I have written a letter to those I believe are responsible for caling a public inquiry into the G20 debacle in Toronto. My son was beaten and arrested by police as were hundreds of other innocent civilians. It is important that a public inquiry be launched so that we can find out exactly who it was who stole our civil liberties for a weekend and how they managed to do it.

I know, if a letter is to be effective, it is supposed to be a single page. But I couldn't stop.

July 8, 2010

Ms. Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva; Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Mr. Vic Toews, Minister, Public Safety; Mr. Michael Ignatieff. Leader, Liberal Party; Mr. Jack Layton, Leader, NDP; Dan McTeague, MP; Wayne Arthurs, MPP; Mr. William Blair, Chief of Police, Toronto; Mr. Alok Mukherjee, Chair, Toronto Police Services Commission; Mr. Dalton McGuinty, Premier, Ontario; Mr. David Onley, Lieutenant Governor, Ontario

Dear Ms. Pillay,

As a Canadian who cherishes our right to freely express ourselves and who upholds the rule of just law, I write with a heavy heart. It is weighed by the stark images I’ve seen and stories I’ve heard from direct eye witnesses of so many of our civil liberties being denied, again and again, by police officers as they carried out their duties in downtown Toronto during the weekend of the G20. My son, having just celebrated his 19th birthday, was one of those taken out of a peaceful crowd of protesters by police, kicked, stomped upon, arrested without charge, and held for 24 hours in a cage without legal counsel or medical attention. His arrest is recorded on YouTube but, as in other recorded situations, police hid their actions behind shields and impermeable lines thereby preventing the public from filming what they were doing; all you can hear is his cry, “What did I do? What did I do?” It is terrible to watch.

I would like to know what it is that he, and hundreds like him, did to deserve the treatment they experienced at the hands of those charged with protecting them. I would like to know why he was pulled down while part of a peaceful crowd. I would like to know why he and others who were with him were beaten as they were being arrested. I would like to know why when my son asked for medical attention, an officer told him he hoped his wound would get infected. I would like to know why, when asked for his badge number, that same officer replied “Fuck you.” I would like to know why, when my son stared at him that same officer told him “Stop looking at me or I’ll kick you in the chest again“, both threatening my son and identifying himself as one of those who kicked my son during his arrest. I would like to know why officers did not tell my son what he did that caused his arrest.

I would like to know why the Eastern Avenue temporary detention facility was a place of overcrowding, debasement, and humiliation. I would like to know why civilians detained there were not allowed the medical attention they needed, were not allowed consideration for special needs, were not given toilet paper, were held in cuffs that caused their fingers to tingle for hours, were referred to only by number, were not provided enough space to lie down or sleep, were not allowed a phone call or legal representation, were allowed to soil themselves if they were not able to use the exposed toilets and then allowed to remain in a soiled state, and why some had to resort to creating shoulder to shoulder body walls to protect their privacy. I would like to know why they were not allowed to contact legal counsel or even family members.

I would like to know why “finding members of the Black Bloc” is offered as though it is an acceptable justification for mass arrests of innocent people. I would like to know why the Black Bloc was allowed to run a 24 block rampage in the centre of our city undeterred by police. I would like to know why police, who are purported to have already infiltrated the Black Bloc, did not move to prevent their destructive actions. I would like to know why police cars were left unattended for hours before the Black Bloc torched them. I would like to know why photo journalists were able to get so close to such violent criminals but police are reported to have fled from them. I would like to know why the interests of those who sought to bring their concerns peacefully to the attention of this city and the G20 leaders who were meeting here, were surrounded by police while the Black Bloc was ignored. I would like to know why police are filmed in the attire of Black Bloc members and if, as has happened before in Canada, they were acting as agents provocateurs.

I would like to know why Toronto was put at such a level of risk by holding the G20 in its downtown core that it merited a 1 billion dollar security force. I would like to know why the distinction between the fence and those buildings protected by the invoking of the Public Works Act was not clarified for the public. I would like to know why police continued to arrest and impede individuals within and beyond 5 metres of the fence throughout the weekend of the G20. I would like to know why arrests were made as far away from the "secure" area as Queen and River Streets. I would like to know why a York Regional Police Officer advised civilians who were not within 5 metres of the fence, that they were “not in Canada” with his colleague from the Toronto Police Force adding that they were in "G20 land". I would like to know why civilians were not allowed peaceful passage in a land that is Canada where people do have rights. I would like to know why police on horses were allowed to ride through a protected area, trampling pedestrians in the process. I would like to know why David Miller and Dalton McGuinty dismiss demands for explanations, arguing instead that police acted appropriately. I would like to know what further information they had that allows them to think that way; current public information does not, in any way, support the abuses of civil liberties that police exercised. I would like to know why our country's media has not focused on the gross injustices perpetrated and continues to allow the majority of Canadians to believe they were at risk and that the mass arrests were a necessary response.

I want to know what really happened, what when wrong, why, and who is responsible. I want to know that the government and the forces involved in the ISU, Integrated Security Unit, are doing everything in their power to identify those who acted inappropriately, discipline them, and then develop plans to help rebuild our trust, particularly that of a generation of youth who appear to have been targeted throughout this weekend. There are many, many things I and thousands and thousands of other Canadians would like to know. Perhaps one of the most burning among them is “How could this happen in Canada?”

More than anything, though, I want to know that this will never happen again. Given the obvious dismissal of recommendations issued by the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee in 2005, however, I fear that this kind of assault on dissent is growing rather than diminishing in Canada. I want to know that my fear is unfounded.

I am ashamed of the treatment Canadians received at the hands of those entrusted with ensuring their safety and, if our governments will not take action and call a public inquiry that will find answers to these questions and so many more, I will be ashamed, too, of my government.

Yours,

Gretta Vosper (Rev.)

Mother

Canadian

Minister, West Hill United Church

Founder, Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity

Author, With or Without God: Why the Way We Live is More Important that What We Believe

(HarperCollins, 2008)