Actual G20 Police Accountability?

When the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) released its scathing G20 policing report yesterday, the Twitter machine lit up.

The HiveMind® got to work trying to remember if there had been any charges laid against cops and we could come up with just two: Glenn Weddell and Babak Andalib-Goortani.

At the same time, one of the people I follow, Paisley Rae, was having an interesting exchange with the person or persons behind the Toronto Police handle. For a bot, Toronto Police seemed fairly intelligent and responsive.

I followed @TorontoPolice and asked for information on the status of the two charged cops, because even with one very distinctive name, they seemed to have dropped off the news radar. He or she promised to find out.

And now because I'm following, I get all kinds of missing persons reports, PSAs, press releases etc., like this one.

It amused me. I mean, they must have known for weeks when the OIPRD report was coming out, right?

Cops have sense of humour? MT @TorontoPolice "Operation Distraction", Monday, May 14, 2012 - Friday, May 18, 2012 is.gd/5MoRHP #G20

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) May 16, 2012

And today, we finally get the news we've been waiting nearly two fucking years for -- there might be some accountability after all.

A handful of senior Toronto police commanders are expected to be charged in coming weeks for a variety of misconduct offences over their leadership at the G20 summit in June 2010, CBC News has learned.

The charges are in addition to 28 frontline officers slated to have disciplinary hearings for a range of misconduct offences, including unlawful arrests and use of excessive or unnecessary force against prisoners.
. . .
Until now, no details of specific charges against the officers have been released, however court documents reveal specific allegations against eight officers who have already been served with "notices of hearing."

While that says 'court documents', it isn't clear to me whether these are internal hearings or Real World (as in, Having Serious Consequences) hearings.

We'll see, I guess.

BONUS: A CBC round-up of G20 reports to date.

"I want MY justice!"

Just when you thought the Contempt Party couldn't be any more leg-humping contemptuous and arrogant, along comes Tony "Cashmere" Clement to crank it up a notch.

[...] the Treasury Board president is demanding an apology from the NDP, which levelled the accusation last week.

"Now they've been shown to be a bunch of liars and I want my justice," Clement said Tuesday, moments after being cleared by House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer.

Clement added that "a liar should apologize" and even hinted at legal action should New Democrat MP Charlie Angus refuse to apologize for initiating a "smear campaign full of lies." [...]

The issue arose last week when the NDP noticed that the official transcript, known as Hansard, had been altered to delete Clement's response of "sure" when asked if he would publicly disclose all the applications from municipalities in his riding for a share of the $50-million G8 legacy fund. [...]

Clement told reporters his repeated use of the word "sure" is a verbal tick, a way of hesitating while he formulates his response to questions, much the same way other people use "you know" or "OK." He said he had no intention of agreeing to the NDP request to produce the application forms for funding.

Boulerice said Clement's continued refusal to produce the documents shows the NDP has nothing to learn from Clement "about telling the truth."

Methinks the knave doth protest too much and way too vigorously. The Politburo will be coming along shortly to check Tony's meds, as per Stevie's instructions, to avoid a messy melt-down.

Merci to our friend in car-wreck hilarity, canadian cynic.

Attawapiskat vs gazebos

Must-read blog post from Alison at Creekside: Attawapiskat vs gazebos.

Linky goodness to other insightful articles + illuminating graphic illustration that compares the housing budget allocated to Attawapiskat and Clement's G8 slush fund.

'Farcically Ill-Equipped'

'Farcical' is right.

Stephen Maher in The Vancouver Sun yet takes Tony Slush apart. Title: 'Up Muskoka River without a paddle'.

So Clement's defence is that the mayors made the recommendations, which they didn't, and that Baird made the decision, which he didn't.

We need to know why there was no paperwork for the auditor general, because we are up Muskoka River without a paddle if politicians are able to hide their files from the auditor general, the only official with the power to pierce the veil of secrecy in Ottawa.

Clement's explanations are gibberish, and he does not appear to have the judgment necessary for his current job as president of Treasury Board, the minister in charge of enforcing spending rules.

