair) who withheld from the public that the 5-meter fence rule was a fiction, and abetted by a Premier (Dalton McGuinty), who waited until the Summit had left town to tell the public the truth about the non-existent law.

How wrong I was. In a story carried in the Toronto Star, which has done a consistently fine job in tracking the entire debacle, the real truth has been revealed. The mass arrests were not only defensible, but necessary:

Toronto police maintain, however, they are justified, to preserve the peace, in temporarily holding people they believe are about to engage in criminal activity.

So there you have. In addition to possessing legendary crime-fighting prowess, their secret weapon has been revealed: a highly attuned psychic ability enabling them to see beyond any semblance of innocence into the true hearts of darkness lurking in the over 1000 protesters arrested.

But then again, we do have that rather pesky fact that almost all of the charges were subsequently dropped.

Perhaps a bit more practice is called for, boys and girls in blue?

Finally, a G20 Police Arrest

There is little doubt in my mind that the relentless efforts of the Toronto Star played a major role in the arrest of Toronto police officer Glen Weddell in the G20 beating of Dorian Barton, the Toronto baker whose only crime was to take some pictures of police horses at Queens Park during the G20 Summit in Toronto last June. That it took almost a year for this to happen is a sad commentary on the leadership of Police Chief Bill Blair and the officers on the force who obviously willfully concealed the accused officer's identity.

Whether justice will actually be served remains to be seen, given the double-standard of justice the courts often apply to the 'brotherhood of the blue."

Star Editorial Recommendation

I really have nothing new to add to the continuing saga of the Toronto Police Service's obstruction of efforts to get at the ugly truth behind the G20 security debacle. However, today's Star editorial does a good job of explaining why a complete and unfettered inquiry is necessary to determine the role played by all offending parties, from the Prime Minister on down, in depriving people of their Charter Rights and abusing citizen protesters.

Mark Pugash and the G20 Police Scandal

Mark Pugash is certainly earning his salary these days. The vexing and pugnacious Director of Corporate Communications for the Toronto Police has been loyally but, in my view, futilely acting as a human shield for Chief Bill Blair, the leader mysteriously unavailable for comment on any matters generally pertaining to the investigation of police abuse of citizens during last June's G20 debacle and most recently and specifically, the beating of Dorian Barton while he took some pictures during the protests.

Continuing to defend the indefensible with a straight face, Mr. Pugash has a letter in today's Star in which he takes the paper to task for claiming to be playing a role in advancing the momentum of the investigation into Barton's claims.

As always, the reader can decide how credible Pugash's claims are about the Toronto Police Services' investigation of its own people.

The G20, The Toronto Police and The Art of Critical Thinking

For those who might wish to sharpen their critical thinking skills, I am providing a link to an article in today's Star that provides a timeline of the investigation into Dorian Barton's abuse at the hands of Toronto police during last June's G20 Summit. Are the police claims of co-operation with the SIU investigation into the identity of the offending officer credible? Does police spokesman Mark Pugash's narrative pass the smell test? Has Chief Bill Blair behaved like a leader who wants to hold his force accountable?

You decide.

Journalism You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

For those who think all journalists have lost their bite, I suggest they read Rosie DiManno's column today as she writes disdainfully of the Toronto Police Force and its consistent failure to track down officers who abused citizens during the G20. Making so bold as to accuse somebody within the service of lying, she also expresses her contempt for the application of a double standard in evidence that is obvious in the SIU's failure to accept civilian witnesses as sufficient to go forward with charges.

Let's hope that Rosie doesn't incur any traffic infractions in the near future.

A Couple of Video Reminders of Abuse and Duplicity By Police During G20 Summit

And The Two Chief Culprits Remain silent

Today's story in The Toronto Star shows how the search for the identity of the officer who allegedly beat Dorian Barton is reaching absurdist levels.

Yet despite the increasing evidence of flagrant police obstructionism, Toronto Chief Bill Blair and Premier Dalton McGuinty, the main architects of the massive deprivation of Charter Rights that occurred during the G20 Summit, remain silent.

Despite Police and SIU Obstruction, G20 Lawsuit Moving Ahead

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.

G20 Summit - The Issue That Won't Go Away

Responding to a recent editorial in The Star calling for a G20 Summit inquiry, readers' letters amply demonstrate that this is an issue that won't go away. Click here to read them.

A New and Damning G20 Report

As reported in The Toronto Star, a 59-page report by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and National Union of Public and General Employees, set to be released today, calls for a full-scale enquiry into the abuse perpetrated by the authorities during last summer's G20 Summit in Toronto.

During three days of hearings last November which the police refused to take part in (no surprise there), a strong picture emerged from the testimony of dozens of witnesses who were physically abused and/or had their Charter rights taken away from them (a Kafkaesque and oxymoronic situation if there ever was one in Canada) of large-scale malfeasance on the part of the police, aided, abetted, and emboldened by both the McGuinty and Harper Governments.

