By Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
Of all of the more than 1,000 arrests police made during the 2010 Toronto G20 summit, few received as much attention across the country as that of John Pruyn.
Riot cops dragging John Pruyn away. No charges ever laid. No Top Cop ever explained why.
While sitting under a tree at a peaceful rally on the lawns of Queen’s Park, Ontario’ legislative building, police wearing riot gear stormed the lawns where Pruyn, a now-retired Revenue Canada employee who had had one of his leg’s amputated a few years earlier following an accident on his hobby farm in Niagara, Ontario, had his artificial leg pulled off his artificial leg and dragged him off to a make-shift jail where hundreds of others were already being held.
More than 24 hours later, John Pruyn was unceremoniously dumped back on the streets of Toronto, desperately wanting to make contact with other members of his family with no explanation for his detention and no charges ever being laid. His story drew shock and outrage nationally and internationally, and was read by tens of thousands when it was posted, for the first time anywhere, on Niagara At Large on July 7th, 2010, more than a week after the G20 summit wrapped up.
John Pruyn in more peacefull conditions at home. File photo by Doug Draper
At the time Niagara At Large was looking into this story, one of the most fiery political voices on the provincial scene, Ontario NDP representative Peter Kormos, whose riding was based in the centre of Niagara and who died all to young a year ago this past spring, had the following to say to this reporter.
“John’s story is one of the most shocking of the whole (G20 summit) weekend,” said Kormos. “He is not a young man and he is an amputee,” Kormos continued. “John is not a troublemaker. He is a peacemaker and like most of the people who were arrested, he was never charged with anything, which raises questions about why they were arrested in the first place.”
Now, four years later, John Pruyn is going back to Toronto in a continued call for justice, not only for himself, but for so many others that riot police in the command of the federal government and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair detained for reasons that still have no known justification around anything to do in a supposedly advanced democracy like Canada.
Indeed, one of those officers (one of the many who did not have the mere guts to where a badge) was caught on camera saying to some young person simply wanting to continue down a street in Toronto; “You aren’t in Canada now,” meaning, quite obviously, that everything our forefathers fought for on the shores of Normandy beaches during the Second World War, doesn’t mean much.
It only means that for Harper, Rick Dykstra, Rob Nicholson and the rest of the Tea Party-like bunch Harper was hosting around the G 20 at the time. The rest of us could go to hell!
“This June 26th, I am going to Toronto,” said John Pruyn in a recent note to Niagara At Large, adding that it was four years ago on that date that he was “attending a peaceful political rally at Queens Park” while Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other G 20 leaders were meeting at another location in the city.
“It has been four years,” John Pruyn added,”since the government security forces beat me up while I was attending a peaceful political rally at Queens Park
“My daughter (Sarah) was dragged away by the hair. Two people who tried to help me stand up were also beaten and tossed into jail.”
“My wife (Susan) wandered the streets of Toronto trying to find out what happened to her husband and daughter. My son drove to Toronto to join the search.”
“The secret police who beat me up, robbed me and abused me have never been identified. No one has ever apologized to myself or my family for the trauma caused by the government security forces. Thousands of other innocent people were also injured by security forces that weekend.”
“I want an apology from the secret police who did this to me, their coworkers who watched it happen, their supervisors and the politicians who allowed it to happen. There should be a public inquiry at the Federal level to look into the brutality. I want to know why our Charter was suspended and who allowed the security forces to engage in criminal activity without fear of punishment.”
“When will the PM apologize to the thousands of people injured by his security forces? He did not stand up for our Charter and disability rights that weekend. He allowed rampant bullying, abuse and criminal activity to take place on he behalf.”
Just as a footnote to this, disgusting abuse of police authority in Canada. Why does Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair cry about what the wack-job mayor of the city, Rob Ford, say about him, more than he ever did about the injustices done to people like John Pruyn.?
Here is a poem John Pruyn plans to read to police in Toronto this June 26th. Hopefully some of them will listen.
Gee Twenty, apologize now
It’s been four years since you knocked me down
You stole my 33 gigs
You beat me up & ripped off my leg
You bullied me until I gave up
Than you took my walking sticks for your trophy case
Secret police, I’m still enraged
It’s been four years since you stuffed me in a cage
You kidnapped me but prepared no notes
You allowed no phone call & gave me no vote
You treated me like a dead tree
Then you opened your cage & said I was free
Bill Blair, stop the strife
It’s been four years since you stole my life
You humiliated me to please your boss
You wanted to save him from a face loss
You slammed your knee into my head bone
Then you dragged me around like a traffic cone
Stephen Harper, are you obtuse
It’s been four years, apologize for the abuse
Your agents dragged my daughter by the hair
They treated her like a broken chair
You allowed them to bully us all weekend long
Then we saw; you wore the Charter as a thong.
