A 20-year-old environmental activist from B.C. is suing the Toronto Police Service, claiming she was hit by two rubber bullets during a G20 summit protest.
"I hit the ground. It's hard to describe how it feels getting shot," said Natalie Gray of Maple Ridge, B.C., about 40 kilometres east of Vancouver.
Gray was one of about 150 protesters who marched on a police-approved route to a former Toronto film studio that was converted into a temporary detention centre on June 28, the final day of the G20 meetings.
Police have been granted more powers to search, detain and arrest people in and around Toronto's downtown G20 security zone, a move the Canadian Civil Liberties Association calls "dire".
Most of these powers contradict constitutional safeguards, the rights group says.
TORONTO - Anyone wondering where the angry summit protesters were had their answer Friday as thousands marched in Toronto's streets and police in riot gear descended en masse to contain them.
What started as a peaceful gathering in a city park morphed into a massive march and tense standoff. Police held back demonstrators just north of the summit security zone before the crowd turned back.
Despite Escalation of Police Harassment, OCAP Mobilizes Against the G20
On June 25th, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) will be
mobilizing to confront the G20 and G8 summits by taking to the streets.
With allied community organizations, OCAP will be rallying at 2:30pm in
Allan Gardens Park, marching through the streets of Toronto and setting up
a Tent City.
Police harassment and intimidation is escalating leading in to Friday’s
The forces of capitalism and the state work hard to keep us complacent and in our placein the status quo. This is especially true for issues of gender. Our resistance is not only in how we live our lives, but in how we live in our bodies and identify. We at SOAR have many different visions of the world we want, but agree that issues surrounding Gender Justice must be paramount in any struggle.
Joint Statement of No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver,
No One Is Illegal Halifax, No One Is Illegal Montreal, No One Is Illegal
Ottawa
No Fences, No Borders!
No One Is Illegal, Canada Is Illegal!
As most of you have heard, from June 25th to 27th the world’s richest
countries (the G8 and G20) will send their poli-trickers and banking
elite, along with heads of the EU, IMF and World Bank, to meet in
Huntsville and then in Toronto. They will be talking bailouts, corporate
June 18 (Reuters) - Leaders from the Group of 20 rich and developing nations gather in Toronto on June 26-27 to discuss how to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis and resulting recession.
Here is a summary of progress so far on pledges the leaders have previously made:
Economy : G20 keeps investment flows open, but continued vigilance needed, say OECD, UNCTAD
The OECD and UNCTAD have commended G20 countries for avoiding new protectionist barriers to inward investment, while warning that continued vigilance is needed in the face of emergency measures to address the economic crisis that still pose a threat to competition and international investment.
Dear Ward 20 residents, businesses and other stakeholders,
The G20 Integrated Security Unit has provided some further updates that I wanted to bring to your attention.
G20 Security Perimeter Change
The Integrated Security Unit (ISU) has made a change to the location of the security fence at its south west corner. It will now be wrapping around the Rogers Centre, closing Rees St.
OTTAWA — NDP leader Jack Layton threatened yesterday to derail funding for the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario if the Afghan-detainee affair is not resolved.
He was speaking before a meeting today to thrash out details of how documents relating to the issue will be released.
The parade of security personnel and their gadgets on Thursday, June 3, at the Integrated Security Unit (ISU) presser-cum-peep-show was a stunner.
Wandering through the parking lot of the Toronto Police College at Islington and Birmingham listening to the Canadian Forces, tactical squad, RCMP and the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives team explain their summit functions, I started to feel pretty numbed-out.
Transport Canada has released more details of the restricted airspace during the G8 and G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto. In Huntsville, access within 15 nautical miles of the summit site will be limited to approved military and police operations, emergency/life-saving flights (including MEDEVAC/organ flights), search and rescue, approved essential service aircraft, state aircraft on official business, and aircraft carrying VIPs (designated by the RCMP).
(Ok, maybe my headline for this post could make some people panic. Dealing with law enforcement can be intimidating...)