Despite the damning nature of this report, despite the compelling video evidence to be found on YouTube and last Friday's fifth estate, and despite the fact that Ontario Ombudsman has said that “the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history” had occurred during the G20 weekend,
my dark suspicion is that governments will continue to deny responsibility for what they wrought, police chiefs will continue to mouth platitudes about prosecuting where evidence warrants, officers will continue to go unpunished, and the scars of that weekend will continue to haunt the Canadian psyche for a long time to come.

More Evidence of Police Brutality at the G20

There is a compelling video on today's Star website in which Toronto student Dorian Barton explains how attempting to take some pictures of police horses during the G20 led to the police breaking his upper arm and arresting him for obstruction. Originally investigated by the SIU and dropped due to lack of evidence, it is to be hoped that this new spotlight will encourage them to revisit the assault. As matters now stand, Barton is suing the Toronto Police Force.

Rosi DiManno on the Arrest of A G20 Police Officer

Rosie DiManno has a good column in today's Star on the public's role in bringing about the charge of assault with a weapon against Babak Andalib-Goortani, one of at least eight officers depicted beating Adam Nobody for no apparent reason during the G20 Summit.

While DiManno cites the sad fact that none of the other officers in the video were able to identify either themselves or the others assaulting Mr. Nobody, I couldn't help but wonder what has become of Chief Bill Blair's much-vaunted facial recognition software he was touting earlier this year as a good means of identifying those engaged in violence during the demonstrations. Or perhaps that software only works on civilians?

Too Much Evidence to Ignore

Thanks largely to the diligence of the Star, the SIU, confronted with high profile evidence that it could no longer ignore, has finally charged one officer with the assault of Adam Nobody. Even though the video appears to show at least eight officers tackling and pummeling Mr. Nobody, I guess we should be thankful that at least one person (perhaps a sacrificial lamb?) will face some consequences. Perhaps that will help to keep the spotlight on the G20 abuses, and more charges will eventually be brought.

Dalton McGuinty and The Smoking Gun

I have written extensively about my long-standing suspicions of Premier McGuinty's weak explanations for his failure to reveal the truth about the 'secret law' (the regulatory change under the Public Works Protection Act) which permitted police to violate the Charter Rights of thousands of peaceful protesters during the G20 Summit in Toronto. Today, the Toronto Star reports that the Marin Investigation uncovered emails revealing a concious decision not to inform the public that the '5-meter rule' did not, in fact, exist:

On June 25 — the day before the weekend summit of world leaders at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre — the Starreported ministers had quietly designated areas within the G20 security zone a “public work.”

Blair led people to believe that his officers had been granted the authority to arrest anyone who failed to provide identification or agree to be searched within five metres of the secure conference site.

Later on June 25, Bartolucci’s ministry drafted a press release outlining the changes under the Public Works Protection Act that specifically said “it does not authorize police officers to require individuals to submit to searches on roads and sidewalks outside the zone.”

But the news release was never distributed because, according to Marin, “by the end of the day, the ministry had decided to scrap the idea of going public altogether” since there was only one media call on the five-metre rule.

Now more than ever, it is imperative that a full and independent inquiry into the entire sad episode be held. For the government to do anything less is to demonstrate complete disdain for the sanctity of our Charter Rights as Canadians.

McGuinty's Weak Apologies and Bill Blair's Misdirection

Having to watch two politicians, Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, working hard at damage control today over Andre Marin's excoriating report and calls for their respective resignations, was not pleasant. Listening to their efforts to obscure their culpability in lying to the public regarding the so-called 'five-meter' law was even harder. Fortunately, our digital world allows us an electronic record that is indelible. Therefore, I am reproducing a blog post I wrote on June 29th that reflects the duplicitous nature of both the aforementioned gentlemen.

If you have the patience to read the entire post, please pay particular attention to Blair's explanation as to why he didn't reveal to the public the fact that there was no law that allowed his forces to arrest people coming within five meters of the perimeter fence. As well, note Premier McGuinty's comments that summit weekend about the necessity of having extreme measures in place, surely an allusion to the non-existent law, a fact he only revealed after the summit had left town.

Police Chiefs and Premiers

I have to confess that my nose is presently feeling quite abraded and raw, not surprising given its strenuous workout in today’s smell tests, beginning with the spectacle of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair displaying a cache of ‘weapons’ seized from protesters that turned out to be less than claimed. First, an astute CBC reporter asked about the cross bow that was given prominence. Hadn’t that, in fact, been seized from a car before the summit began and determined to have nothing to do with the G20? Well yes, the good chief sheepishly admitted that it shouldn’t have been there, as reported in The Globe and Mail:

A car search last Friday netted a cross bow and chain saw but they were not determined to be G20 related, and no charges were laid. When this was pointed out, Chief Blair acknowledged the items should not have been displayed but said “everything else” was seized from summit protesters.

