Stories of Police State Canada

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Latest news is below these links

Photos:
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc1.jpg
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc2.jpg
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc3.jpg
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/polc4.jpg

   The Saturday march was exiting Grange Park when I arrived. Catching the tail end I noticed people frowning from cars as it crossed Queen St. Obviously most locals view policing critics and protesters as misfits, rebels without a cause, feminist crazies or friends of criminals.

   That view is incorrect. The groups behind the weekend actions had a detailed agenda that is impossible to cover in a short article. It adds up to a mini convention of public groups on policing, running counter to the Police Chiefs' meeting.

   A Friday night public forum featured a few speakers. Most memorable was Pierre George's complete story of the shooting of his brother Dudley by police. Not only did police raid the park and shoot Dudley, they also worked to delay his medical treatment. Pierre recounts driving many kilometers on a flat tire, trying to get to the hospital, only to be grabbed and charged by police before he got Dudley into emergency. Dudley had been alive on the drive to the hospital, but delays due to police may have led to his death.

   Events continued Saturday morning at Grange Park and the march headed out for the Police Convention. Though we never got anywhere near Front Street. A wall of police met us at King Street so we turned and gathered in the park behind the CBC building. At that location a line of police stood behind a ribbon, and beyond them were more riot cops and teams of horseback officers. Plainclothes officers looked on as the rally began.

   The show of police force was in place for the 11,000 chiefs, sheriffs and other police personnel at Skydome and the Metro Convention Centre. Also receiving protection were Smith and Wesson, Glock, and Humane Restraint, which had complete weapons shows for the police.

   I had to delay this article due to a fever virus that came on suddenly. In memory the rally took place under a chilly sky of early winter with protesters often taking amazed glances at the police army on the other side of the ribbon. The vision of police still seems like another hallucination of the fever … the windy towers and parks of that segment of downtown holding nothing but roaming columns of police and horses, like social cleansing had finally been completed and no one was left.

   We were on the free side and there were some fine speeches at the rally. Don Weitz and the Dope Poets Society did poetry. We heard from police critics and those close to victims of police shootings. A flyer had photos of ten shooting victims, and speakers mentioned how hard it is to fight police on shootings. One example is the Committee for Justice for Otto Vass. They have only 200 dollars while the police association is spending money in wads of hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid the officers that beat Otto to death.

   Anna Willats' speech on policing issues should be made to the Chiefs. It won't be because people seen as critics aren't wanted. The authorities want to define the limits of the debate, keeping certain ideas out of the discussion.

   The debate police want to entertain is of mechanisms for delivering a law and order agenda on behalf of the state and corporate interests. Usually it is between community policing (police on foot and cycles) and the standard cops making calls in fast cruisers. High tech is also a facet with police now wanting to militarize with helicopters, super surveillance and weapons.

   If a message got across to me it is that most police critics favour a different kind of policing. Cops in fast cruisers often don't arrive when women beaten in their homes make 911 calls … and when they do they still tend to treat women as the property of men. Community policing is seen by many as harassment. Police on foot go out from mini stations and ticket and jail everyone they see as undesirable … meaning they tend to go after the poor, youth and people of color.

   Activists see policing as something that should rise out of a general social justice agenda or a world that works for all. Give us affordable housing, childcare, commitment to addressing racism and homophobia … the list goes on … and there'll be very little crime. Nowadays we must also say give us peace and not war.

   Anna Willats had a list of the police workshops, and read them out. Social justice was not on the police agenda. It was more a law and order agenda. - criminalization as opposed to liberation. No workshops on violence against women, racism and so on. But stuff like Fighting Terrorism at the Olympics, Every Police Chief has Role in the Fight Against Terror, Street of Madness, policing the mentally ill, etc.

   In response the coalition followed up the rally with its own workshops at the University of Toronto, addressing the issues the police want to ignore.

