[URBAN NOTE] "Reasonable Doubt: G20 justice is coming slowly, but surely"

[rfmcdonald]

NOW Toronto's Brian Eberdt reports on how Toronto police are being held to some account for their actions six years ago at the G20.

On the weekend of June 26, 2010, Toronto was held hostage by the G20 summit, literally. Six years have passed. Since then, there have been a series of precedent-setting decisions which hold the police accountable for their actions that weekend. Perhaps the most significant of them was released last month.

On April 6, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of our Divisional Court in the case of Good v. Toronto Police Services Board. It is the first class action lawsuit dealing with use of the “kettling” technique, where police surrounded and detained hundreds of people and, in many cases, took them to jail.

The primary issue in the Court of Appeal’s decision was whether Good’s case could proceed as a class action, as opposed to an ordinary civil action involving only her. The benefit of the former is that it enables anyone who was detained in the various “kettling” incidents described in the claim to join the action without hiring their own lawyer and commencing separate lawsuits. The court’s decision will significantly increase any damages award made against the police. Good’s lawyers estimate this is in excess of 1,000 people. Many of these people were merely walking the streets of the city when they were detained – they weren’t even part of a protest.

Like any class action lawsuit, the case involves a “representative plaintiff,” Sherry Good, who represents the interests of the group (i.e. the “class”). Her statement to the court is compelling:

"At Queen and Spadina that afternoon, during a peaceful protest, with no warning, we were surrounded by hundreds of police in riot gear, fully armed. We could not leave. They kept us standing in one of the worst rain storms of the year for over four hours with no information disseminated to us, no food, no water, no toilets. Sometimes the police charged into the crown, picking out people indiscriminately for arrest, and dragging them away."