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G20, one year later

One year after the G20, memories of that June weekend linger like a story with no end.

True reconciliation between the grassroots and the city’s policing establishment requires admissions, apologies and pledges of behaviour modification.

But besides Toronto Police’s recent committment to ditch the kettling tactic, we are a long way from all that. Though the feds continue to resist the call for a judicial inquiry, some G20 investigations have already seen the light of day crucial others are still to come. Here’s the tally.

PROBES COMPLETED

  • Provincial ombudsman’s account of the terrible misuse of the Public Works Protection Act concludes that invoking wartime legislation handed police “powers unfamiliar in a free and democratic society.” It further nails Toronto police Chief Bill Blair as the perpetrator: he alone, and not the OPP or RCMP, pressed for robust new powers at the fence.
  • Canadian Civil Liberties Association and National Union of Public and General Employees records the scary tales of abused and shell-shocked bystanders and protesters and tabulates the serious Charter violations involved: illegal searches and detentions, excessive use of force, kettling. These “cannot have simply been the actions of a few bad apples,” it concludes, “but rather a failure of policy and training.”
  • Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security urges a full judicial inquiry and – here’s a brave thought – recommends the government apologize to the visitors and citizens whose rights were trampled.
  • Report by Roy McMurtry recommends the repeal of the Public Works Protection Act because its arrest powers are “beyond troubling.”

STILL PENDING

  • Office of the Independent Police Review Director: director Gerry McNeilly hasn’t been afraid to raise expectations about his promised systemic G20 report.
  • Independent Civilian Review into Matters Relating to the G20 Summit, led by John W. Morden and established by the Police Services Board has no powers of subpoena, but nevertheless examines not only the G20 command structure, crowd control policies and who ordered what when, but also the role of the Police Services Board when stuff got out of hand. You read that right: the board has commissioned a study of its own behaviour. This better be good.
  • The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP: this “public interest” investigation looks like it could have some punch. It’s mandated to investigate the RCMP’s role in possible infiltration and surveillance of activist groups, use of force, detentions and conditions at the detention centre.
  • Summit Management After Action Review Team: this probe set up by Bill Blair looks at the TPS’s G20 procedures. Blair’s stated mandate is “to examine everything we did and how we did it.”
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9 QUESTIONS STILL BEGGING FOR ANSWERS

1. Of the TPS, OPP and RCMP, which force was directly responsible for horseback attacks at Queen’s Park, charging of protesters outside the Detention Centre, mass arrests at Novotel, kettling at Queen and Spadina?

2. Was there conflict between the three main policing agencies – and was Chief Bill Blair out of the loop at key moments?

3. Did the RCMP make any operational decisions outside the perimeter fence?

4. What was the role of paid informers both before and during the summit?

5. How was surveillance of organizing groups conducted?

6. What effect did the participation of other police agencies have on the outcome?

7. What policies and principles informed the design of the Detention Centre, strip searches and the decision to deny detainees calls to lawyers, medical care and access to sufficient food and water?

8. What was the Police Services Board doing to protect civilians while they were being illegally searched, detained and assaulted?

9. What strategy informed police decisions during the Black Bloc trashing?

ellie@nowtoronto.com

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