   The new focus on terrorism is also a concern, with many people opposing Bill C-36, which grants the police incredible powers. Things like breaking into your house without telling you or placing you in arbitrary detention. Though the RCMP chief says the new laws won't be used against protesters and activists, most people think they will. There has already been a movement in the media to label Canadian groups as terrorists. A number of media outlets have called the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty/Ontario Common Front terrorists and a special meeting was held between the mayor and police officials to find ways of breaking up the group. You can be sure that they didn't suggest eliminating poverty as a way of getting rid of OCAP.

    In the National Post the Canadian Columbian Association, which held a recent peace mission to Columbia, has been labeled a terrorist group. Most unlucky are Animal Activists as a Toronto Star columnist has given all animal defenders a blanket label of terrorist, regardless of the group.

   I wish visions of a police state were the fever and not the reality. But the police powers are in place and the tendency is going to be to expand their use. Especially when the media is pushing new panic buttons every day.

For poetry from the protest see
http://www.justusleaguerecords.com

The Rally, Forum and Workshops included the following groups:
Anti-Racism Media Education Group / Black Action Defence Committee / Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Coalition for a Public Inquiry Into Ipperwash / Committee for Justice for Otto Vass / Committee to Stop Targeted Policing / CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) local 1281 / CUPE local 3903 / Digital Praxis / Free  Mumia Now Coalition / International Socialists / June 13 Committee / Maggies / Metro Network for Social Justice / New Socialist Group / Ontario Coalition Against Poverty / OPIRG-Toronto / People Against Coercive Treatment / Toronto Action for Social Change / Toronto Friends of MOVE / Toronto Mobilization for Global Justice / Toronto Rebuilding the Left / Toronto and York Region Labour Council

