Two investigative reports from Ontario’s police complaints watchdog – obtained yesterday by the Star from complainants – concluded that three senior police officers committed misconduct at the G20 summit two years ago.

Jayme Poisson and Jennifer Yang

In an open letter to Torontonians, Police Chief Bill Blair said Friday he accepts responsibility for the actions of his police service and its members during the G20 summit, but stopped short of an apology.

“I will ensure that the lessons we learn during the G20 are incorporated into our procedures, our training and our future response. I am also fully committed to holding police officers of any rank accountable for misconduct,” the chief said.

“I remain committed to the safety of our city and all its citizens. I remain committed to restoring the confidence of the people we are sworn to serve and protect.”

What happened: More than 700 people began marching north on Bay St. from King St., then headed west on Queen St. By the time they hit the intersection of Queen and Spadina Ave., the crowd had grown to include media and bystanders. There they were boxed in by police using a controversial crowd-control move called “kettling.”

What the report found: When night shift Incident Commander Mark Fenton took control of the Major Incident Command Centre (MICC) he ordered more police public order units and officers on bicycles to the intersection to “box in the group and arrest them all for conspiracy to commit mischief,” said the report. At 7 p.m., a heavy downpour soaked protesters and police.

The weather made it difficult for commanders on the ground to shout instructions to the crowd, many of whom couldn’t hear them. On two occasions, public order unit commanders requested to use the long-range acoustic device (LRAD), but were denied by the command centre. The report quotes audio notes from an OPP public order section commander reporting concerns that people contained would “start dropping” from hypothermia. Specific instances included two young girls who lived in the area and a middle-aged couple out biking, both shivering.

A Toronto G20 protester was found not guilty today on all charges of possessing explosives and counselling mischief stemming for a police sweep in June 2010.

Byron Sonne was arrested during the massive police sweep of his Toronto home, just days before the G20 summit was set to open.

On Tuesday, Justice Nancy Spies said the Crown had not proven any of the charges against the 39-year-old, self-described security expert.

The judge told the Toronto court there’s no evidence to suggest Sonne meant to create explosives or cause any real damage at the G20, and that if he were intending to build a bomb, he probably wouldn’t do it inside his own home.

The decision means Sonne is immediately free, although he has been out on bail for the past year.

Sonne spent 11 months in detention.

Julian Ichim, the anti-poverty activist once accused of being a G20 co-conspirator, has filed a notice of claim to sue the Crown, Toronto police and his former “good friend” who was actually an undercover officer tasked with infiltrating activist groups.

In a notice filed with the Crown’s office Wednesday, Ichim alleges Ontario Provincial Police Const. Bindo Showan — who went by the name “Khalid Mohammed” — overstepped his lawful authority by encouraging criminal acts and driving drunk while working as an undercover police officer ahead of the June 2010 summit in Toronto.

Ichim claims his Charter rights were violated and that Showan provided “false and misleading information” that resulted in his unlawful arrest. He also alleges he was beaten by Toronto police, strip searched and subjected to “cruel and unusual treatment” at the G20 temporary jail.

A former TTC employee admits he did some stupid, goofy things during the G20 protests, including jumping up and down on an abandoned police cruiser on Queen St. W.

He also joined others trying to flip the car over, retreating when told to stop, playing with police radios and removing Toronto Police Service papers scattered inside the vehicle.

But Ashan Ravindhraraj, 27, says he did not set the fire that engulfed the scout car parked in the middle of Queen, just east of Spadina Ave., on June 26, 2010, one of the more indelible images of that notorious weekend.

At the outset of his trial last week, the first G20 case to be heard in front of a Toronto jury, Ravindhraraj pleaded guilty to two counts of mischief to property but pleaded not guilty to arson.

The final review of police actions at the G20 summit in Toronto will cost nearly twice as much as original estimates and could come months later than expected.

The civilian board that commissioned the report had hoped it would be ready late last month, 18 months after the process began. But an 11th-hour release of documents – provided by the RCMP in February – prompted reviewers to push that timeline back.

“Because new information became available, even though it was further down the road, we obviously had to look at it,” said Ryan Teschner, a lawyer for the Independent Civilian Review. “Unfortunately, timelines are not the same for everybody and we have to take a look at the information as it comes to us.”

Byron Sonne

The trial of a Forest Hill computer consultant charged with plotting to attack the Toronto G20 summit resumed Monday after a months-long hiatus.

Byron Sonne, who stands charged with possessing explosive substances and counselling the commission of mischief not committed, was arrested in the lead-up to the 2010 world leaders’ summit.

On Monday, the court heard from Detective Constable David Ouellette, a Toronto police officer seconded to the RCMP’s integrated national security enforcement team. Det. Const. Ouellette described a number of materials found on Mr. Sonne’s computer after his arrest, including a torrent file showing the accused had uploaded a document called Security Culture: A Handbook for Activists.

Jayme Poisson

It was an image that came to represent just about everything that went wrong with policing during the G20 Summit. One badgeless officer, face covered with a gas mask and visor, apparently kicking a protester in the back at Queen’s Park.