Remember that this information and talking about the police and CSIS is not meant to scare or intimidate you, but give you the straight goods so you can plan ahead for the demo. Planning ahead and knowing your rights are the two best ways to protect yourself from state-sponsored trouble.
About 20 members of community organizations who plan to protest during the G20 summit held a news conference Tuesday to speak out against what they're calling police intimidation.
They carried signs and gave speeches on Bremner Boulevard near the south entrance of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. World leaders will be meeting at the centre for the June 26-27 summit.
Some demonstrators said they knew of activists who had been intimidated by police talking to them, but gave no specific examples.
With a substantial police presence surrounding them, anti-G20 Summit protesters said the massive security protest apparatus is designed to protect world leaders from dissent and not danger.
"We would especially like to welcome the huge number of cops here -- on horse, on bikes, waiting in their trucks and vans and showcasing their intimidation tactics on community members gathered here today," said Aruna Boodram of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network on Tuesday.
TORONTO - Dozens of Toronto cops on horses, bicycles and buses, wearing uniform and in plainclothes, were on hand as protesters against the upcoming G20 Summit vowed to take back the city on Tuesday.
Demonstrators from a number of Toronto-area groups claim they're being harassed by police as the June 26 and 27 meeting approaches.
Officers from a range of units stood just outside the Metro Convention Centre, where the meeting will take place, as group members outlined their plans Tuesday morning.
TORONTO - An anti-G20 group known as the Toronto Community Mobilization Network staged a news conference, Tuesday, outside the Metro Convention Centre to address concerns over police presence and funding for the summit.
The groups say they have every right to protest outside the summit and are accusing police of trying to intimidate them and harass them.
Groups planning to protest during this month’s G20 summit in Toronto say they will not be intimidated by police tactics.
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network says police are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on fences and equipment to control and bring pain to protesters.
Officers try to 'scare' activists into silence by visiting homes and workplaces
Activists planning to protest the G20 summit say they won’t be scared into silence by police tactics, which they say include intimidating visits by police to protesters’ homes and meetings.
TORONTO, June 7 (UPI) -- The commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command has pledged security help during the upcoming G8 and G20 summits in Toronto, officials said.
TORONTO — Reporters covering this month's G20 and G8 summits in Ontario will be able to take a break at an artificial lake, without leaving the air conditioned splendour of the media centre in Toronto.
It's part of what summit organizers call the "Canadian corridor," described as a "powerful exhibit" that will showcase Canadian investment opportunities and local points of interest.
Design photos show a lake surrounded by fake canoes and lawn chairs while another exhibit in the corridor shows a mock TSX.
Toronto's housing department says it plans to escalate efforts to find places to live for homeless people displaced from downtown as the G20 summit draw nearer.
Phil Brown, general manager of the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, said that with G20 looming, the city's Streets to Homes program has been focusing on aiding people in the downtown core.
Police are refusing to address claims by two independent journalists that they were illegally arrested and searched by Toronto Police Services (TPS), the Toronto Media Co-op has learned.
A leaked draft of the final communiqué for the upcoming G8 summit suggests Canada has dodged a bullet on the thorny issues of abortion and climate change.
The draft, obtained by The Canadian Press, says the world's most powerful countries are prepared to throw money at "all factors" affecting the health of women and children in poor countries but doesn't specifically mention abortion.
While almost everyone in Toronto has heard of the G20 Summit, few have heard of the connected B20 Summit. The G20 Business Summit or B20 will be a meeting of the finance minister and two corporate leaders from each of the G20 Nations. It will take place in Toronto on June 25th and 26th.
University of Toronto’s casual staff won’t be compensated for lost income when the university shuts down for the G20 summit, according to a memo sent out to university staff.
This morning, members of the Integrated Security Unit did a technical briefing for the media to show the specialized units that will likely be used during the G20 summit. Members of the canine team, bike police, mounted police, RCMP, Armed Forces, EMS, and the Emergency Task Force explosive Disposal Unit were on hand. The units demonstrated what the security around a motorcade would look like and showed off their fancy new LRAD, or sound cannon. Here’s what I gathered from the demo:
Injured protesters who are detained at a temporary jail during the G20 summit will be treated in a 10-foot-by-30-foot trailer with no plumbing and water provided by a hose, according to an e-mail circulating among Toronto physicians.