For info call 416-656-2232
e-mail oct27protest@hotmail.com
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At Mainline – Oct.28.2001
- Gestapo Approved: House OKs New Police Powers
- The New McCarthyism: Woman in Black, Kofi Annan
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Flag Burner gets beaten in Jail - Oct.2001
   After burning the American Flag I was jumped by under-cover cops who made sure to act in the most violent way possible.
- read the full article at Indy Media
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At the Varsity - Oct.27.2001
- Secret service spied at U of T
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Canada-Colombia Solidarity Campaign Accused of Being Terrorist Group
TORONTO -- Oct. 23 -- The Canada-Colombia Solidarity Campaign is defending itself against a false accusation by National Post columnist Diane Francis.  In an Oct. 16 column, Francis called the group a terrorist front.
         The CCSC does solidarity work with Colombian groups who are resisting violence and working on peaceful alternatives.
         The group says, "The attempt to discredit the CCSC is a part of the overall strategy to keep the invisible struggles invisible, to conflate them with terrorism, and to justify the repression and destruction of alternatives. On October 15, the U.S.suggested that a war on Colombia would not be ruled out as part of its campaign against terrorism."
         The full response from the CCSC is at
http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/minga/debatewithfrancis.htm
and the group has also posted a statement of its position, goals and efforts at
http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/minga/offical-response.htm
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At the Law Union - October 16.2001
    In the wake of September 11, the Commons had little trouble  passing the new Immigration and Refugee "Protection" Act.
- Read  Bill C-11 as passed by the House of Commons.
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At the Star - Oct.16.2001
-Sweeping anti-terror powers unveiled -Bill proposes arrest without warrant, 72 hours' detention
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Neo-Nazis Attack in Parkdale – Oct.15.2001
   A group of activists were attacked on Saturday, October 13th at the corner of Queen and Lansdowne in Parkdale. Since the tragedy of September 11th there has been an increase in sightings of Neo-nazi groups on Queen Street west between Dufferin and Roncesvalles Ave. There have been unconfirmed reports of attacks but nothing this bold. In broad daylight on a busy street corner they jumped a comrade who was on the megaphone doing a speak-out against the war and against the racist backlash. After the incident, we continued our leafleting and began calling on the community to join us for a rally on Thursday, October 18th at 6:30 p.m. at the Parkdale Library. The response from the people we spoke to was overwhelmingly "We don't Want Nazis in our neighbourhood!" We are calling on all community members to mobilize and send a strong message to these thugs. We will not accept this in our community! We have the right to free speech and we have the right to live without fascist intimidation. Join Us on Thursday.
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Toronto Anti-War Rally Targets Racist Media –Sat.Oct.13.2001
   The Coalition Against War and Racism met near the U.S. Consulate today to oppose the war, Canada's involvement in it and the biased media coverage that has been prevalent since September 11th.
- Read the full report with photos by Gary Morton
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PROTECT CIVIL RIGHTS - From the NDP(Oct.12.2001)
   Some 20 leaders of community organizations met for breakfast this morning with Hampton, MPPs Peter Kormos and Michael Prue. They expressed their concerns about the Conservative government's erosion of civil rights in Ontario.  In Question Period, Kormos had some harsh words for the solicitor general, who tacitly backs a policy of ethnic profiling and insidious police surveillance hit lists.   "First you appoint a security adviser who believes in and advocates ethnic profiling. Now your Solicitor General says that he endorses the Toronto Police's thousand-person hit list, their target list.  The question is, how do you get on this target list, this hit list, and what do innocent people do to get their names off this list?  Ethnic profiling, geographic profiling-call it by any other name; it still means that people are being targeted because of where they come from. That means that they're being targeted because of the colour of their skin, because of their surnames, because of their religions.  Apparently, a list of 1,000 people exists here in Toronto and people want to know what criteria get people on that list. One person told us-these were hard-working people that Howard Hampton and I met with-they're afraid. They're afraid that they're being spied on for no good reason. One person told us today, 'I never thought that I'd experience in my lifetime what Japanese-Canadians went through.' What we're asking of you, sir, is very simple. Put it on the record today. What are the criteria for the creation of a surveillance list that you, as Solicitor General, endorse?"
