Civil Rights, Interrupted: A G20 Arrest

Toronto police failed to protect and uphold the civic duty they share with protesters: preserving a free and democratic society.

I was oddly calm when it became clear I was being arrested by the Toronto Police Service. As a human rights monitor for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association during the G20 summit, I had been told during training that arrest was a possibility, and moreover, that it would be “the worst experience of your life.” Looking back on the night of June 26, it is a valid assertion; not because of the challenges I encountered, but for the stark questions that night raised about the strength of democracy in this nation.

My partner John and I had been sent out with little knowledge of what was going on in the downtown core. We were effectively aimless, monitoring the police presence on street corners and intersections, hoping to bump into a demonstration or protest that was worth observing. As we moved down Yonge Street, the dull sound of yelling got louder. We eventually came upon a group of protestors making their way down Victoria Street and immediately knew that we had to follow them. This was an unsanctioned protest, but it was also our job.

The crowd turned onto the Esplanade and halted in front of the Novotel hotel, where the protesters were loud but focused, obviously angry but clearly restrained. They were, in short, engaged in a protest that would have made Gandhi proud.

And yet to the authorities, the protesters’ peaceful exercise of their democratic rights was intolerable. Without warning, two detachments of Calgary riot police swept in; first from the east, then from the west. My partner and I, along with onlookers, passersby, and protesters, were now hemmed in. In fact, the only communication that the crowd had with police was when they announced that if we promised not to fight back, we would all be arrested peacefully. When I tried to explain to one of the officers that I was an impartial observer with documentation and that many of the others around me were not involved with protesters, he gruffly barked, “Don’t care.” That sentiment was to become a theme.

The arrest, however, paled in comparison to incarceration at the delightful Eastern Avenue detention facility. The authorities’ unpreparedness for managing the mass arrests they themselves had ruthlessly enacted was evident from the moment we arrived. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that all detainees are entitled to “prompt” communication with counsel. Over 16 hours of imprisonment, none of the 13 or so people in my cell was granted a phone call at all, and neither was anyone from the cells nearby. Water rations were meager, in some cases undrinkable, and delivered with such delay that it was tantamount to denial.

Most shocking of the entire experience was when a young diabetic in my cell did not receive proper medical treatment, at first because police could not find his insulin amongst his possessions, and then because the facility’s doctor tried to inject him with the wrong variety of insulin. When this young man informed the “doctor” of this fact, he was chided for being “paranoid” and “manipulative.” Before he left to see the doctor, another inmate shook the sick man’s hand and told him he hoped that they would never meet again. But they would, as he was returned to his cell about an hour later, still without his necessary insulin shot. I was released soon after, and I’m unsure what became of the young man.

Equally damning is that when the many failings of the facility became clear, not once did any official appear to make a better effort to rectify the manifold problems that were present. More often than not, I saw officers milling around, laughing and making the most of their overtime pay. Those who are arrested for their beliefs should expect a certain amount of hardship, but in a country like Canada, with its tradition of democracy and the rule of law, treatment by the police should meet a basic standard. During my detention, police conduct can be described at best as gross negligence and at worst as outright cruelty. Much like during my arrest, it was hard to shake the feeling that the police were contemptuous of me and my cellmates – that they simply didn’t care or had given up caring long ago. I want to respect police, but their actions, along with their lies, half-truths, and misinformation after the fact, are making such sentiments difficult.

I am writing this account on the morning of July 1 – Canada Day. I do it not in an effort to smear or merely embarrass the police services, but to remind them as forcefully as I can that both they and I must seek the same goals – the preservation of a free and democratic society. It is surely the job of the police to keep us safe. But, we must remind ourselves that the founding principles of this nation were not simply granted by the beneficent state; they were expanded, renewed, and agitated for by the actions of ordinary people. The sooner we as Canadians remind ourselves of this great truth, the sooner will stop regarding peaceful protesters as prospective terrorists, and the sooner both civilians and police will see themselves as what they really are: partners in the ongoing project that is our nation.

I refuse to give up in this effort, and I implore the authorities not to do so either.

Happy Canada Day.