Whether it's gazebos, the long-form census or the InSite file, Cashmere Tony is an embarrassment.

To everyone but PM SHithead himself, of course.

Prime ministers need loyal servants, so even though Clement's G8 shenanigans show that he is farcically ill-equipped to carry out his job, Harper is unlikely to move him or to force him to fully account for the rule-breaking porkfest in Muskoka.

But good on the MSM for staying on this.

Shame

So. How did a guy who won his House of Commons seat by a measly 28 votes in 2006 wallop his competition by nearly 11,000 votes two years later?

Simple corruption.

The NDP is accusing federal Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement of using a controversial, $50-million G8 legacy fund to buy re-election, prompting a heated denial from the government.

Municipal documents obtained by the New Democrats show Clement met with local mayors and councillors in the midst of the 2008 election campaign. They discussed how to identify projects that could be eligible for the legacy funding.

Twelve days after that meeting, a local news outlet reported that Clement had posted video endorsements from "local townspeople, mayors and council members" on his campaign website.

Somebody needs to investigate. In particular, this bit:

The auditor general has also criticized the government for shutting bureaucrats out of the process and for maintaining no paper trail to explain how or why the projects were selected.

However, hundreds of pages of municipal documents obtained by the NDP through provincial freedom of information legislation, show that federal bureaucrats did in fact participate in local meetings about the legacy fund -- including the one held during the 2008 campaign.

The documents also show that municipal officials were told to direct all questions and send funding applications to Clement's constituency office, not the government.

Shame on the people of Muskoka who sold their vote for a bunch of crappers. But the bureaucrats who sold their integrity should be fired and prosecuted.

As for Tony Slush, I'll keep my opinions on his just punishment to myself.

For now.

Image source. The blogger said presciently back in April this year:

Sweet for Tony Clement and the Conservative Party. They’ll probably get re-elected in Clement’s riding given all the tax money which has been spent there.

ADDED: Alison does the math.

The Latest Hockey Riot

Excellent analysis of the riot in Vancouver.

Booze-fueled, consumerist über-nationalism.

I did receive this incisive bit of analysis from Dru Oja Day, an editor at the Media Co-op. “If you ask people to pour all of their emotions and anger into a game, then a major event (Montrealers have rioted after first round game 7 wins!) is going to occasion some outbursts. Hockey commentators like Hockey Nights’ Don Cherry are constantly associating hockey with the troops overseas (he went to Afghanistan and fired a live shell, for chrissakes) and promote fighting and big open ice hits. We shouldn’t be surprised.”
. . .

As one of those real heroes, Harsha Walla said to me, "There is a sense that people rioted over a 'stupid apolitical hockey game'. While I too wish people were motivated by social justice issues, the hockey game is NOT apolitical by any means. The riots were a fundamentalist defense of a type of nationalism, most evident in the beatings and stabbings of Bruins fans in Vancouver last night. NHL hockey is not simply a game, it is representative of obedience to consumerism and is part of the state's attempt to forge a false identity - despite vast differences and inequalities across race, class, and gender, through the spectacle of sport."

The state does reap what the state sows. We should remember that as the hand-wringing by police and government officials commences in earnest.

The piece also points out that bystanders were safer at an idiotic hockey riot than at the G8/G20 protests last summer.

Do NOT help identify the idiots. Soon -- very soon -- it will be you and me the cops will ask for help in identifying.

Dear Toronto Police: We Are ^NOT Stupid

Shorter Rosie DiManno: Cops should STFU about members of certain communities failing to come forward, until some cop comes forward and IDs this one.

What's a little human rights abuse and corruption matter?

Remember this?



In the UK, kettling was just ruled illegal.

One night last December, having already spent five hours trapped by the Metropolitan police in Parliament Square, I was imprisoned on Westminster Bridge along with 1,000 other mostly young protesters, in sub-zero temperatures, for more than two hours. We were held in such a tight space that some suffered respiratory problems and chest pains: the symptoms of severe crushing. This is kettling, and in its strategic brutality and unabashed doublethink, it is the perfect hallmark for the Cameron era.