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At the Star - Oct.11.2001
- Fingerprinting at the airport  - Air travellers to face security gauntlet
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At Mother Jones – Oct.2001
- Speak No Evil ... The government can be expected to clam up in times of war -- but why are citizens muzzling themselves?
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At the Toronto Star - Oct.2001
-Random police videos ruled illegal
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At Fair.org - Oct.2001
-Can the New York Times Count-- or Quote-- Peace Activists?
-Media March to War (viscious quotes from US papers)
-The "Wimp" Factor: Goading to Shed Blood
-Action Alert: Nightly News Glosses Over Anti-Terrorism Act
-Killing Civilians: Behind the Reassuring Words
-Media Pundits Advocate Civilian Targets
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New legal guide for activists - Oct.2001
The Ontario Common Front Legal Committee has just released a new legal
guide for activists.
please check it out on-line at:
http://www.ocap.ca/legalguide/
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From the NDP – Oct.2001
Harris' War on Immigrants
RACIST POLICY A SHAME- The premier is fanning the flames of fear and racism with his newly announced war on immigrants, policies that could allow police to single out and scapegoat people based on skin colour, religion, language or birthplace, NDP Leader Howard Hampton charged today.  He chastised the premier for media comments that linked immigrants with danger and terrorists. "Premier, people have died (in the US attacks), so people are scared. But could you tell me how fanning the flames of fear, how equating immigration with terrorism, does anything positive, does anything to help the situation in Ontario today? People what to know what you can effectively do rather than simply fanning fears," Hampton said.
'ETHNIC PROFILING' A CONCERN- Human rights Critic Peter Kormos today called on the Conservative government to distance itself from a proposal by Lewis Mackenzie's that racial profiling is necessary in Ontario to fight terrorism.  The premier has hired Mackenzie as a special security advisor to the Conservatives. In a radio interview September 12, the retired major-general said:  "I'm sorry, more current attention is going to have to be paid to people who are obviously, potentially part of that group. ... At some stage you have to say, "Look, I'm terribly sorry the odds are you're not involved but you're going to receive more thorough interrogation." "There is no place for this type of policy in Ontario," said Kormos. "The Conservatives should distance themselves from Mr. Mackenzie's 'ethnic profiling' proposal and promise Ontario that people will never be targeted because of their skin colour, the language they speak, and the place they were born."
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Other Views of the War on Terrorism - Oct.3.2001
-Concordia Student Union Accused of Links with Terrorists and Bin Laden
-Pakistan on the Brink by Tariq Ali
-The Terrorism Trap by Richard J. Barnett
-Genocide or peace  We can feed the starving Afghan millions or mount a military campaign. We can't do both
-Polarization - a war for capitalism
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Paranoia via Mike Harris and Ottawa - Oct.3.2001
   Ontario Premier Mike Harris is running scared of Terrorists. Appearing by videotape out of fear of the public legislature, he appoints a general and RCMP chief to hunt alleged terrorists and creates an elite police unit to harass immigrants.
-Elite police unit to hunt deportees
-Terrorist fundraisers will face jail
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Psychiatric Colonization of the Normal - Oct.3.2001
-Prescription For Scandal:   Biological Psychiatry's Faustian Pact
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Police Dog Critical Mass Ride – Sept.29.2001
   The Toronto police put last night's Critical Mass Bike ride under special surveillance. Four cruisers showed up, ticketed one rider, then followed the ride about the city at its tail with their spinners flashing like it was some sort of emergency. The ride ended at the small park by Hart House and people dispersed in various directions to confuse police.
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At Wired - Sept.11.2001
- Protestors Wish for Cams to Scram.
Angered over the proliferation of video cameras and webcams in public places, 22 groups in seven countries mug for the cameras and get their 15 minutes of fame.
By Julia Scheeres.
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Cops attack Toronto Reclaim the Streets, 3 arrested - 18 Aug 2001
From: Graeme Bacque <gbacque@netzero.net>
   Toronto's 'swinest' must have been craving an arrest fix or something - its been a bit of a drought for them just lately in terms of picking off activists. The dry spell came to an abrupt end at about nine this evening when the cops attacked a peaceful Reclaim the Streets celebration, charging into the crowd with horses, arresting three people and badly pepper-spraying a number of others.
