A Reasonable Doubt?

You decide.

“This was an attack on the rule of the law.”

So said Crown attorney Elizabeth Jackson, who is seeking a sentence of 18 months in jail and three years’ probation at the sentencing hearing of George Horton, 24, whose crime during the 2010 Toronto G20 Summit was kicking the scout car of Staff. Sgt. Graham Queen as well as another cruiser and a CBC van.

The officer “wasn’t just anybody,” Jackson told court. “This was an attack on the rule of the law.”

While I in no way condone violence in any way, shape or form, it seems to me that insisting on a separate sentencing criterion because a police officer was traumatized by what was essentially a property crime does a grave disservice to, if not the rule of law, then respect for that law, given that thousands of protesters demonstrating democratically and peacefully were assaulted, traumatized and violated in myriad ways by the very police who are now suddenly such sensitive souls.

But, of course, I need to remind myself that Canada under attack is what our Prime Autocrat and his lieutenant Vic Toews want us to believe is the reality today as they continue to carry out their destruction of our traditions.

Two 'Politicians' Speak

Now frequently the new last refuge of the scoundrel, the passive voice is very popular with politicians far and wide, even if they don't hold elected office.

In response to a comprehensive report by retired judge John Morden on the police brutality and abuses of Charter Rights committed during the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto that cast the Police Services Board in a particularly bad light, Board chair Alok Mukherjee admitted “mistakes were made,” but stopped short of apologizing for the board’s inaction in G20 planning.

The other politician in this sad episode, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, acknowledged “lessons learned” from a new report criticizing the Toronto Police Services Board’s inaction on G20 summit planning, but denied a fundamental communication problem between police and the civilian body tasked with overseeing them.

What those lessons were, the good chief declined to say. And, of course, he refused to apologize for anything.

To Be Fair To G20 Cop Sgt. Mark Charlebois

When I was young, our local radio station used to carry the syndication of Paul Harvey's nightly news program. Every so often, the esteemed newsman would read an item attesting either to the extreme folly or the extreme idiocy of humanity, after which he would let out a sound that was somewhere between a profound sigh and a declaration of surrender to forces beyond his control.

Yesterday, I wrote about Sgt. Mark Charlebois, the cop who deprived Paul Figueiras of his Charter Rights during the Toronto 2010 G20 Summit. The York Police Services Board declined to charge Charlebois on a technicality.

Reading a follow-up story in today's Star citing fairness to Charlebois as the reason he wasn't charged left me uttering one of those Paul Harvey sounds.

Apparently, Talk Of Charter Rights Is Just Nonsense

"Guys are talking nonsense and he got nonsense back.” - Sgt. Mark Charlebois in defense of his denial of Paul Figueiras's Charter Rights during Toronto 2010 G20 Summit.

Unfortunately, Sgt. Charlebois is not the only one who feels that our Charter Rights are a risible matter. As reported in today's Star, the York Police Services Board has blocked efforts to lay misconduct charges against the officer, shown in the YouTube video above telling a G20 protestor “This ain’t Canada right now” and demanding that he be searched.

In October, the province’s police complaints watchdog recommended three misconduct charges against Sgt. Mark Charlebois, who apprehended Paul Figueiras during the G20 summit two years ago. Unfortunately, standing upon a technicality, the York Police Services Board has refused to authorize the laying of those charges.

What is that old saying about bringing the administration of justice into disrepute?

A Shield of Secrecy Protecting Toronto G20 Police Still Exists

Although two years overdue, the abuses of Charter Rights and police brutality that occurred in Toronto during the June 2010 G20 Summit are finally being recognized for what they were; this can't help but be a source of satisfaction to many. The comprehensive report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director has at least started us down the road to long-overdue justice. However, not all is yet well.

The report's apparently comprehensive nature stands in sharp contrast to the tactics of the never-say-sorry Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who has consistently temporized and qualified his comments to the point that were he the only source of information about the shameful and criminal acts committed by Toronto's finest, one would believe that an exemplary job had been done by all. However, it seems he is not the only one concealing the truth from the public.

A Star exclusive reports today that a G20 senior commander, Toronto police Insp. Gary Meissner, is facing disciplinary action for ordering the early-morning raid and unlawful mass arrests at the University of Toronto, an event that many will recall as a stark reminder of the fragility of our Charter rights.

Based on deductions befitting Inspector Gadget, Meissner concluded that a group of 100 people, mainly students from Quebec being billeted at a U of T gym, was shielding some of the black bloc anarchists who had wrought the deplorable property destruction the previous day, destruction that for some strange reason the police chose not to stop. Without a proper warrant, the police, under Meissner's command, swooped in with tasers pointed and rubber bullets at the ready, proceeding to shackle all of the arrested. Eventually, charges were dropped.

