Public Safety Committee on Dec. 1st, 2010

[Jenilee Guebert]

Yes.

[Andrew Kania, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Right.

Mr. Leitold, in terms of your report here, starting on page 1 and then going to the last page, you have a quote here that I will say as a Canadian I find disturbing, but I'm going to read it.

The rampant violations of civil, political, and human rights by police and security during the G-20 represents not a misstep by police in how they handle large protests, but a systematic targeting of social movements on the left, and a deliberate repression of those who criticize and oppose the policies of this government.

I take it you mean the Harper government when you say “this government”?

[Mike Leitold]

Yes. In particular we've identified the Harper government. But having said that—

[Andrew Kania, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

I'm sorry, just let me read the other quote as well. Page 10:

The G-20 policing and resulting civil, political and human rights violations was not a random blip in our country's otherwise solid record of respecting the rights of its citizens and residents. It was, in fact, the most obvious and recent example of a long tradition of state interference against social justice critics of government policies—

...and as you say, “a pattern that seems to have become even more pronounced with the current Harper Conservative government”.

I'd like you to more fully explain what you mean about how our civil liberties are being targeted and this pattern by the Harper Conservatives.

[Mike Leitold]

Certainly. Looking into recent history, there has been much criticism of the mass arrests that took place in Quebec in 2001 during the free trade area of the Americas protests. That pattern of mass arrests is exactly what we're seeing fleshed out, and even on steroids, as it were, the weekend of the G-20.

This is the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Over 1,000 people were held, and at least 740 without charge. And we've seen many of the charges crumble in court as they've attended and had them withdrawn, as the media has reported.

From our group's perspective, we are seeing, as we've indicated in the report, a pattern of targeting of social justice activists. In essence, what we're saying is the policing and the pattern of policing, which involved surveillance at the beginning, harassment of activists, leading up to illegal detention and arrest, is one that we've seen before, such as around the free trade area of the Americas, but essentially beefed up and on steroids with respect to what we saw at the G-20.

Those conclusions that we've drawn I think are rational under the circumstances of what we've seen and what our on-the-ground observations were.

[Andrew Kania, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Adams, from a policing perspective, is there any reason why the G-8 and G-20 summits could not have both taken place in Toronto?

[Supt Brian Adams]

Sir, a decision of that magnitude isn't made by the policing partners. That's a government decision. They certainly didn't ask my opinion on it.

[Andrew Kania, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

No, I understand that, and I understand as well that the Peel Regional Police Force, which does fine work, had nothing to do with the downtown operations of Toronto in terms of making decisions, the mass arrests. That was all in the city of Toronto police department, correct?

[Supt Brian Adams]

Yes, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Kania.

We'll now move to Madam Mourani.

Madam Mourani, vous avez cinq minutes.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I thank everyone for being here today.

I have some questions for you, Mr. Adams. You said earlier that several uniformed officers of your police force had been sent as reinforcement for the G20. Security was under the control of the Toronto police but 128 uniformed officers of your department were on site.

Is that right?

[Supt Brian Adams]

That is correct. On Saturday night our integrated security partners asked us for additional uniformed resources and we sent down a command team with supervisors and 120 uniformed officers.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

On Sunday, did your men—or maybe yourself as a commanding officer—take part in the arrests, in fact in the operation that I would call the “Toronto University Operation”, in the gymnasium?

[Supt Brian Adams]

No, we did not.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

You were not part of it.

[Supt Brian Adams]

No, we did not.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Very well. I have another question for you, Mr. Adams. When your officers or investigators enter private places, a university, a residence, a bar and so on… if they have no evidence of a possible threat to life… Let us take, for example, the gymnasium of the University of Toronto. Do you believe that an operation in that place would require a warrant?

[Supt Brian Adams]

It all depends on the circumstances and information that we have, and what evidence we have. It's sort of a general comment that you're making. It all depends on what my investigation says, what intelligence we have, and what evidence we have.

Does that help you?

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

No, not really. In fact, my question is simple. When you enter a private place, do you need a warrant, yes or no? I am talking about police in general.

[Supt Brian Adams]

Once again, it depends on the circumstances. I'll give you an example. If I'm sent to a call where there is a husband and wife involved in a situation where there's violence involved—

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

No, no.

[Supt Brian Adams]

But you asked me for an example.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

No, I am going to be more specific. There are young people sleeping in a gymnasium. Would the police need a warrant to enter the premises and arrest everybody?

[Supt Brian Adams]

Once again, Madame, it depends on the evidence and the information we have.

My apologies, I'm--

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Okay.

I hope you know Mr. Blair, the chief of the Toronto Police Service.