   People had begun to gather in Grange Park in downtown Toronto about seven this evening, bringing drums, costumes and even a DJ who showed up complete with a portable sound system and records. A barbecue was set up and hot corn-on-the-cob was shared among the participants. At about quarter to eight the boisterous crowd of about 300 people made its way south to John Street, then down to Queen Street West for a rousing street celebration!
   As usual, the cops were there in droves ( something about these RTS events really seems to freak them out) but initially they kept their distance. The DJ set up his equipment atop a large trailer that had been left at the curb shortly before we arrived. Drums pounded, people danced, and there were even home movies being shown on a tiny hand-held screen! The BBQ was set up on the street and still more sweet corn was devoured.
   Shortly before nine the cops made their first move, walking through the crowd (which had swelled as passersby joined in) and ordered people to retrace their steps north to the park. Folks responded by congregating in the intersection of Queen and John, chanting loudly as the cops formed a line along the south side of the street. The mounted unit advanced slowly, forcing people back up on to John Street.
   Just south of the park some people attempted a flanking action, moving west along an intersecting street with the apparent aim of going back down to Queen St. At this point the cops made their move to arrest a woman, whom they'd apparently targeted for allegedly drawing on one of their horse trailers with chalk. Other people scrambled to her defense, the horses came rushing in, jets of pepper spray flew, and two more people were subsequently arrested.
   One young man required medical attention after getting hit directly in the face with a sustained burst of pepper spray. A number of other people were also affected. At this point, the people still there decided to go to 52 Division to offer solidarity to the arrestees.  :
   The young woman who was arrested first was released at a little after eleven this evening. As of midnight two others remain in police custody, and about forty people are maintaining a vigil outside the station.
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Genoa News Digest (young man murdered by police, hundreds injured) July.2001
- Protestor Shot Dead by Paramilitary Police in Genoa
- Vigils for Victims of Police/State Violence at Genoa Summit
- Click here to read a full news digest with photos
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At Other Media - July/2001
-Free trade', rape and murder
-Human rights abuses with small arms: Illustrative cases from Amnesty International
-USA - Civil Rights Groups Fight Eviction of Battered Women Under "Zero Tolerance" Housing Policy
-Mother Jones Goes to Prison - The Real Price of Prisons
-Australia - Helen Caldicott On Star Wars, Space War... Rick Rozoff
-AP: Rightist rampage in Colombia kills at least 10
-Crown Attorney on Trial: Judge takes dim view of attempts to keep john clarke in the slammer
-Inmates face eye test for drugs
-Premier silent on Ipperwash memo
-Political Prisoners at the United Nations
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL News- June.26.2001
Americas: UN Day for the victims of torture -- a day for remembrance, a day for action
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from the NDP- june.26.2001
Death of Dudley George - PREMIER IMPLICATED - The premier has been implicated by new evidence that has surfaced in a civil suit launched by the family of peaceful native protester Dudley George, who was shot dead by an OPP officer at Ipperwash Provincial Park.  A government memo referring to ONAS (Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat), the AG (Attorney General) and the P (Premier) plotting to end the park occupation in 1995.  Ever since then, the Conservatives and the Premier himself have denied wrongdoing, but they have stubbornly refused to hold a public inquiry to reveal the truth.  NDP Leader Howard Hampton repeated his call for an inquiry and says the George family would drop its lawsuit if one were held.  Taxpayers have paid more than $500,000 in legal fees to keep the Premier out of court and likely hundreds of thousands more for the other cabinet ministers involved.
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BARCELONA, Spain Protest - Reports from Plaça Catalunya - Sun, 24 Jun 2001
From:web@j25.org
   Today, we are told, was the pacifist event. During said event Burger king lost its signs and all its windows, many shops on one  side of the road were smashed and banks locks were glued and windows covered in Grafiti.
We spent a lot of the afternoon in bars building international links. At one point the police came under fire from bottles but responded by shooting the fuck out of everyone. The day has been charcterised   by skirmishes and extreme force from the police. Quite a few people have decided   they have had enough and have called it a day I think. It is very good that we have been able to regroup etc, given police tactics. When we were able to  push lines back and the police on other side of square were attacked with bottles which was empowering.
http://www.j25.org/latest.htm
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/
http://uk.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=6357