As Toronto Police prepare to show off their new “sound cannons” at a Thursday news conference displaying gear for the G20 summit, the Mounties say they do not use the powerful devices against urban crowds.
Thousands of police officers are teaming up to protect world leaders who will visit Toronto this month, but each force will bring slightly different rules.
Given the abysmal state of things — with no progress on climate change, financial markets still operating as unregulated casinos and oil continuing to surge freely into the gulf — it's not surprising that many people feel the world is being poorly managed. Millions respond by drifting into apathy or hedonistic consumerism.
MONTREAL -- Anarchists in Montreal say the $930-million security tab to be incurred by Canadians for the upcoming G8 and G20 Summits in the Toronto area is not only is a waste of money; the plan, itself is “psychological warfare” meant to deter protesters.
Important new details were released today about security plans for the G20 Summit. Please see the attached documents for further information including a map of the security perimeters.
Feel free to circulate the information to your neighbours and post it in your building. A text version of all documents is attached below.
Decision to "restrict access" heavy-handed and repressive
The decision to close the University of Toronto St. George campus during the G20 summit - the week of June 21-27 - contradicts the purpose of the university, reinforces harmful stereotypes of protesters, legitimizes police repression and violence, and does not reflect the wishes of students, staff and faculty.
OTTAWA - Federal documents show Ottawa plans to spend another $160 million for the G8 and G20 summits, above and beyond the $933-million price tag for security that was made public this week.
Canada's three-day summit bonanza at the end of June will cost taxpayers at least $1.1 billion, with further costs still not fully accounted for.
"This might be the most expensive 72 hours in Canadian history," said Liberal MP Mark Holland.
Toronto - The Council of Canadians will give away free earplugs during the G20 to protect people from the permanent hearing loss that may result from the sound cannons recently purchased by G20 security forces. Police have announced that they have purchased four sound cannons or long-range acoustic devices to communicate with crowds during G20 protests. The devices can cause extreme pain and are only partially directional.
Riotous protesters marching at the G20 summit next month may be greeted with ear-splitting “sound cannons,” the latest Toronto police tool for quelling unruly crowds.
Toronto police have purchased four, long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) — often referred to as sound guns or sound cannons — for the upcoming June 26-27 summit, the Star has learned.
Purchased this month, the LRADs will become a permanent fixture in Toronto law enforcement, said police spokesperson Const. Wendy Drummond.
Toronto - More allegations of harassment and intimidation have emerged concerning Toronto Police Services and the RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit after a Toronto Media Co-op report last month.
OTTAWA — The tab for security for the G8 and G20 summits has swelled to $834 million, according to government estimates released Tuesday.
The government had originally projected security costs of $179.4 million, but the estimates, tabled in Parliament, revealed an additional $654.9 million.
The added spending is to be split mainly between the RCMP, the Public Safety Department and National Defence.
OTTAWA, Ont. - A new report card on the aid that G8 countries provide to Africa finds that rich, developed countries are fulfilling only 61 per cent of their commitment to reduce poverty on that continent.
The report card was put together by anti-poverty group ONE, founded by U2 singer Bono and supported by former politician Belinda Stronach.
It says Canada has actually surpassed its promises to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa.
Toronto – The RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit (ISU) of the G20 is refusing to rule out the use of Agent Provocateurs to get protesters to commit illegal acts, the Toronto Media Co-op has learned.
During a G20 forum on April 30th held by Toronto City Councilors, Constable George Tucker, a member of the G20 planning team responsible for Public Affairs, Communications & Corporate Relations, was asked if Agent Provocateurs would be u
Toronto vendors are steaming mad and demanding compensation for being forced to shutter their shops because of the G20 summit.
