Dozens of groups launch campaign to not co-operate with Canadian spy agency

by Tim McSorley

MONREAL—Nearly 70 groups across Canada have joined a campaign to no longer co-operate with the work of Canada’s national spy agency, and are calling on others to join them.

The organizations represent a broad swath of society, covering such a diversity of issues as migrant rights, anti-war organizing, women’s rights, social welfare, international solidarity groups, unions and community media organizations. As representatives from several organizations laid out at a press conference in Montreal on Sunday, they share the belief that the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) targets political organizations in Canada and sows fear and suspicion each time they knock on someone’s door.

Coalition groups are urging that their members not interact with CSIS agents should they be approached. This includes answering questions or even listening to what the agents have to say. Legally, Canadian citizens can refuse to speak or even listen to CSIS agents; for others, the coalition suggests only interacting with CSIS with a lawyer present.

Michael McKiernan

John Morden’s G20 investigation is taking its toll on the Toronto Police Services Board’s finances.

The total bill for the former associate chief justice’s independent civilian review into matters relating to the G20 Summit hit $784,000 by the end of 2011 and looks set to cross the $1-million threshold before its targeted completion date of March 2012, according to the board’s agenda for its Jan. 20 meeting.

The review was only supposed to take 12 weeks when it was announced in July 2010, but by the time Morden, now counsel at Heenan Blaikie LLP, was hired in September 2010, the deadline had disappeared. The board didn’t set a specific budget but has been paying Morden’s $480-per-hour bills out of its special fund.

By JAN RAVENSBERGEN

The Crown has dropped a criminal charge against a Montreal man arrested after he videotaped undercover cops during a peaceful Montreal demonstration protesting against the mass arrests in 2010 of G20 opponents.

Scott Weinstein, a nurse, had for the past 17 months been facing a charge of assault on police with a weapon – his bicycle.

His trial had been scheduled to begin Wednesday morning.

Ending a court session that took about half a minute, Judge Yves Paradis of Quebec Court declared the matter closed.

Weinstein, who has maintained from the start that he did nothing illegal, told reporters minutes later that he wishes to file a police ethics complaint alleging evidence-tampering by police.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has released its After Action Report for the 2010 G8-G20 Summits.

The OPP worked in partnership as part of the Integrated Security Unit (ISU) to fulfill the mandate of the ISU which was to ensure that G8-G20 Summits were held in a safe manner for all participants, residents and visitors.

The OPP’s primary role within the ISU was for perimeter security relating to the G8 as the police service of jurisdiction for Huntsville and area. The OPP conducted a full and comprehensive de-briefing and evaluation of this event as it does all major events. The After Action Report provides a baseline reference for future events including best practices and recommendations.

The report has been consolidated from the original internal report and can be viewed at OPP G8-G20 Summits Consolidated After Action Report.

A report on security at the G8 and G20 summits in 2010 says there was some confusion when Ontario Provincial Police were unexpectedly redeployed to help police in Toronto.

The provincial police report says the force's primary role was perimeter security at the G8 in the Huntsville, Ont., area.

When violence and vandalism erupted in Toronto on June 26, 2010, provincial police were called in to bolster the G20 interdiction zone in Toronto.

The report says there was confusion because it was not clear if the provincial police officers were supporting Toronto police or the RCMP.

Kevin Misener, Charlene Close

Toronto police chief Bill Blair has said he won’t rush to charge five of his officers linked to the arrest of a G20 protester despite a recommendation from the province’s police complaints watchdog.

A report from the director of the Independent Police Review recommends the five be charged with unnecessary use of force and discreditable conduct, related to the beating of protester Adam Nobody.

The report does say it was a legitimate arrest because Nobody threatened the officers. However, it takes issue with his treatment after the arrest. He suffered a broken nose and cheekbone. There’s video of him being punched and kicked.

Chief Blair said a couple of steps have to take place before any charges are laid.

Five Toronto police officers should be charged with using unnecessary force against protester Adam Nobody during the G20 summit 19 months ago, an independent police review says.

The 174-page report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) is based on interviews with a dozen police witnesses, the five officers involved, five civilian witnesses and Nobody himself.