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Monsanto and the Drug War in Colombia -June, 2001
http://www.corpwatch.org
Toxic Drift: Monsanto and the Drug War in Colombia
   The United States has sprayed hundreds of thousands of gallons of Roundup, an herbicide produced by chemical and biotechnology giant,  Monsanto, in recent years as part of the drug war in Colombia.
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Harris's Ass Saved! - June, 2001
   Anti-poverty and labour activists rejoiced when Mike Harris's Ass was handed over to the people. After being captured on June 15th and spending the weekend in custody.  Mike Harris's ass was returned to the hands of the OCAP allies, who will be taking it on tour for a good kicking to raise money to support the OCAP-initiated campaign of economic disruption set to begin on October 16th, 2001.
   The ass was seized when over 30 officers of the law surrounded a small house in the Annex, blocked all exits, and swarmed the 4 or 5 puzzled revolutionaries who were relaxing on the porch enjoying the day. Officers were quick to identify the bouncy buttocks warming in the sun as dangerous instruments of violence, and fearing the buttocks might be deployed at the (OCAP June 15) public assembly that was to take place that evening, the officers grabbed them and whisked them into a nearby van.  Inside sources said that Metro Police abducted the ass to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Police Riot at Queen's Park and their ongoing tradition of completely absurd, unaccountable and pointless use of force.
   The hindquarters were returned without comment when the detectives concluded their weekend-long investigation of them.
   You can see the ass and kick it (for a small donation to OCAP) at upcoming rallies, fundraisers, GMM's and direct actions.
Now that the Retreat is Over, let's kick Mike Harris's Ass!
It's good for your health! It's good for your workplace!
It's good for your education! It's good for your conscience!
It's good for society as a whole!
In solidarity,
Neil :)
Neil Braganza <braganza@YorkU.CA>
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Swedish Police Violence Protested in Toronto – Thurs.June.21
   A protest took place at the Swedish Trade Office in Toronto today. The issue being  the police attack on protesters at the EU meeting in Gothenburg Sweden. Three people were shot by the police in Sweden where demonstrators were opposing the idea of Fortress Europe, neo-liberalism and the presence of George Bush and his scrapping of Kyoto and selling of the new Star Wars Militarization of Space Plan (NMD).
Toronto Photos:
Protester chalks out body mark
http://home.eol.ca/~command/gothen1.jpg
And lies shot on the pavement
http://home.eol.ca/~command/gothen2.jpg
   The Toronto protest was an information picket. People signed a petition, spoke through a horn and handed info to passersby.
   Info on Swedish Police Violence – In Sweden police targeted a high school that was legally being used as an organising centre for the protests. Hundreds of protesters were trapped inside and many arrested.
   The next morning 5,000 people attempted to march to the European leaders' summit, which was sealed off behind giant steel walls. Police halted the march with a barricade and started batoning people. Among the first victims was Knut Jensen, convenor of the print workers' union at one of Norway's main newspapers. He fell with blood pouring from his head.
   After the baton assault a snarling pack of police dogs and their handlers appeared. They tore into the march and dozens of protesters needed treatment for bite wounds. Seconds later baton-wielding mounted police charged into the rear of the demonstration. Only after these assaults did some protesters start throwing stones. Some went on to vent their rage at shops along the city's main street, mainly hitting symbols of the global system like McDonald's.
   The Shooting - People were dancing, enjoying themselves. Then the police started charging. As police kept charging, some people started fighting back, throwing stones. The police then fired leaving a young man on the ground.
   Three people were shot by police in the square and the next morning some 30,000 people joined an already planned demonstration. Some of them accepted the entirely false government claims that the police acted in self defence.
   Others condemned the police, but also accepted media tales of violent protesters. Many others understood that the police alone were responsible for the violence.
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Notes & Photos on the June 16-17 Festival of Life and Nonviolent Resistance to the Hamilton War Show
June 16.17.2001
- read the entire report with photos
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Protest Photos – Kimy Pernia Domico - June 15th
   There was a protest and march to the Columbian Consulate in Toronto yesterday evening. It was on behalf of kidnapped Columbian Indigenous leader Kimi Pernia Domico.
   It is believed that he was kidnapped by paramilitary forces backed by the Columbian military and business interests.
   Protesters chanted against plan Columbia and Free Trade with chants like He was taken alive, we want him back alive and Free Kimy not Free Trade.