The 40 hot dog, ice cream and french fries vendors located near the Metro Convention Centre where the June 26 and 27 summit is taking place, said they were given notice to shut from June 11 to 30.
They aren’t allowed to operate elsewhere because city permits allow them to sell in a designated area, their association said.
TORONTO, Ont. - Pearson International Airport is preparing for the arrival of the G8 and G20 leaders in June and that will mean some big headaches and delays for passengers.
For several days leading up to the summits in Huntsville and Toronto the airport will be in a state of high alert.
Drivers taking travellers to the airport or picking people up from the airport can be stopped at random by police and asked to show ID.
BikingToronto member and blogger Duncan has noticed in the latest Cyclometer (the City’s official cycling newsletter) a notice that 1000 post-and-ring bike stands (you may know them as “lollipops”) are being removed for the G20 summit on June 25-27:
The Toronto Police Service is countering concerns that personal information collected from people who live and work in the area around the G20 summit could be misused, with Chief Bill Blair pushing to have those records destroyed two days after the meeting wraps up.
The summit, which will host world leaders at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from June 26-27, has prompted heightened security in the area.
TORONTO — An umbrella group concerned with various social issues says it plans to protest the G8 and G20 summits because the leaders do not represent the interests of ordinary people.
Organizer Adonis El-Jamal says the governments of those countries are interested in saving banks, but not people's livelihoods.
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network held a news conference Thursday to discuss the issues they hope to highlight through protests and events related to the summits.
As security officials prepare for the G8 and G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto next month anarchists and others who plan to protest those events are speaking out.
Toronto Community Mobilization Network plans ‘themed days of resistance’ the week of the summit
A coalition of groups who plan to demonstrate against the upcoming G20 in Toronto says Canadians should focus on the deeds of invited dignitaries, not the protesters who meet them.
“I can only hope that whoever did this feels the full wrath of the law,” username Canadian Socialist wrote. “I feel no sympathy for RBC, but likewise I feel no remorse for the **#%*& who did this when they are thrown in jail for 5 years.”
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty urged the G20 nations on Tuesday to get their financial-reform agenda back on track by refocusing the debate on banks' capital reserves, rather than the "distraction" of a proposal for a global bank tax.
The Toronto Star has a story today about the G20 plans of the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance (SOAR). The group posted a call to action last week acknowledging that summit hopping is a bit tired but concluding that, “the time has come to stop talking, and to start causing some shit! ”
SHANGHAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Canada opposes a global bank tax and hopes that will be the prevailing view at a G20 summit the country will host next month in Toronto, Stockwell Day, Canada's President of the Treasury Board, said on Tuesday.
It will be militant. It will be confrontational. And some things may be smashed.
In a rallying call that has its made its way onto numerous anti-capitalist websites, a group of Ontario anarchists is dropping clues of its plans to disrupt the G20 summit.
The upcoming G8 and G20 summits will focus on the ongoing global economic recovery rather than "sideshows," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a youth summit in Ottawa.
Harper is being criticized at home and abroad over a G8/G20 maternal and child health program that he says will not include funding for abortion. He also recently denied a request from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to include climate change on the two summits' agendas.
The United Nations chief delivered tough messages to the Harper Conservatives on Wednesday, urging them to champion climate change and the world's poor at next month's G20 and G8 summits.
TORONTO, May 8 (Reuters) - The leaders of Ethiopia, Malawi, the Netherlands, Spain and Vietnam have been invited to attend the G20 summit in Toronto next month, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Saturday.The five will join leaders of the permanent members of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries at the June 26-27 summit.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair has reconfirmed on CP24's "The Chief" that the designated protest area during the G20 summit will be north Queen's Park.Last week, Coun. Joe Pantalone told CBC News Toronto that Queen's Park would be the protest site but police did not confirm that.
The recent news from Halifax was drearily predictable: a peaceful protest last month aimed at a meeting of G8 ministers ended in a small scuffle between police and 30 black-clad anarchists and the arrest of a labour organizer.