However, police also included objects taken from a Whitby, Ont., man who was heading to a role playing fantasy game in Centennial Park Saturday morning. As was reported by the Globe on Saturday, Brian Barrett, 25, was stopped at Union Station for wearing chain mail and carrying a bag with an archery bow, shield and graphite swords. His jousting gear was seized by police, but was on display Tuesday, even though he was not charged and police told a Globe reporter it was a case of bad timing.

The critical thinker, of course, would have even more reason after this display to question the veracity of what he or she was being told. But then things got worse. Blair announced that there was no five-metre rule in place allowing police to search bags and demand identification from interlopers who had violated the police’s ‘comfort zone.’ His justification for this alleged lie: “I was trying to keep the criminals out.”

I say alleged lie, because this came only after an announcement from the Ministry of Community Safety made an announcement that “all the cabinet did was update the law that governs entry to such things as court houses to include specific areas inside the G20 fences — not outside.

A ministry spokeswoman says the change was about property, not police powers, and did not include any mention of a zone five metres outside the G20 security perimeter. “

However — and my nose was really starting to hurt by this point — we remember Dalton McGuinty’s statement of support for the police on Friday after word got out about the secret order-in-council suspending some of our Charter Rights:

Premier Dalton McGuinty denies it was an abuse of power for his government to secretly approve sweeping new powers for police.

“I just think it’s in keeping with the values and standards of Ontarians,” McGuinty told the Toronto Star on Friday amid a battery of complaints from opposition parties, city councillors, civil libertarians and regular Torontonians that the new rules were kept secret and, some say, may go too far.

The rules allow police to arrest and potentially jail anyone refusing to produce identification or be searched within 5 metres of the G20 security zone.

“Most Ontarians understand that there’s something extraordinary happening inside our province,” the Premier said. “We’ve tried to limit the intrusiveness to a specific secure zone as much as we can by working together with our police.”

Despite the fact that it was front page news on several of Ontario’s dailies, Premier McGuinty did nothing to disabuse the public about this seemingly inaccurate information, which leads me to conclude a number of limited possibilities:

He is so inept a Premier that, despite the alleged regulation having been passed secretly by his Cabinet, he knew none of the details;

Chief Blair was lying about these special powers, promulgated throughout the media and eliciting mass confusion and outrage. Were this so, wouldn’t it be incumbent upon McGuinty to immediately terminate the Chief, having gone far beyond anything General Stanley McCrystal did to warrant firing?

He was colluding with the police to continue to perpetrate this ‘falsehood,’ a possibility that would justify our asking how committed the Premier is to Charter Rights and basic democracy;

The regulation was as everyone understood it, but because of the widespread revulsion it inspired, the Liberal Government, realizing the potential political consequences to be so very costly, disavowed any relationship to the odious regulation, therefore requiring Bill Blair to ‘fall on his sword’ over this issue.

The fact that the position of Chief of Police is, de facto, a political one, would likely have convinced Blair that his future would be far better served by obeying his political masters than hewing to the path of integrity.

Further evidence of government and police lying to the public emerges as the McGuinty Government is now stating that no one was arrested under any extended laws, but only regular criminal laws. The critical thinking public will, of course, want to know why 31-year-old Dave Vasey was arrested when he ventured within the allegedly non-existent boundary, refusing to either show his i.d. or allow his bag to be searched, believing he was only enjoying his basic rights of citizenship. Told he would then have to leave, he refused, after which he was arrested under this ‘non-existent’ rule. What then, was the offense for which he was arrested?

These and other questions must be forcefully asked and re-asked in the days to come. To do anything less would be criminal.

The Ombudsman's Report on the G20

I just read the newspaper account of Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin's report on the 'secret security law' that was passed by the McGuinty Liberals before the G20 Summit in Toronto, a report that calls the law illegal and likely unconstitutional, and "almost certainly beyond the authority of the government to enact.”

While his report is described as scorching, condemning the law's lack of transparency and its anti-democratic nature, one glaring omission seems to be any criticism of the fact that both Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and Premier McGuinty lied to the public. Neither did anything to correct the erroneous assertion both had made about the extent of the law, waiting until after the G20 was over before revealing that the law allowing authorities to search, question, and even arrest those who came within five metres of the perimeter fence did not, in fact, exist.

It is wholly inadequate for the provincial government to simply admit that it could have done a better job in communicating the truth. Such a stance reveals a deep contempt, not only for the citizens of Ontario, but also for their Charter Rights.

Nothing short of a full and complete inquiry into the provincially-sanctioned totalitarian tactics of the police is acceptable.

A Two-Part Interview with Clayton Ruby

Before starting this political blog, I wrote extensively on my other blog about the abuses of Charter Rights during the G20 Summit in Toronto by both the police and the Dalton McGuinty Ontario Liberal Government.

In this two-part interview by The Real News with Clayton Ruby, the well-known Toronto lawyer discusses both the legality of what happened on Toronto streets in late June, as well as possible ways to prevent future suspensions of our rights.