A journalist with visible credentials is arrested by riot police as rain pours down at the conclusion of the G20 Summit June 27, 2010 in Toronto.
Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson
It was “illegal” and “likely unconstitutional” for Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government to pass a secret regulation that police used to detain people near Toronto’s G20 summit of world leaders last summer, says Ombudsman Andre Marin.
In a scorching 125-page report entitled Caught in the Act, Marin said the measure “should never have been enacted” and “was almost certainly beyond the authority of the government to enact.”
“Responsible protesters and civil rights groups who took the trouble to educate themselves about their rights had no way of knowing they were walking into a trap – they were literally caught in the Act; the Public Works Protection Act and its pernicious regulatory offspring,” he told reporters.
Marin recommended that the little-known 1939 legislation should be revised or replaced and protocols developed so the public is made better aware when police powers are modified. He has given the government six months to make progress on this front.
2 comments:
If you are as frustrated as I am about the abuse of powers of police during the G20 (especially the fact that Toronto Chief of Police Bill Blair is still in power after admittedly lying to citizens about their civil rights resulting in individuals being unlawfully searched and detained), then follow this link for contact information for the City of Toronto (mayor and council) and a sample letter asking for the dismissal of Police Chief Blair:
http://thinkingradically.blogspot.com/2010/12/toronto-mayor-city-council-contact.html
~Jalex
The media, which now seems to be piling on, sure didn't have much negative to say about Toronto's police state in June. They were cheerleaders.
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