In a landmark ruling, the high court ruled on Thursday that the Met's use of the tactic during 2009's G20 protests was illegal. Their wider use of kettling, common throughout this winter's student and anti-cuts protests, is currently being challenged at the European court of human rights. Despite the high court warning that it must only be used as a "last resort catering for situations about to descend into violence", the Met are unrepentant. "At the heart of this case," they responded, "lies a vital public order policing tactic that prevents disorder and protects the public." They will appeal against the high court ruling, and continue to use kettling "where necessary".

The practice is a prime example of collective punishment and as such violates the Geneva Conventions. Major human rights abuse, in other words.

We in Toronto are well aware of what human rights abuse looks like up close and personal. And now from the Star we learn that the abuse is ongoing.

Hundreds of citizens were documented by police in mostly non-criminal encounters during last year’s G20 summit — and their names and personal details still live on in an internal police database.

Over three days, more than 500 people were stopped, questioned and documented by Toronto police officers in key G20 patrol areas downtown and near a temporary jail location, according to a Toronto Star analysis of police contact card data obtained in a freedom of information request.

Police use the database as an investigative tool to connect people, places and times. For example, in the case of a homicide, detectives can enter a victim’s name and see who they associated with in the past — and where and when.

The level of “carding” was unusually high during the summit, which could be expected given the police presence.

And that, of course, was in addition to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history, along with assorted beatings, rubber bullets, mistreatment, and bubble-blowing.

Silver lining? For a change, the white folk were targetted.

In a 2010 series, the Star examined six years worth of city-wide contact card data and found that Toronto police document black people at a higher rate than whites.

This was not the case in downtown Toronto on summit weekend. In fact, the proportion of white people who were documented increased 27 per cent from the 2008 daily average.

There is soooo much we need to learn from this travesty.

Some of it is already known but we are NOT allowed to see it, because, ironically or idiotically, we are in the middle of choosing the next gang of corporate bought-and-paid-for flunkies to rule over us.

The least you can do is sign the damn petition urging the release of Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report. Nearly 69,000 people have signed since 11 a.m. Thursday morning.

Bribery and a Boot to the Nads

So, the pork ladelled into Cashmere Tony's riding was supposed to have been to reduce border congestion.

The Canadian Press dropped an incendiary bomb on an otherwise torpid campaign on Monday, reporting that an early draft of Fraser’s report found that “Parliament was misinformed” about some of the spending. It indicated that the government asked Parliament to okay $83 million for a fund to reduce border congestion, while intending to use $50 million of it to spruce up Industry Minister Tony Clement’s Huntsville riding, far from any border.

I'd say it did a dandy job of that. I can personally confirm that there are no big rigs idling on the streets of Huntsville waiting for their turn at US Customs.

No. Wait. That money was intended as a 'thank you' to Muskokans.

Claude Doughty, mayor of Huntsville, the main site of the summit in Ontario’s Muskoka region, defended the program, saying some of the projects were meant more as a “thank you” to area municipalities for being host than as G8-related facilities.

“I don’t think there was ever any intent that some of them would be used by the world leaders,” he said. “You have to appreciate that a lot of people in Muskoka did a lot of work to prepare for the G8, myself included. And for those municipalities that went out of their way to really do those things, this was a bit of a token of saying, ‘Thank you.’ ”

A great big thank you that Muskokans are really really grateful for.

Oh. Wait.

However, some of the “legacy” items are largely unused. The University of Waterloo’s environmental research centre, completed 11 months ago, remains deserted and without signage. The echoing hallways of a summit centre are largely bare save for pieces of community art, while a brand-new seniors centre, banquet hall and drop-in daycare were empty on Monday afternoon.

But. But. Other sites of big events have had thank-you dough thrown at them too.

From the second, later, version of the draft:

2.2 - In the past, federal funds have been made available to some regions hosting international or Prime Minister-led events on Canada's behalf. Regions have benefited from several million dollars made available for hosting. For example, in April 2001, Quebec City received about $4.5 million as it hosted the Summit of the Americas, and we noted a $5 million fund attached to the June 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis.