Most disturbing is that this information about Meissner was withheld from the public in the OIPRD report, and The Star was able to obtain the information only from one of the arrested people who complained to the arm's length agency.

It would seem that the public's right to know is yet another of our cherished freedoms that is more illusion than reality.

Chief Bill Blair Dodges Another Bullet

The Toronto Star reports the following:

The province’s police complaints watchdog has recommended 31 officers be charged with misconduct during the G20 summit, two of them in senior positions, Toronto police said Wednesday.

The good chief must be wearing his kevlar vest 24/7, judging by his apparent immunity to any consequences for his disastrous G20 police 'leadership' in 2010.

A Star Reader's Thoughts On G20 Justice

As a reader of various progressive bloggers, I know that the thirst for justice and accountability burns strongly amongst informed Canadians. The only problem, of course, is that this passion seems singularly absent in those who occupy positions of authority, be they our elected 'representatives', heads of various organizations, or, to be sure, certain police chiefs.

So it is always heartening when concerns about issues repugnant to our sensibilities and values are given prominent space in national newspapers; such is the case today in The Star's lead letter to the editor. Written by Peter Finch of Toronto, I suspect few will disagree with the sentiments he expresses:

Re: G20 commanders committed misconduct, reports conclude, May 18

The unlawful acts by police during the G20, identified in the report from Gerry McNeilly of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, will be prevented from recurring only when accountability results in hard measures.

First, Chief Bill Blair and the senior officers of the major incident command centre (MICC) must be fired or demoted. Their incompetence in planning for the G20, from inadequate tactics to control and minimize the known methods of the Black Bloc through to operation of the detention center, was reprehensible.

Worse, their order to “take back the streets” was a panicked overreaction with no real direction as to what this meant or how to effect it, with the result of hundreds of innocent citizens being detained, jailed and in many cases, beaten.

Secondly, police officers involved in the beating of protesters must face criminal charges and if found guilty, removed from the force. They will have shown themselves unfit for police work.

Thirdly, the Police Act needs an overhaul to make disciplinary hearings more open and truthful co-operation by officers mandatory. Penalties must be more appropriate. An officer removing his/her name tag requires not only a financial penalty but also a black mark slowing their promotion.

Finally, civilian oversight of the Toronto Police must be strengthened. Responsibility for investigation of serious police malfeasance must be stripped from the Toronto Police and carried out by an independent body such as the Special Investigations Unit.

Evidence and testimony must not be withheld or delayed. The police chief and officers must not be allowed to hide behind a blue wall of conspiracy.

Failing to address the unlawful arrests, excessive force, Charter rights infringements and gross violations of prisoner rights without adequate penalties will only encourage the Toronto Police Service to continue acting like power unto themselves rather than the service arm of Torontonians.

Peter Pinch, Toronto

Christopher Hume on the G20

With a broad range of targets in his column today, including Dalton McGuinty, Harper, Tony Clement and Julian Fantino as additional architects of the 20120 G20 debacle in Toronto, the Star's Christopher joins in the chorus of those calling for the resignation of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. Of course, he is under no illusion that this will happen, as he tartly observes,

Perhaps Canadians can take solace in the fact that Harper, Clement, Blair, Fantino, McGuinty and the rest of this ghastly crew must recognize the full extent of their failure, however silently. They’re not about to admit anything, of course, that would require integrity and a degree of courage none possesses.

Amen, brother.

Accentuating The Positive

Perhaps he is a student of Norman Vincent Peale. Perhaps he believes that when you are handed lemons, you make lemonade. Perhaps he prefers to see the glass as half-full, not half-empty. Or perhaps he is just a politician intent on covering his professional rear end.

Whatever he is, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is NOT going to accept the responsibility he bears for the policing and Charter Rights disaster that Toronto became in June of 2010 under his command during the G20 Summit.

Chief Blair's immediate public reaction to the excoriating report from The Office of the Independent Police Review Director was to comment that the report observes that 'most police carried out their duties in a professional manner.' When asked by CTV reporter Colin DeMelo whether he would consider resigning, the Chief looked at him and curtly replied, "No."

In any event, today's Star has extensive coverage of the report and a recap of the myriad wrongdoings of the constabulary under Blair. You can access that coverage here.