Here are some digital photos anyone can use.
http://home.eol.ca/~command/kimi1.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/kimi2.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/kimi3.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/kimi4.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/kimi5.jpg
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Diemaco Transformed...For a Day – May.2001
from Homes not Bombs
 "TASC" <tasc@pop.web.ca>
   On a beautiful spring day May 13, about 30 people held a mothers day march, picnic for peace and non-competitive badminton festival at Kitchener, Ontario arms manufacturer Diemaco.
- read the full article
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Spirited Free Mumia Demonstration  in Toronto – May.12.2001
- read a full report with photos
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Police Violence at  the Summit of the Americas - April 20.2001

   In Operation True Blue the Toronto Police Association is using a telephone campaign to raise money and organize citizens. Yet a manual on police activism used by associations reveals that the police only want power for themselves and not citizens. The associations use a textbook by the Police Labor Institute, a Texas-based company dedicated to training North America's police unions in high-stakes pressure politics.

   Page 173 of the firm's Police Association Power, Politics and Confrontation states: "The fact is that police associations should exist for one, and only one purpose -- the accumulation and use of power."

   Toronto Police Association Head Craig Bromell is no stranger in this use of power. His association hires private investigators to aid police officers accused of wrongdoing ,and to protect rank and file officers by silencing the union's political foes.

   Can anyone seriously believe that a group that operates like this has interests of the public at heart?

   Here is my report on the Start of Operation True Blue
   I just got a call from the Toronto Police Association, Operation True Blue. Using phone canvassers they are campaigning for cash like Greenpeace. For 25, 50 or a 100 dollars they will forward me one of their True Blue information packages.

   The canvasser informed me that the police are going in to raise money, organize citizens and kick the butts of politicians promoting soft laws and justice.

   My response to that promo was roughly - We have some police accountability now because of citizens, activists and politicians who weren't organized by the police association. Lately things have been eroding fast as what the police call cleaning up neighbourhoods is really an outward show of a new lack of tolerance for those who have fallen through the cracks. As family incomes are eroding there are going be more of those poor and homeless people and cleaning them up and off to jail or wherever is the sort of community action policing the association and its organized citizens will promote.

   In a legitimate citizens group, a person takes off his police or company uniform and joins an action as a citizen. Citizen bodies controlled by the police association will not be genuine in their representation of the public. I think this whole action is a police association raid on democracy, and unless some people organize to fight it the real community voice is going to be silenced. It doesn't take much thinking to gather that the association is not going to argue for police accountability; it is going to lobby for harsh laws, a police state and more military-style police equipment at a time when crime rates are falling.

   Crime rates themselves are a touchy subject as a couple weeks back incoming Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino announced his displeasure with police chiefs and organizations that keep revealing statistics showing crime steadily decreasing. Perhaps Fantino would be happier if everyone saw only the City TV daily crime news and believed crime was sky high.

   The citizens of Toronto already spend 520 million a year on policing. More than the entire budgets of some third world nations. Do we really need to donate more to the Police Union and its political action wing?

   I think not, and I'm also worried that it may be too late already. The Police Association will storm the grass roots, hijack democracy and the creeping police state will grow fast.