Toronto - Toronto is preparing to host the G20 at the end of June. Those living in the downtown area could be facing severe restrictions, tear gas and protesters if they venture outside their doors.
Toronto’s central core could be denuded of bankers in the days leading up to the G20 summit late in June, as financial institutions send their workers to other locations or let them work from home.
TORONTO, May 10 (UPI) -- Security will cause most bankers to be absent from Toronto's central business district when leaders meet for the G20 summit in late June, officials say.
Toronto - Could the G20 be the reason that the new multi-million dollar homeless shelter promised in downtown Toronto has yet to open? The city says no, despite the location being in the downtown core at Peter Street and King Street West.
The United Nations chief delivered tough messages to the Harper Conservatives on Wednesday, urging them to champion climate change and the world's poor at next month's G20 and G8 summits.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants climate change on the agenda in earnest when Canada hosts the G20 summit in Toronto. He also wants the country to live up to the greenhouse-gas reduction targets it negotiated under the Kyoto Protocol.
TORONTO — United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday urged Canada's Conservative government to champion climate change and the world's poor at next month's G-20 and G-8 summits.
Ban said he wants Canada to make climate change a priority when the country hosts the G-20 — the group of leading rich and developing nations — in Toronto.
He also urged Canada to live up to its greenhouse-gas reduction targets negotiated under the Kyoto Protocol.
The recent news from Halifax was drearily predictable: a peaceful protest aimed at a meeting of G8 ministers ended in a small scuffle between police and 30 black-clad anarchists and the arrest of a labour organizer.
OTTAWA — The Conservative government has declared that it will not support foreign-aid projects that include abortion.
“Canada’s contribution to maternal and child health may involve various interventions, including family planning, which includes the use of contraceptive methods. The details remain to be determined; however, Canada’s contribution will not include funding of abortions,” Bev Oda, the federal minister of international co-operation told reporters in Halifax Monday after she arrived for a meeting of G8 development ministers.
‘Intimidation’ and ‘Harassment’ Claimed:
Activists protesting the G20 are claiming that numerous visits by police in recent weeks have involved intimidation and harassment.
The G-20 is a grouping of a number of the world’s larger economies, comprising 19 countries plus the European Union. Previously bringing together finance ministers and central bank governors, the role of the G20 in global economic coordination and cooperation has expanded significantly in recent times (prompted in no small part by the global economic crisis).
The G20 brings together the leaders of major global economies to address key challenges for the global economy. There are separate ministerial meetings in the areas of finance and more recently, labour. These gatherings have increasingly become the focal point for global responses to the economic crisis of the late 2000s.
Downtown Toronto got a taste of security preparation for the upcoming G20 summit Tuesday morning as two military helicopters completed a test flight around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre before landing in front of the CN Tower.
The CH-146 Griffon helicopters were spotted at about 9 a.m. circling the area above the convention centre, which will play host to the international meeting in June.
Canadian Forces Sgt. Maj. Sylvain Gallant said the flight was to test the capability of the landing area between the CN Tower and the convention centre.
LONDON/BERLIN -- Agreeing to tough new bank capital rules should take precedence over imposing a bank levy in global efforts to learn from the financial crisis, the G20 countries will be told later this week, sources said on Tuesday.
The group of leading developed and emerging economies will gather on the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington on April 22-23.
Weekend workaholics attempting to reach their downtown office towers Sunday got the first hint of the disruption that will be caused by this summer’s G20 summit in Toronto, as tactical officers took over part of the underground PATH system for a training exercise.
The concourse level of Commerce Court was the scene of a simulated hostage taking, with officers from Toronto Police Emergency Task Force partnering with the building’s private security staff.
Canadian border officers are on alert for “professional agitators,” fearing they’ll cause trouble at the G8 and G20 Summits.
More than 10,000 cops — more than the 6,000 required at B.C. Winter Games — will form a security ring around the Metro Convention Centre to safeguard those attending the G20 on June 26-27. World leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, and hundreds of delegates will take part in the Toronto event.
The G8 will be held in Huntsville on June 25-26.
