In an elevator in the University Avenue courthouse on Tuesday, November 30, a police officer remarked to no one in particular on the scene outside: “They got a protest going on today. G20. I thought that was over.” Well, maybe for him it is.
For thousands of unnerved protesters seeking police accountability, it’s so not over. Nor is it for legendary Montreal activist Jaggi Singh, sitting in a courtroom on the fourth floor, or for his 18 remaining co-accused.
Singh, in town for a bail review, is under house arrest, cannot take part in political demonstrations, associate with his co-accused or have a passport. He’s also not allowed a cellphone.
This hearing is an opportunity for Singh and his lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, to challenge the draconian conditions imposed after he surrendered to police in early July. Singh faces G20-related charges of conspiracy to commit mischief, assault police and obstruct justice.
While a publication ban forbids reporting on the actual proceedings, it can be said that PEN Canada, which normally defends freedom of expression for writers, is intervening on Singh’s behalf.
He’s not the only accused facing these kinds of constraints. Leah Henderson is not allowed to post on the internet, and Alex Hundert’s participation in a Ryerson panel got him arrested for violating the condition that he not participate in demos, which was then amended to forbid any expression of his views publicly. It’s moot now he was arrested a third time and thrown back in jail.
Somehow, it’s not surprising that it’s Singh mounting a legal challenge to this tough bail regime. The celebrity motormouth was a key arrestee in the 1997 APEC summit protests at UBC and was snatched up by police at the 2001 Quebec City Summit of the Americas protests, leading to the famous teddy bear catapult charges, which were later dropped.
“All of us have been living in these conditions for four months that’s highly punitive,” he says, “none of us has been convicted of anything.”
Contesting bail restrictions, says civil rights lawyer Jackie Esmonde, isn’t usually top of mind for arrestees. “In many cases, people are focused on fighting their criminal charges as a priority, and bail conditions are seen as temporary,” she says.
But doing so, says Esmonde, who has studied the effects of such conditions on social movements, is highly important. “Singh’s conditions were so incredibly onerous and cannot be seen as anything other than an attack on free expression,” she says.
Typically, the function of bail restrictions is to make sure people actually show up for court and to protect the public from nefarious deeds. But does anyone really believe the city’s on the verge of another window-smashing spree?
As many activists who’ve been arrested but not convicted know, bail conditions can substitute for the sentence itself. “The effect is punitive rather than fulfilling any proper purpose of bail,” says Rosenthal.
Political organizers are forced into silence, says Singh, and become isolated from their communities, from friends and from the organizations they work for. “The conditions are set up in such a way as to create self-doubt and ambiguity about the normal things you do every day,” he says.
He’s allowed to be at work, for example, but wonders if leaving the building to grab food constitutes a bail violation. Since being released in July, he’s already been stopped by Montreal police after speaking at a teach-in for which he’d received permission. Oddly, he was found not to be in violation. Hundert was not so lucky with Toronto police’s looser interpretation of “demonstration.”
The question is why the justice system feels compelled to levy these restrictions. Does it really feel threatened by a relative handful of political agitators? Are activists paranoid, or is there really an effort to disrupt social justice groups by going after their so-called leaders?
If that’s the case, Singh says, the Crown is wasting its time. “I’m part of a movement that is very skeptical of the notion that there’s any one person for people to get behind and follow,” he explains. “That attitude is just completely contrary to the political beliefs of, I’d say, everybody that has been charged in this.”
Still, such conditions are disruptive, says Craig Fortier of No One Is Illegal, a group with which Singh is associated. “In a community that’s attempting to build solidarity among organizations, groups and social issues, non-association is a huge thing for core organizers who need to be able to work collaboratively.”
The outcome of Singh’s hearing this week will be closely watched by other G20 accused. “I think there’s a good chance that there’s going to be a substantial judgment that will influence matters not only for this case but in the future,” says Rosenthal.
See more of Jaggi Singh’s rebel accomplishments here.
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