One final observation from me: Whether evaluating our federal or provincial politicians or police chiefs, much can be inferred about their character when they put their own careers above both personal integrity and the public good. We see it all the time, but just because it has become the norm hardly justifies their choice of expediency over principle.

Police Chief Bill Blair Well-Rebuked

Oh, there is much in the news today to report and comment on, but I'll start with something close to my heart: Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, whom I regard as an unindicted co-conspirator in the police violence that erupted during peaceful protests at the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto.

In a previous post, I reported how the Chief was offended by the phrase 'the banality of evil' used by a criminal lawyer in an article on the propensity toward racial profiling of the Toronto Police. Today, a Star reader, Paul de Groot, takes him to task:

Re: Arendt reference is offensive, Letter March 16

Police chief Bill Blair justly faults criminal lawyer Reid Rosonik for his comparison of the disproportionate arrests of blacks in the GTA to the “banality of evil” as demonstrated by the Nazis. He is on shaky ground, however, when he levels the charges of intellectual laziness and unpersuasiveness.

Chief Blair’s stonewalling and intellectual indifference in the face of overwhelming and endless evidence of police wrongdoing during the G20 fiasco, hardly qualify him to make these charges. Given his newfound fondness for intellectual rigour, I assume we can expect him to make a full admission of the egregious police malfeasance during the summit that continues to taint this city’s police force?

Paul de Groot, Toronto

It is so good to hear the voice of the people.

More G20 Police Brutality Justice Pending

One of the Toronto police officers identified in the G20 beating of Adam Nobody has now been identified in another incident occurring the same weekend.

Const. Oliver Simpson's employer, the Toronto Police Services Board, is being sued by Nikos Kapetaneas and Caitlin Morgan for the injuries they sustained at the hands (or rather, the feet) of the overzealous officer in an area at Queens Park that had been designated an official protest zone.

As far as I can determine, both Toronto Police Chief bill Blair and Premier Dalton McGuimnty still stand by their men.

You can read the full story here.

A Little More G20 Justice

In one of the more despicable acts of police brutality during the G20 Summit in Toronto in June of 2010, a paraplegic man, Gabriel Jacobs, was “dragged” from his motorized wheelchair, thrown into the back of a police cruiser and left on the floor of a temporary G20 detention centre where he defecated on himself because guards refused to help him.

Jacobs, who had been seeking $100,000 for his mistreatment and humiliation from the Toronto police, has reached a settlement which, like so much else about that notorious weekend, must remain confidential. And of course the police are not about to shed any light:

When asked if the settlement could be seen as an admission of guilt by the police, Mark Pugash, the director of corporate communications for the Toronto police, said “settlements, by definition, do not involve any admission of any kind.”

So much for openness and transparency, eh, Chief Blair?

Lawyer Sues Police For Unlawful G20 Arrest

In a world where injustice seems to prevail, I suspect we have to be content with the small victories. Nicholas Wright looks like he is well on his way to achieving one.

G20 Toronto Police Not Paid for Overtime?

Perhaps next time they will be more selective about the number of law-abiding citizens against whom they wield their batons and arrest.

More On Toronto G20 Incarceration Conditions

As human beings, there is really no way that we can dispute our deeply-flawed natures. Overlooking the terrible depths to which we can sink, the unspeakable cruelties each of us is capable of, and seeking to justify or rationalize away those shortcomings is to choose to remain in a state of willful ignorance that only makes our failures worse.

That is one of the reasons I am glad that the abuses of the Toronto G20 are not being forgotten, despite the fact that time is moving on. The patent violation of our Charter Rights by those in whom we entrust our safety and those in whom we entrust high political office should never be forgotten or minimized. That is why I am glad for newspapers like The Toronto Star which yesterday provided video footage of the terrible conditions under which 1100 mostly innocent people were incarcerated, and today has a story suggesting that those conditions may have violated the United Nations’ “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.”

You can read the entire story "G20 jail photos raise ‘alarm bells’ for police chair" here.

The Toronto G20 and the Vindication of Michael Puddy

Kafkaesque is a term loosely and regularly bandied about, usually denoting a process whereby an innocent person is subjected to unfathomable persecution/arrest. It seems an apt word to describe what Michael Puddy endured in Toronto during the G20 protests of June 2010. Not even a part of the protest, Puddy was swept up in a nightmare that saw him incarcerated for two days and charged with possession of a prohibited weapon.

Despite what was the largest mass arrest and violation of Charter Rights in Canadian history, those chiefly responsible for it, Toronto Chief Bill Blair, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper remain completely unaccountable, refusing to consider a full inquiry into it.

You can read the full story and see a video here.