I haven't seen anybody note this. Muskoka is worth TEN TIMES Quebec City or Kananaskis?

Even 5 million bucks fraudulently acquired divvied up by a lying (see census) cabinet minister, a small town mayor, and a resort (?????) manager is too much.

But TEN TIMES that?

And leaving aside the corruption, lying, and sheer greed, the whole deal is a GINORMOUS slap in the face to Torontonians, as noted by that left-wing scribbler, Joe Warmington, who, remember, himself got caught up in the police state.

But my favourite expenditure of the dozens to spruce up Industry Minister Tony Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding is the $274,000 on portable toilets. It may be a crappy business, but not on the day you cash the cheque from the federal government. At least the Muskoka outhouses had doors, unlike the humiliation the wrongfully incarcerated experienced at the Eastern Ave. lockup.

It's sheer WIN for the ReformaTories. Bribe greedy, small-minded yahoos and AT THE SAME TIME boot TO in the nads.

Call the Cops!

Or email them.

According to a commenter at Maclean's, one can email any York Regional Police officer using badge number followed by @yrp.ca.

Hm.

It was York Regional Police who told passers-by that they weren't in Canada anymore and didn't have civil rights.

If the number on the epaulet is the badge number, I can make out 1775, 8952, 9422, and the head honcho has a three digit number. I think it's 815, maybe 813. Or?

Again. Hm.

Agents Provocateurs, 3

Anybody got a photo of an undamaged 3-digit Toronto cop car?

Are they working some kinda insurance scam? Just askin'.

From here.

I am Spartacus!

I'm (somewhat) Italian. I'm of a certain age. Ergo, I wear black.

But wearing black is a provocative act in today's Toronto.

Via Stageleft, we learn that even the neo-cons get hassled when wearing black. (And they don't like it. Hee.)

So. I propose that tomorrow be Men and Women and Children in Black Day. Everybody wear black. Even if you're not in Toronto.

I am Blackacus!

Agents Provocateurs

There are only two possible explanations for the shocking spectacle that Toronto witnessed yesterday: stunning incompetence -- braindead decisions from start to finish -- or despicable calculation -- meant to fail, punish Toronto, and justify the billion-dollar boondoggle that Steven Harper's ego demanded.

Look, even Peter Kuitenbrouwer writing in the Natty Po admits it:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has something to answer for tonight. It is hard for this writer to escape the feeling that this summit was designed with every possible star aligned for ugliness to occur. The summit is held on a summer weekend, after university and high school exams are over; all the students are out and free and have time on their hands. Summer weather is perfect for a march. The summit takes place in the heart of Toronto: everybody in Canada has a friend in Toronto where they can stay during a protest.

And can we not say that assembling the greatest number of police in one spot in the history of Canada, and spending more on fences and security than Canada has ever spent before, has a provocative effect?

The authorities were following the so-called Miami Model.

First, ramp up the information war. Label protesters anarchists and terrorists.

Next, intimidate everybody but especially known leaders of protest groups.

On the day, claim 'they' started it, even if agents provocateurs have to be used or irresistible targets -- like abandoned cop cars -- left lying about.

Then, the authorities pat themselves on the back for a job well done. (This bit isn't going so well, however.)

So, incompetence or calculation? Here is David Langille, who was sitting in Fran's at College and Yonge:

As an academic and an activist, I have participated in numerous demonstrations in Canada, the United States, Europe and South America, and I have never seen such a dereliction of duty.

Normally, there are buses full of riot police right in the downtown core, ready to move at a moment's notice.

The police knew that they should focus their energies on the Black Bloc, especially so late on Saturday afternoon.

But when the rioters came smashing their way up the main street of Toronto, the police disappeared for half an hour.

Here's another vote for incompetence:

Asked whether police were slow to respond to the violence, [Toronto Police Chief] Blair said a mob had emerged from the initially peaceful protest and broke into several groups of vandals.