Border officials have circulated photos and are prepared to ban entry of hundreds of hard-core protestors.
In conjunction with the upcoming G20 Summit in Canada, an innovative conference is being held themed, “G20 Business Leaders: Partnering with Africa’s Dynamic Markets,” and takes place at the Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre, in Toronto, Ontario, from June 23-24, 2010.
Co-organized by the Canadian Council on Africa (CCAfrica) and, from the United States, The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the conference also enjoys the support of the European Business Council for Africa and the Mediterranean and Business Unity South Africa.
Rich western countries are on course to break their pledge to double aid flows to the world's poorest countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said today.
In its annual assessment of development assistance, the Paris-based thinktank said that less than half the extra £25bn promised at the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 would be delivered on current plans.
Organizers are calling this summer’s G8 and G20 summits “the largest security event in Canadian history” — more expensive and elaborate, even, than the Vancouver Olympics. The federal government will spend at least $179 million on security, first at the Huntsville G8 Summit and then in Toronto, where the G20 will meet at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
It’s the cost of holding one of the world’s most divisive meetings in a major city, where dissenters cannot be kept out of sight.
TORONTO -- As Canada prepares to host two major global events this summer, the RCMP are hoping the trucking industry can help ensure everything goes smoothly.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance met with RCMP representatives to discuss impacts of the G8 and G20 Summits which take place June 25 - 27 in Huntsville and Toronto, respectively.
RCMP officials discussed the valuable role carriers can play in assisting security during these events by reporting any irregular activity, such as thefts and other suspicious behaviour to officials as soon as the incident occurs.
Police forces have entered into an alliance to deal with the threat of violent protest at Toronto’s G20 summit with as many as 10,000 uniformed officers and 1,000 private security guards teaming up to protect world leaders.
Federal contract tenders obtained by The Globe indicate a small army will descend on Canada's largest city this June, exceeding the estimated 6,000-police-officer presence at Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics.
HUNTSVILLE, Ont. — It is being billed as one of the largest security events ever held in Canada.
But just three months before the tiny community of Huntsville and Toronto play host to the G8 and G20 summits, respectively, a taxpayers group is questioning whether the millions of dollars spent to prepare for the events is worth it.
The federal government is expected to spend $179.4 million on security and planning for both summits, which begin June 25 in Huntsville in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country and end June 27 in Toronto, about 200 kilometres to the south.
When Julian White left his native England for a job in Canada early in 2001, he landed at the same time as the great telecom crash.
Only weeks earlier, his employer, JDS Uniphase, had given him a raise and a mandate to build a team of 20. But when White arrived in Ottawa with his daughter and pregnant wife, the fibre-optics company instructed him to cut staff immediately.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Union leaders have for the first time officially endorsed moving beyond the United Nations in order to push forward the international climate negotiations process.
At the EU's spring summit, the bloc's premiers and presidents embraced the G20 as a possible forum more amenable to climate discussions than the UN process, long bogged down by mistrust between rich and poor countries, while at the same time not completely abandoning the UN as some in the US have called for.
When the G20 comes to Toronto in June, it promises to bring not only the planet’s most powerful leaders and a cast of thousands but a slew of logistic and transit hassles in the city’s downtown core.
Subway lines and the underground PATH system pass through a security zone – an “interdiction” area – that will feature identification checkpoints and traffic diversion.
Please contribute to the legal defence fund. Ways to donate:
1) Transfer funds to:
OPIRG York
transit number 00646
institution number 842
account number 3542240
Use your online bank account or contact your bank directly to transfer funds. Please put "G20 legal defence" in the memo.
2) Write a cheque
Cheques (payable to 'Toronto Community Mobilization Network' OR OPIRG York, with 'G20 legal defence' on the subject line) can be mailed to:
Toronto Community Mobilization Network
360A Bloor Street W
PO Box 68557
Toronto, ON M5S 1X0
3) Donate by PayPal
Make sure to put 'G20 legal defence' in the "Add special instructions for the Merchant" section. Donation link is above.
