Evidence of meeting #45 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was summit.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
Now I want to back up a bit. You commented that when you first got to Toronto and came in from the airport, as you approached the University of Toronto gym you said you were met by some officers who came up onto the curb. You talked about them searching through your property. I think you made a reference to them scrolling through your text messages on your phone. Is that correct?
Executive Chair, Student Union of the University of British Columbia Okanagan
That is correct.
They read through all my e-mails and my text messages and asked me what my phone number was so they could look after it.
Executive Chair, Student Union of the University of British Columbia Okanagan
No, I was not. I was being held, though.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Did they give you any indication of why they were seizing your property and reading your private e-mails?
Executive Chair, Student Union of the University of British Columbia Okanagan
No. They said they were just doing security checks.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
You also mentioned, Mr. Lepp, that you heard a death threat issued when you were in detention. Can you tell us what you heard?
Executive Chair, Student Union of the University of British Columbia Okanagan
There was a young man in my cell who asked for water, and the police officer...I don't know, maybe he had had a hard day, but he said: “Shut the fuck up, you fucking French piece of shit. You're lucky there's cameras here, otherwise I'd send you home to Montreal in a body bag.”
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Paikin, I also looked at your tweets that day, and I want to put this to you. You wrote that night, on June 26, that:we must make a distinction between the “thugs” who broke store windows and torched cop cars and the very reasonable citizens who...
...just wanted to reminded the authorities that the freedom to speak and assemble shouldn't disappear because world leaders came to town.
i have lived in Toronto for 32 years. have never seen a day like this. shame on the vandals.
and shame on those that ordered peaceful protesters attacked and arrested. that is not consistent with democracy in toronto, G20 or no G20
Can you expand on that? What was in your mind when you wrote those words?
Anchor and Senior Editor, TVO
I'm not sure that requires much expansion. I think that pretty much sums it up. I could not help but be impressed by the.... I've seen a lot of protests in my time. I've been in journalism almost 30 years and I've seen hundreds of demonstrations in Toronto, for everything from people trying to get more money out of governments to nuclear freezes to everything you could imagine. I think that by this point I know a violent out-of-control protest when I see one, and I think I know a peaceful protest when I see one.
This was Saturday night. It was three or four hours into it. There were people sitting on the street. It was pouring rain. The numbers were dissipating because it was pouring rain. Everybody was wet. It did not seem to have any of the elements of something about to explode. Quite the contrary. It was winding down. And it just seemed at that point that the reaction of the police force was not warranted by the conditions at the time.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
You asked who specifically gave the order to clear the street. Was that decision made on site or by a higher authority? To this day, as a journalist who's used to asking questions, do you have an answer to those questions, Mr. Paikin?
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
You asked whether the Toronto police had any evidence of dangerous acts from those demonstrators that forced them to act that way at that time. Again, some months later, do you have any answer to that question today?
Anchor and Senior Editor, TVO
I did put that question to police chief Bill Blair when he was on The Agenda. He said he had reason to believe from intelligence sources he had that there were so-called black bloc elements within that protest on Saturday night on the esplanade. That's why the protest was broken up. When I asked him to share what the source of that intelligence might be, obviously he said he couldn't tell me.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Chavarie, you were in detention for some time. We've heard some evidence of indignities. I've been written to by other people about women being forced to toilet themselves in front of male guards. One man was handcuffed, hands behind his back, for 16 hours, and he had to urinate in a cup without the use of his hands. Did you see those events?
External Coordinator, Student Union of the University of British Columbia Okanagan
I'd like Grayson Lepp to speak on that. I think he actually witnessed a woman--
Executive Chair, Student Union of the University of British Columbia Okanagan
When I first entered the detention centre, I was greeted with three large cages to the left, all full of people screaming for water. On the right-hand side there were three porta-potties with the doors removed.
On my bus, there was a young French girl of about 18 years of age who had to go to the bathroom. She voiced that concern to the police officer. The police officers then removed her from the bus and took her to the outhouse. With her hands handcuffed behind her back, she had to remove her pants and undergarments and go to the bathroom in front of male and female officers and the rest of the males on the bus. It was absolutely appalling.
In another incident, I ran into an individual in the courthouse. He had been handcuffed for about 18 hours—I believe that's what he said—with his hands behind his back. When we first got to the detention centre they removed our handcuffs, which they had used to parade us in front of the media, and replaced them with zap straps--hands in front of us--so we could move. They kept us in those until about 11 at night. However, he was kept with his zap straps behind his back, put into a small single-confinement cell with no porta-potty, and given a styrofoam cup to pee in.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you very much, Mr. Lepp.
I will now move to the government side.
Mr. MacKenzie, please.
December 6th, 2010 / 4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the panel for being here.
Mr. Paikin, I'm sure you've been following some of this through the process in the committee.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Some of it? Okay.
I'm sure you're also well aware of there being a number of inquiries in the past that indicate the police are separate from government. I think the APEC one was a good example of that. The suggestion was the police were directed by government and that there's been direction of that....
Would I be right in saying you may have heard from the police authorities that the government did not direct the police operation on the G-8 and G-20?
Anchor and Senior Editor, TVO
I've never heard that anybody from the police force suggested that the government directed them to do anything.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Okay. Having said that, have you made your complaints known to the authorities in Ontario that are responsible for dealing with police misconduct?
Anchor and Senior Editor, TVO
Well, just for what it's worth, I don't have any complaints about it. I wrote about it. It's for others to complain.
But I was interviewed by the complaints procedure that takes place in the office of the...I guess it's the superintendent for the Toronto Police Service.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
So you're aware, though, that there are processes.... If somebody has a complaint about police conduct, you are aware that there are processes within the—