"It did take us some time to move our resources," Blair said.

Blair later said police are reviewing their tactics, "what worked and what didn't work as well."

And now Judy Rebick weighs in:

But it is the police that let the handful of people using Black Bloc tactics run wild and then used the burning police cars and violent images as a media campaign to convince the people of Toronto that the cost and the excessive police presence was necessary. They knew what would happen and they knew how it would happen. It is the police that bear the responsibility for what happened last night. They were responsible for keeping the peace and they failed to do it.

Me, I blame Stephen Fucking Harper for dumping this insanity on us AND the cops for coming up with this Reichstag ploy to justify it -- agents provocateurs all.

Who Stole Toronto?

And replaced it with Saskatoon? (I spent the longest day of the year -- and my life -- in Saskatoon.)

It's downright eerie here. There's more traffic in the dead of night.

I just walked from College and Spadina to Dundas and Yonge and back. I've never seen my city like this.

Lunch-time. Gorgeous day.

Vacant restaurant patios. Closed up businesses. Empty streetcars. A few taxis roaming around.

There is a fuck of a lot of money not being made today. By regular people, I mean: waiters and taxi-drivers and hot-dog vendors and restaurant owners. You know, the people who need every dime to get by.

And what an impression to make on such visitors as do manage to escape from the Red Zone. It looks like an unaccountably huge hick town out there.

This bloody shindig can't be over soon enough.

Radical Anti-Harper Group Strikes Again

CRUSH, that radical anti-Harper group, has done it again! Just in time for the billion-dollar boondoggle, we've raised enough dough to put an ad in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

Here's Pam Allard, one of the admins making the announcement:

Because of the generous support and commitment of our members, we are pleased to announce that our latest ad will appear in the Focus section of the Globe & Mail on Saturday, June 26th to coincide with the G8/G20 summits. This ad will stress the economic mismanagement of the Harper government surrounding these summits.

We should all take great pride in this achievement!

It's the ninth ad in what we hope will be a snowballing crusade.

Catch up with the achievements of the totally grasssroots, multi-partisan, all-volunteer gang here. Donate if you can. And check out the de rigeur protest gear.

Bodes Badly

I live hard by a fire station. While I don't know precisely what my waking in the middle of the night siren threshold is, it is surely more than three or four. In fact, the last time I woke to sirens was the MASSIVE fire a couple of years ago that took out an entire block of Queen Street West.

So when my eyes popped open last night at about 3:30, I knew something was up.

And this morning I found out what. Some yahoo in the nightclub district decided to let a couple of shots fly.

At least four shots were fired into the air early Tuesday just outside the G20 restricted traffic zone in downtown Toronto.

Police say that at about 3:30 a.m., ET more than a dozen off-duty RCMP officers witnessed the shots being fired by the occupants of a black sports car.

Ah but with nine trillion cops, snipers, water cannons, sound cannons, and fifty miles of barricades fucking up my city, they caught the asshole in a trice, wrestled him out of the car, and whapped sixteen pairs of cuffs on him, right?

Um. No.

The car sped away from the scene, a parking lot in the King and Peter streets area. Police gave chase but lost the car somewhere in Etobicoke, in the city's west end.

So, fellow and sister Torontonians -- how bloody secure are we feeling this fine morning?

BONUS! From reader k'in, we learn that the LCBO is closing seven downtown booze stores -- including mine on Spadina north of Dundas -- for this jumbo jamboree. We beleaguered downtowners will have to hike our worthless butts a couple of extra kilometres if we want to get legless.

And we do.

You know, I'd just say fukkit and head off to the cottage I have access to. But it's near Huntsville.

Well, what goes round comes round, I guess. I hate Stephen Harper and it seems he hates me right back.

In a nutshell, Stevie's maternal health initiative.

One of our great readers provided a link to this graphic; the moment to display it has arrived. The text says

"Abortions cost Canada millions per year. The Conservatives will do it for less!

Our women's maternal health policies ensure murderous mothers get abortions the way God intended: in back alleys and garages by car mechanics, veterinarians and other beasts of the underworld.