Gee Twenty apologize now
It’s been four years
Since you knocked us down
Since you stuffed us in a cage
Since you stole our lives
Since you started the abuse
Since you bullied us hoping we would give up
John Pruyn
(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
My attitude about the police these days, is utter disgust , they behave like an army of occupation , not like the friendly Bobbies that we had in England and Wales where i grew up. also they rode bicycles and had good manners. The world has gone to hell in my opinion. A cop went to jail for aiding and abetting a criminal organisation , sentence 4 years in the slammer, others were fined for smuggling drugs across the border, another had a cheese business, another smuggled chicken wings. these guys, while waiting for the slap on the hand , continue to collect full pay, which is very generous , when you consider they don’t have much education.
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This is what Canada has become under this Conservative (so called Government) DICTATORSHIP and not one MP or MPP except the LATE MP “PETER KORMOS” had the balls to call the Government and the Canadian GESTAPO POLICE out on this travesty of JUSTICE. What this “Gentle” man, John Pruyn, his Family and Others endured is not CANADIAN it is “HELL” and this is what HARPER, his GOON SQUAD and SUPPORTERS has transformed Canada into “a HELL on EARTH”.
In most civilized countries in the world citizens would NOT put up with this infringement on civil rights and I wonder how long CANADIANS will stand back and put up with this deliberate attack by this goon squad of a Government, Corporate Government that is, headed by a self fancied Emperor who hates and attempts to trample all over the “CONSTITUTION”…Than God he can;t ……and hopefully he will be gone soon with the title “The WORST” person who ever wore the mantle of leadership in this country.
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Hi, some things about the article. ….I was dragged away and beaten up by secret police. I was never arrested or charged with any offence. The only conclusion is that I was a political prisoner of the government. Someone did not want any peaceful political rallies to take place that weekend so they went out of their way to kidnap people at Queen’s Park.
The secret police who did this are cowards. Their co-workers and supervisors should be ashamed of themselves for not stepping in and stopping the brutality. The government should have denounced what was done on their behalf.
Four years latter and no one has apologized. I am tired of waiting.
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Police and law-enforcers have become way too cowboy, way too gung-ho in their dealings with the general public, and use the soft-glove treatment on those who are causing real trouble. Too often we have seen instances of “shoot first, ask questions later” and innocent bystanders like John Pruyn given the strong-arm treatment. Totally unwarranted. I remember John when he worked for the CRA, and since became disabled after an accident. What sort of justice is this? I know everyone likes to label PM Harper the head of the goon squads or a nazi dictator, but some comments are totally out-of-line and come from a perspective of ignorance and bias. The goon squads, so-called, are the way of the world these days, and the typical “free world” nations especially, no matter who holds the reigns in governments federal, provincial, or regional. We still yield to organized law-breakers who operate under the banners of special interest groups or minorities, yet these are the very ones who benefit most from the various perks levied.
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Why after the G20 was a class action lawsuit not initiated by the peoples whose Civil Liberties were trampled on so disgustingly and drastically by this Federal Dictatorial Government and its agents? Why were the Lawyers of this country so silent when they knew the Charter had been violated and citizens treated worse than in any third world country?
There are a lot of whys that do not have answers and I think in my opinion that this is the sole reason this government takes leave of responsibility and accountability knowing no one will stand “AGAINST”
their dictatorial methods while they push forth with their sick agendas.
From observation it seems when Conservative MPs are questioned they manage a smile that speaks for itself, in essence it says we don’t care, we will do as we want and to hell with you and the citizens.
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What happened to John Pruyn and to the many innocent victims of the G20 debacle was nothing less than a ‘CRIMINAL ACT’ and a ‘CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY deliberately and with malice aforethought perpetrated by all levels our government.
The G20 meeting was held in Northern Ontario. It was a deliberate and provocative act to parade these G20 affluent leaders thought the streets of Toronto.
Malice aforethought is evidenced by the prearranged construction of cages for the ‘army of expected terrorists’ they assumed would attack this motorcade of ‘the privilege few’ during the totally unnecessary Toronto escapade.
The ‘CRIMINAL ACTIVITY’ and the ‘CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY is evidenced by the brutality inflicted on innocent Canadian protesters for exorcizing their rights.
What did we hear from our Federal leaders including the opposition? Nothing!
And what did we hear from our Ontario provincial leaders including the opposition? Nothing!
And what did we hear from our municipal leaders? Nothing!
In fact our municipal police forces sent extra police to act as aggressive goons!
And what do we read in this article and from those jaded by party politics. We are treated to a litany of superfluous blame for only the ‘mindless dictator’ Harper.
No wonder things are going to hell in a hand basket!
Continue reading: http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2014/06/charges-dropped-photographer-sues-police.html
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