The allegation that Constables Michael Adams, Babak Andalib-Goortani, Geoffrey Fardell, David Donaldson and Oliver Simpson used unnecessary force “is substantiated and is of a serious nature,” the report says.

Nobody suffered a broken right cheekbone and broken nose in the takedown on June 26, 2010.

HUNTSVILLE – Robert Paschmann and Sarah Nüdling wanted to make a documentary about the G8 Summit coming to Huntsville.

But they did not want to recreate the generic political tale often told by other summit films, said the independent filmmakers from Hamburg, Germany.
“We hope to give a perspective on the event that hasn’t been shown before,” said Paschmann. “If the G8 was the giant stage where the political things happen, we wanted to look backstage. I think this is a very interesting perspective.”
When he first visited Huntsville, said Paschmann, the town impressed him because it seemed perfectly peaceful.
“I though it would make a very interesting story if such a huge event – with all the police, security, protesters and all the things we have seen at G8 summits before – came to Huntsville.”

Vancouver police have recommended charges against 20 more people suspected of taking part in the June 15 riot, raising the total number to 100.

Police announced the latest charge recommendations during a news conference Tuesday.

In B.C., police must forward charge recommendations to the Crown for approval. The Crown has approved and laid charges against 30 people accused of participating in the riot so far. One person has entered a guilty plea.

The Vancouver police has been much criticized for the pace of its investigation. The force did not forward its first major batch of case files to the Crown until Oct. 31 – four and a half months after the Stanley Cup riot that caused millions of dollars in damage.

Sean Salvati — the paralegal who was arrested prior to the G20 summit and allegedly strip searched, assaulted and held naked in a jail cell for nearly an hour — was “the author of his own misfortune,” according to a statement of defence by Toronto police.

The statement was issued in response to a lawsuit by Salvati, who accuses Toronto police of falsely imprisoning him and violating his Charter rights in June 2010 when they arrested him for public intoxication, a charge he contends was bogus.

Salvati, 33, claims he was also subjected to “cruel and unusual treatment or punishment” while in police custody. But according to Toronto police, Salvati’s arrest and treatment was justified because he was “inebriated” and acted “abusive, obstructive and aggressive in his interactions with officers.”

A woman identified by the crown as a key player in organizing the G20 protests will be sentenced in a Toronto court on Friday morning.

Amanda Hiscocks, 37, pleaded guilty in November to counselling to obstruct police and counselling to commit mischief.

Ms. Hiscocks was among 17 people who were charged with conspiracy after undercover police officers infiltrated activist groups in Southern Ontario as they planned protests for the G8 and G20 summits.

She was arrested early in the morning on June 26, 2010, hours before a Toronto protest turned into a riot, with black-clad protesters smashing windows and burning police cars.

In a plea deal negotiated last fall, 11 of the 17 activists had all charges against them dropped, and the rest pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Four of those convicted have already been sentenced and a fifth, Alex Hundert, will appear in court on Friday morning but expects to delay his sentencing until June.

GUELPH — Guelph activist Amanda Hiscocks expects to be before the courts again in connection with her advocacy efforts — even after she’s sentenced next month for her role in organizing protests at the G20 summit in Toronto.

That’s one of the revelations Hiscocks shared recently with Mercury reporter Rob O’Flanagan in a question-and-answer exchange, conducted via email. O’Flanagan pursued the Q & A session with Hiscocks and fellow Guelph activist Monica Peters after their participation in a plea-bargain agreement last month. It resolved the prosecution of a Crown case against them and more than a dozen other individuals described as the Toronto G20 ringleaders.

In that deal, Hiscocks, 37, pleaded guilty to counselling others to commit property damage and to counselling to obstruct a peace officer.

One of the most prominent anti-G20 Toronto anarchists remained defiant Tuesday while being sentenced to 10 months in jail for counselling mischief.

“I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice,” Leah Henderson, 27, told provincial court Justice Lloyd Budzinsky.

“I submit to your jails because today you hold all the weapons,” she told a Finch Ave. W. courtroom packed with her supporters.

