People need to tell their G20 story in a public hearing: CCLA and NUPGE

[JohnyCanuck]

Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and James Clancy, the National Union of Public and General Employees's national president, spoke to rabble.ca about the release of a report by the CCLA and the NUPGE based on public hearings on the G20 mass arrests. The hearings were held in Toronto and Montreal last November.

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Q: "NUPGE and the CCLA believe the majority of the arrests that occurred during the G20 were excessive and unwarranted." (p. 43 of the report.) Regarding the amount of testimony gathered during the two days of the inquiry, are you surprised that there was only been one arrest (two charges) laid against one police officer --Toronto Police Constable Babek Andalib-Goortani?

James Clancy: I'm really not surprised. I am, however, extremely disappointed that the stonewalling and lack of transparency by police and government officials continues eight months after the G20 and is still preventing justice from being served.

There's ample evidence that many police officers used excessive and unreasonable force and conducted themselves in an unlawful manner. There's absolutely no valid reason why those officers have not been formally charged.

Nathalie Des Rosiers: Massive and illegal arrests may not lead to criminal charges against individual police officers. It could be that orders were given to kettle and detain and massively arrest. We just do not know at this stage.

Q: With this one arrest (and perhaps a few more), how do you feel about the police's approach to singling out a few bad apples as opposed to looking at systemic reasons why there were so many alleged abuses?

Nathalie Des Rosiers: It is obvious from the sheer amount of testimony gathered at the inquiry's hearings in Toronto and Montreal that this issue of police misconduct goes beyond the work of one of two (rogue) officers.

There were several different police agencies on board during the weekend and they were all receiving orders I assume from one central body. Only a public inquiry with the power to dig deeper into these kinds of relationships will reveal the truth regarding who were giving the orders and what those orders were regarding the police's behaviour towards the public, and why we saw a shift in police behaviour from the Saturday (June 26, 2010) to the Sunday (June 27, 2010) in regards to such things as aggressiveness.

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Q: Regarding next steps, do you feel it would be worthwhile investigating the role of the federal government in all of the policing of the G20 Summit? If you feel this is important, why the lack of attention regarding the role of Prime Minister Harper, the PMO's office and the federal government?

James Clancy: It's critical that the federal government establish an independent public inquiry into the G20 events. Canadians deserve answers.

Unfortunately, it appears the prime minister is determined to sweep the whole thing under the rug. The G20 cost Canadians dearly, not only in the billions of dollars spent in taxpayers' money, but also in terms of damage to our reputation on the world stage. For Prime Minister Harper to deny Canadians a public inquiry is a clear indication that his government has a lot to hide about the role they played in this very dark moment in Canadian history.

http://rabble.ca/news/2011/03/people-need-tell-their-g20-story-public-hearing-ccla-and-nupge

There are two Youtube videos linked at http://torontoG20exposed.ca examining some of the many incidents of police brutality and the abrogation of protesters civil rights at last year's Toronto G20 meeting. The first video you see at the top of the page is a copy of the recent Fifth Estate program on the G20 policing problems called,"You Should Have Stayed at Home", and the second video "Toronto G20 Exposed" is a longer and more in depth look at the same subject matter. (You have to page down to view the 2nd video posted underneath the Fifth Estate video.) I would encourage anyone who is as disgusted as I am at the thug like behaviour of the police on this occasion to make sure these two videos are posted and spread far and wide.