Let’s Not Allow The Civil Liberties Of Canada Wash Away In The Wake Of the G20 Summit

 A Commentary By Susan Howard-Azzeh

Canadians need to step back and analyze what is really at play here regarding the G20, specifically regarding civil liberties, participatory democracy and foreign interference, or Canada, as we know, it may be changed beyond recovery.

Representatives of unions, environmental and other activist groups march in the streets of Toronto during the G20 summit this June.

Yes, there were decent and reasonable police at the G20 who showed restraint and tried to diligently perform their duties to maintain public safety. However, there were also those who did not, and all en masse were used as political pawns by (Canada’s prime minister) Stephen Harper, (Ontario’s premier) Dalton McGuinty, G20 organizers and foreign agendas.

It is vital that we have public access and democratic input into what takes place behind closed doors by world leaders. Many believe the G20 should not take place at all and certainly not in downtown Toronto. Tactics chosen by the minority Black Bloc were designed so that no other city in the world would want to host the G20, which would satisfy
Black Bloc political aims because they feel the G20 is illegitimate, doesn’t represent the peoples’ best interests, and are the rich and powerful making decisions regardless of their impact on the world’s disempowered and often poor majority.

We already have the UN so why the G20? Because business interests, profits and economic globalization are not the number one priority at the UN.

Police officials say they were providing security but some of their tactics, like leaving police cars and city buses unattended, ignoring burning cars for an unusual amount of time before sending in police and fire trucks, ignoring smashing windows for 45 minutes, massive, unnecessarily brutal and illegal arrests, and using police agent provocateurs to incite protesters – as can be seen on YouTube – were designed to make all protesters look violent, lunatic and therefore make their concerns illegitimate.

Security forces in riot gear patrol the streets of downtown Toronto during G20 summit.

One thousands, one hundred were arrested, the majority released without charges, supposedly to catch a small number of known vandals. Peaceful Niagara locals such as John Pruyn, Sarah Pruyn and Julia Kerr were caught in this abuse of our civil liberties, with John being injured and his prosthetic leg yanked off.

Were these politically designed police tactics intended to scare Canadians from attending demonstrations and to silence diverse progressive voices in favour of Canada’s current politically conservative agenda? 

Previous generations worked hard to develop civil liberties and build democratic institutions for the betterment of Canada. When civil liberties are cut back as they were at the G20 they may remain cut back. As citizens we need to educate ourselves and work to maintain all our civil liberties: freedom of assembly, free speech, freedom of movement, freedom from pre-emptive arrests and police misconduct; proper and timely access to lawyers, phone, food, water, toilets and medical care while in detention, freedom of the press and alternative media, and minimal government interference in our lives.

Another disturbing aspect of the G20 was the active foreign influence in the security methods used. Something perhaps Richard Fadden, the head of CSIS, was alluding to in his June 22 interview on CBC. Police tactics used in Montebello, Quebec for the SPP (the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America) in August 2007 and in Toronto at the G20 reflect Israeli tactics and influence.

In 2005, police chiefs from across Ontario went to Israel for training by Israeli police and the Israeli military, and since then Israeli “security consultants” have been advizing police in Canada, and perhaps even selling us some of the weapons used at the G20.

Toronto Chief Bill Blair, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, politician Monte Kwinter, Dalton McQuinty’s office, the Ontario Chiefs of Police Association, past OPP Commissioner Gwen Marie Boniface and other senior officials participated in the Israel trip. (See http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/policecomplaint.htm )
Did you know Canada and Israel share a border treaty ?! 

The perimeter fencing, check-points, police ID cards for people coming and going from their own homes and businesses, tear gas fired from guns, rubber bullets (real bullets covered in rubber), sound canon, snatch and grab arrests, kettling or corralling both protesters and ordinary citizens into tight areas downtown for hours at a time with no exit, police agent provocateurs, most wanted photo cards (like those found in an IDF knapsack when the Mavi Marmara was attacked by Israel in international waters outside Gaza), entering people’s private homes in Toronto for pre-emptive arrests etc made both Montebello, Quebec and Toronto seem more like Israel than Canada?

Media are not covering this aspect of the summit and we must wonder why.

Will Canadians and others affected rally, write letters, file complaints with the Toronto Police Services Board, Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OPIRD), Ontario Ombudsman, contact MPPs and MPs, and particularily important demand an independent public inquiry? Contact information is on the Internet.

 Which course of action to take is not an easy decision. Lawsuits are expensive and may take years to work their way through the courts. Class action lawsuits are even more expensive and time-consuming. And many don’t trust the outcome of filing a complaint through a police body.

Apparently this is not yet over. Civil Liberties rallies took place all across Canada July 10 and 17. People are informing themselves through alternative media like blogs, on-line alternative newspapers, Facebook groups and YouTube and are taking action. John Pruyn, whose prosthetic leg was ripped off has launched a complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman and OPIRD and is preparing a complaint for the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

A group of young women protestors who claim to have been sexually harassed while in detention and strip searched by male officers held a news conference and are deciding which course of action to take.

Natalie Gray, a protestor who received nasty wounds in the chest and arm from “rubber bullets” fired at close range is launching a lawsuit against the Toronto police department through high-profile lawyer Clayton Ruby. Toronto lawyer David Midanik has a client who is suing, claiming he was shot in the face by a rubber bullet. A class-action lawsuit is also in the works.

Visualize the Canada you want to live in and work hard towards that dream. Because if you don’t, it will remain a dream.

(Susan Howard-Azzeh is a resident of St. Catharines, a long time human rights activist, founder of the Niagara Coalition for Peace (NC4P) and founder of Nidah – the Palestinian Canadian Congress. She has also taught anti-racism and human rights courses at Niagara College.)

(Click on Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to our greater binational Niagara region, and consider becoming a contributor of news and commentary yourself. Visit Niagara At Large’s home page and click on ‘Be A Contributor’ above our masthead for more information.)