Henderson and her then-boyfriend, Alex Hundert, were arrested in their west Toronto apartment after police stormed in during the early hours of June 26, 2010, the second day of the G20 summit.

She did not participate in protests where some people smashed windows and set fire to police cruisers, but pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to counselling others to commit mischief.

Below you will find the statement that I read to the court, followed by a letter to my community.

All you need to know about me is that I am a person of conscience, I came to this situation from a place of morality within myself, and I am a member of a community that shares that morality and a powerful vision for a future that is truly free.

I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice.

The court has been told, “this prosecution is not political”, and that this has been done to protect society from danger.

The truth is this entire prosecution is born from the politics of fear. Fear of our ideas, fear of what we represent:

On November 22, 2011, six of our friends pled guilty to counselling charges for organizing to disrupt the Toronto G20 summit in June, 2010. On November 28, 2011, Erik Lankin, Adam Lewis and Peter Hopperton were each sentenced to 3-5.5 months in jail. Leah Henderson expects to be sentenced to 10 months on December 20, 2011. Mandy Hiscocks expects to be sentenced to 16 months on January 13. Alex Hundert expects to be sentenced to 13.5 months, date to begin TBA.

A support flyer for the “Main Conspiracy Six” facing imprisonment can be found here.

To read the collective statement of the G20 Main Conspiracy Group, individual statements of co-defendants, and statements read to the courts, visit here.

By Ian Austin

Vancouver Police Board members Wednesday called for stiff sentences for rioters to help prevent a repeat of the Stanley Cup riot.

The meeting heard how Vancouver police are adapting their methods in response to the city-trashing riot that erupted after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The board also heard that changing public attitudes — and expectations of serious jail time — would go a long way to helping prevent a repeat performance of the violence that erupted that infamous day in June.

“I’m just hoping that the message is sent through the courts and sentencing,” board member Glenn Wong told the meeting.

An activist inadvertently responsible for ending a publication ban on the identities of two undercover police officers at Toronto’s G20 summit had his case put over at a brief court appearance Tuesday.

Julian Ichim faces three counts of disobeying a court order for writing a blog post about Constable Bindo Showan, an Ontario Provincial Police officer who infiltrated several activist groups before the summit.

In an Old City Hall courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors said they were not yet ready to proceed with the case and asked for a new court date of Jan. 11. Mr. Ichim briefly addressed the court, as about 20 supporters looked on.

By Michele Mandel

Imagine the horrific explosion that ripped apart the London Underground in 2005 — and now almost double it.

That’s the scope of potential damage Byron Sonne could have unleashed from the material discovered in his Forest Hill home before the G20 Summit, according to the homemade explosives expert testifying at his trial.

And Dr. John Anderson doesn’t buy that Sonne, 39, was just a hobbyist who liked making crystals and building rockets. After looking at the myriad of chemicals, lab devices and contraptions seized from his multi-million dollar home, the Crown expert came to only one conclusion.

“While I haven’t seen any evidence that something explosive was made,” he said, “I can think of no other reason than to make at some point an improvised explosive device.”

A judge has ruled that the trial for a man facing explosives charges linked to last year’s G20 summit can go ahead.

The judge found warrants to search Byron Sonne’s Toronto home were based on credible information.

She also said several statements Mr. Sonne made to police were voluntary and admissible.

With those rulings, Mr. Sonne’s trial began today with an agreed statement of facts that included his purchase of various chemicals.

The 39-year-old self-described security geek was arrested last June, just days before the violence-marred G20 weekend.

The Toronto G20 and the Challenges of Summit Protest
Tom Malleson and David Wachsmuth

In June 2010 activists opposing the G20 meeting held in Toronto were greeted with arbitrary state violence on a scale never before seen in Canada. Whose Streets? is a combination of testimonials from the front lines and analyses of the broader context, an account that both reflects critically on what occurred in Toronto and looks ahead to further building our capacity for resistance.

Featuring reflections from activists who helped organize the mobilizations, demonstrators and passersby who were arbitrarily arrested and detained, and scholars committed to the theory and practice of confronting neoliberal capitalism, the collection balances critical perspective with on-the-street intensity. It offers vital insight for activists on how local organizing and global activism can come together.