Gary Morton
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Treaty to implement digital wiretapping - Jan.14.00 - a new treaty will force countries to implement digital wiretapping into their national laws and also outlaw hacking tools.
   The Council of Europe is preparing a so-called "Cybercrime" treaty. European countries, the USA, Canada, Japan and South Africa are involved in the talks. There is no draft made public but a letter of the Dutch minister of Justice to the Dutch parliament is mentioning some of the details of what is discussed during the negotiations about the treaty. The draft is prepared by an ad-hoc group of experts (PC-CY) who will have to finish their work by the end of 2000.
   One part of the treaty will outlaw hacking tools and the production, making available or distribution of hardware and software tools to do hacking. The letter explicitly points out that as a result of this treaty countries that wish to implement digital wiretapping or the use of hacking tools by law enforcement need to implement that in their national legislation.
   Critics feel that having digital wiretapping enshrined in national laws is not a a good idea.
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Slippery Police Chief - Nov/99 -
   The whole selection process for the Chief of Toronto Police was hijacked, taken out of public scrutiny and turned into a Tory coup.
   The new Chief, Julian Fantino did not even apply fgr the job and there is no way the public can have any confidence in a police chief who was too arrogant to enter the process as the other candidates did.
   Two top candidates dropped out in protest after the Toronto news media leaked the fact that the whole process was just a fixed rubber stamping of Fantino. Those who selected him could also be said to have applied for him since headhunters for the police services board submitted an application for Fantino in his absence. This was done because some members of the board, the mayor and the Tories felt that Fantino would better push their police state agenda and war on the poor.
      Voting for Fantino were Norm Gardner, vice-chairman Jeffrey Lyons (a lawyer and provincial appointee), Mayor Mel Lastman and Tory appointees Sylvia Hudson and Emilia Valentini. Though the media announced that the chief would be selected early this week, the whole process was suddenly rushed so Fantino could be rubber-stamped before democratic opposition could develop.
   Police Services Board chairman Norm Gardner went so far as to hold rushed press conference at 10 pm Sunday night to announce Fantino as the new chief.  Board member Olivia Chow called for a delay in the vote because of all the problems that had forced at least two very good candidates to drop out of the running. Chow and civilian representative Sandy Adelson voted against Fantino.
   The Toronto Police Services Board also did not act on behalf of the people of this city last week when they voted for three million in spending on extra community action policing that every citizens group present attacked as unfair and discriminatory.
   Now citizens have no choice but to openly demonstrate their contempt for the Police Services Board. They must protest the process and continue to oppose target policing.
   The Toronto Sun says Fantino's zero-tolerance, tell-it-like-it-is style has been popular with the
rank-and-file. We the public should have zero tolerance for this sort of  arrogance and fixed democracy, and zero tolerance for a police services board that promotes it.
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Read the Coalition for a Federal Ban on Pepper Spray's Letter Protesting the November 1999 Pepper Spraying of Housing Protesters on Parliament Hill
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Bankrupt City finds 3 million to harass the poor - Nov/99 - Though Toronto is heavily in debt and its credit rating is collapsing, the police services board has decided to expand the Community Action Policing program from 11 weeks to 16 next year at a cost of $2.9 million.
   Last summer's crackdown missed crime altogether and was really just police working overtime to harass the poor and homeless in Toronto. Thousands of jaywalking tickets were handed out to people in this unwanted police blitz.
   The Committee to Stop Targeted Policing is protesting the program. Representatives of 11 community groups took the podium to oppose this form of policing.  They feel individuals who are poor, homeless, people of colour, native community members and young people have been specifically targeted and treated as criminals.
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Safe Streets Act & Pepper Spray - Nov/22/99 - Professor Harry Glasbeek of Osgoode Hall and civil rights lawyer Peter Rosenthal spoke tonight at a Citizen for Local Democracy meeting on the erosion of our personal rights.
- Read a report on the talk
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RCMP Pepper Sprays Members of Ban Pepper Spray Group at Housing Demonstration - Nov/99 - For the first time protesters have been sprayed on parliament hill.

GREEN PARTY OF CANADA LEADER FILES COMPLAINT WITH CANADIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (CSIS) COMPLAINTS COMMISSION -- Friday, January 29, 1999 -- VICTORIA, B.C.
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Mounties - Dirty tricks - Past dirty tricks of the Mounties include
- barn burning. 1972, RCMP burned a barn they thought would be the site of a meeting of FLQ and American Black Panthers.
- Praxis. The force had been in possession of documents stolen from its Toronto office.
- Operation Ham - The force arranged the theft of Parti Quebecois membership lists in the early 1970s.
- Other Mountie operations during the late 1960s and early '70s include the break-in at a left-wing press agency; theft of dynamite, abduction, several other thefts and forgeries.
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Mounties spied on Rhinos Jan/99 -The RCMP didn't find the comedic Rhinoceros Party to be funny. Newly released records reveal the service watched the Rhinos from 1971 through 1984. The RCMP's 106-page file on the Rhinos, obtained by Southam News under the Access to Information Act, show the Mounties were by the Rhinos. An October 1984 report notes the party's involvement in a coalition protesting a visit by the Pope. Another memo, stamped secret, earnestly documents a 1979 incident in Laval, Que., in which a ragtag group of Rhinos, apparently with Communist sympathies, made fun of the RCMP.
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