Nearly two years later, Nikos Kapetaneas, the 25-year-old environmentalist pictured in the photograph, body tense and face wincing, finally has the name of the officer: Const. Oliver Simpson — also implicated in the high-profile Adam Nobody case.

Caitlin Morgan claims she was next to her partner Kapetaneas when she was kicked forcefully in the side by the same cop on the Saturday of the June 2010 summit. The couple is suing the Toronto Police Services Board (who employs Toronto Police officers) for negligence, assault and battery, and intimidation. The two separate lawsuits, filed last week in small claims court, seek $25,000 each in damages.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. Police have not yet been served the lawsuit, said the couple’s lawyer Davin Charney.

Wendy Gillis

Toronto police have settled a human rights claim filed by a paraplegic man arrested during the G20 summit, but the terms will not be made public due to a confidentiality clause.

Gabriel Jacobs, a panhandler paralyzed from the waist down, filed a claim with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario last year, after he was arrested during the 2010 summit and later released without charge.

According to the claim, Jacobs was “dragged” from his motorized wheelchair, thrown into the back of a police cruiser and left on the floor of a temporary G20 detention centre where he defecated on himself because guards refused to help him.

Tess Sheldon, Jacobs’ lawyer, told the Star the claim was settled Friday, but said the terms “remain confidential.”

By Dan Neutel

The G20 Review, an independent body created to study police actions at the during summit protests in Toronto two years ago, has announced it will delay releasing its findings until later in the spring.

It had been hoping to have its final report published by the end of March, but recently received information has caused a delay, the group said Thursday.

“We did estimate that we would be in position sometime in March to have our report completed,” said Ryan Teschner, council to the review. “Given where we’re at right now, and because we’ve received new material, it is difficult for us to make a new prediction.”

The Independent Civilian Review, which began Sept. 23, 2010 by the Toronto Police Services Board, is to determine whether the planning and implementation of police actions during the summit were adequate and effective.

Chris Young

The officer was off duty at the time of the alleged offence, police say

A Toronto police officer has been charged with committing mischief and an indecent act after allegedly peeping into an apartment window.

Police say Constable Johnathon Blair, 30, “committed an indecent act while looking into a nearby apartment window” on Feb. 4. The location was not specified, but authorities say it was near the accused’s home.

Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash would not clarify what Const. Blair was allegedly doing in front of the window, noting the matter is now before the courts.

Const. Blair, who has five years of service with the Toronto force and is currently attached to 54 Division, was arrested Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court next month.

_By Kristie Pearce_

A Windsor-area man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for vandalism at Toronto police headquarters during violent protests that greeted the G20 summit in 2010.

Jae Muzzin was one of 317 people charged with committing criminal offences during the gathering of world leaders.

Justice Melvyn Green of the Ontario court in Toronto, said Muzzin appeared to act of character when he broke a window or windows at the police building.

Noting Muzzin's expressions of remorse, his lack of a criminal record and a low probability that he will reoffend, Green ordered that the sentence be served on weekends, followed by a one-year term of probation.

TORONTO - A Guelph activist accused of being an organizer of violent protests during the Toronto G20 summit in 2010 has pleaded guilty to eight charges.

Investigators alleged Kelly Pflug-Back was an organizer of the violence that saw at least five police vehicles burned and storefront windows smashed in the city's downtown.

Pflug-Back pleaded guilty today to one count of wearing a disguise with intent, and seven counts of mischief over $5,000.

She was on a Toronto police list of "most wanted" suspects of the G20 violence.

She surrendered to police in Peterborough, Ont., in July 2010, just hours after a warrant was issued for her arrest via a police press conference in Toronto where she was described as an organizer and active participant in criminal G20 protest actions.

There are no new stories to be told—just new twists on old news. Today we learn that yet another Toronto Police officer is being accused of abusing a man's civil rights during the G20 summit in Toronto during July 2010. From the Globe and Mail:

Nicholas dePencier Wright is seeking $25,000 in damages, plus other fees, in small claims court for a run-in with police on June 27, 2010, the second day of G20 meetings at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The lawsuit follows a probe by the province’s police watchdog, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, in which investigators substantiated Mr. dePencier Wright’s claim that he was unlawfully arrested.

A local lawyer is suing the Toronto Police Services Board for what he says was an unlawful arrest and a violation of his Charter rights during the city’s G20 summit – an incident the police say was simply an attempt to maintain public safety.

Nicholas dePencier Wright is seeking $25,000 in damages, plus other fees, in small claims court for a run-in with police on June 27, 2010, the second day of G20 meetings at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The lawsuit follows a probe by the province’s police watchdog, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, in which investigators substantiated Mr. dePencier Wright’s claim that he was unlawfully arrested.

Mr. dePencier Wright said he was riding his bicycle eastbound on Bloor Street West, near Spadina Avenue, when Constable Ryan Simpson stopped him. Mr. de Pencier Wright provided identification, but otherwise invoked his right to silence. He was searched, handcuffed, placed in the back of a police cruiser and released in about 20 minutes.

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.