Daily Archives: July 18, 2010

Ontario justice critic and Niagara area MPP Peter Kormos speaks at rally protesting G20 security measures. Photo by Doug Draper.

“When the police cross the line,
slippery slope to the dark side”

– from a song composed by Dave Toderick and performed by the Niagara-based band ‘Bag of Hats’ at a G20 rally this July 17 in St. Catharines, Ontario’s Montebello Park.

By Doug Draper

Of all the images I walked away with following a rally this July 17 in St. Catharines, Ontario’s Montebello Park for a public inquiry into the actions of security forces at the recent G20 summit, the one that haunted me the most was that of a young girl crying hysterically for her mother.

“There was a 14-year-old girl … being carried in there (by police) and literally screaming that her mother had sent her out to get some milk,” recalled Curtis Dignard, a Welland, Ontario resident who, along with his friend Jason Bernard, was arrested and placed ‘in there’ – meaning the makeshift cages set up in warehouses for those taken into custody during the summit – after police closed in on them and others on the streets of Toronto while they were singing ‘O Canada’.

That young girl – whom we don’t know by name but whose story should be told to all Canadians who claim to care about freedom and democracy in this country – was just one of more than 900 people arrested during the two-day summit this past June 26 and 27 – at least 400 more than were arrested during the 1970 October Crisis when militant elements of the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ) kidnapped two government officials, killed one and the federal government of the day imposed a ‘War Measures Act’ that temporarily suspended the civil liberties of every person alive in the country at the time. Continue reading →

One Canadian named Barrett Smith keeps lone vigil at Niagara rally protesting G20 security measures. Photo by Doug Draper.

By Doug Draper

Every community has its share of colourful characters.

In the community where I live – Thorold, Ontario, located just south of St. Catharines for some of our American friends and others who may never have heard of the place before – one of our colourful characters is an aging curmudgeon almost everyone who’s lived here for any length of time knows by name.

He is Barrett Smith and he’s often been seen over the years, waving his long arms sharply during a presentation to the local council over the budget, or standing out in front of the grocery store at the plaza with a petition, or hoisting a picket sign he whipped together for a public rally.

This July 17, I found Barrett Smith sitting off on a bench with one or two others holding yet another picket sign that he almost apologized for making up with a black-felt pen on the fly. “I feel like I’m kind of alone out her,” said Barrett as I approached and asked for a picture of him displaying his sign at a rally in St. Catharines, calling for a public inquiry into security measures exercised at the recent G20 summit in downtown Toronto this past June. Continue reading →