In African conflicts, rape is an effective weapon for genocide, so long as we don't fund abortions.

A woman's life is second to an unborn child. Let God solve complications, not medical professionals.

What choice do you need? a message from the [Harper] government of Canada."

Fake Lake = Fab Fun!

Even the NatPo is spanking Stevie over Fake Lake. Tasha Kheiriddin:

But have the Conservatives finally jumped the shark? As with any party in power, even a minority, arrogance and complacency eventually set in, this time, in the tragi-comic form of the now-notorious fake lake. The lake symbolizes everything that is wrong with this government: a focus on optics, rather than reality. It’s what they want you to see, not what is really there, like scripting Message Event Proposals for Afghan aid workers, stonewalling on freedom of information requests, or cutting government cheques with big Conservative party logos on them.

Altogether, the best thing I've read in that rag for years. But just let me fix something in that last paragraph, Tasha.

The Conservatives should be mindful that it’s not just the rest of the world that is watching; voters at home seem to be finally waking up as well. After riding high in the polls for months, Conservative poll numbers are starting to slip, and talk of a Liberal-NDP Coalition is in the works. Let’s hope the combination of these factors will bring this government down to earth. Mr. Harper should remember that governing Canada isn’t a reality TV show; for voters, it is real life, unscripted.

There. Much better.

Where's Steve-o?

So, where is Motherhood Steve?

Not here.

The Washington meeting, titled Women Deliver, is timed to bolster the G20 agenda for pumping up funds for maternal health. There are 3,300 advocates and politicians attending from 140 countries, including the heads of major UN agencies, government ministers, parliamentarians, celebrity campaigners and former heads of state.

“It is a surprise that Stephen Harper didn’t come,” said Women Deliver president Jill Sheffield. “He and Laureen Harper were invited and they didn’t even reply. This is his legacy issue. We thought he might at least have sent a message.”

Didn't even reply.

“It’s really astounding,” said Maureen McTeer, a women’s advocate and wife of former Tory prime minister Joe Clark. “Historically Canada has been looked up to in the world, because we believed in issues like this. But (Harper) can’t even take a one-hour flight to Washington to show his solidarity with the world’s women. By not going, he is taking a negative stand.”

. . .

Canada’s presence in Washington so far has been limited to NGO efforts. International co-operation minister Bev Oda, who made a last-minute agreement to appear at the conference, will join a dialogue Wednesday with Tore Godal, a special adviser to Norway’s prime minister, and leader in the campaign for reproductive health. But the Prime Minister’s place at the table remains empty.

Any questions?

The anna project

This is good.

The anna project is a letter-writing project with a difference, conceived out of outrage by Sylvia Bews-Wright, a Victoria artist and social activist (www.sylviabewswright.com). It gives voice to the many faceless and nameless girls and women in developing countries who die each year due to lack of access to safe abortion.

The anna project was prompted by a recent government decision to exclude access to safe abortion as part of its new maternal and child health initiative announced for the G8 summit meeting in June 2010.

This decision puts Canada at odds with the global community by contradicting our previous commitment – along with 191 other countries – to the UN Millenium Development Goals, which recognize that abortion is one of many components of comprehensive maternal health programmes necessary to reduce the unacceptably high rate of maternal mortality in developing countries.

The anna project tells the stories of three young women. These stories illustrate that women and girls are often unable to control the conditions under which they have sex, or even when and if they do. Access to safe and legal abortion could have saved the lives of two of the three annas. The third anna was lucky enough to be born in Canada. CLICK HERE to understand our choice of stories.

Canadian women have the right to safe abortion. How can we deny this same right to women in developing countries, particularly now, when rape is often a standard tactic of war?

The anna project reaches out to unite people in their displeasure at this abrupt change in Canadian policy. We are asking you to sign a string of anna paper dolls to express your disapproval.

Instructions for paper-doll making -- for those of us who haven't done it for a few decades -- at the site.

Also links to petitions. One from Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and one from International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Pass it along.

h/t my Facebook friend Antonia Z.