Police acknowledge mistakes made at G20
Settlement will see those detained in 2010 arrests receive up to $25,000
More than a decade after one of the most notorious weekends in this city’s history, the Toronto Police Service has acknowledged “mistakes were made” during the 2010 G20 summit, which saw hundreds of Canadians boxed-in, arrested and held in “unacceptable” conditions.
“We regret that mistakes were made,” the Toronto police said in a statement Monday.
The public acknowledgment comes after a $16.5-million class-action lawsuit received court approval Monday morning, finalizing an unprecedented settlement that will see detained Canadians receive compensation up to nearly $25,000 after what has been dubbed “the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history.”
Called “very significant” by one of the class-action lawyers, the public statement nonetheless “falls short” for Tommy Taylor, one of the hundreds rounded up and detained in a cramped cell during the June 2010 weekend, though he noted it goes much further than most settlements.
“Is it a right out there ‘I’m sorry?’ It’s not,” Taylor said Monday.
As part of the terms of the class-action settlement, the Toronto police agreed to make changes to how large demonstrations are policed in the future, and was required to make the public acknowledgment of the mass arrests and the detention conditions that came from the office of interim police chief James Ramer Monday.
During the G20 weekend, police were faced with “a security challenge unprecedented in Toronto’s history,” the statement begins, noting that while the weekend saw many Canadians peacefully demonstrating, “several people chose to use that occasion to engage in incidents of vandalism, lawbreaking and public disorder.” “We understand and acknowledge that in attempting to preserve peace and safety during those two days, there were times when matters were not addressed in the way they should have been and many hundreds of members of the public were detained or arrested when they should not have been and were held in detention in conditions that were unacceptable,” the statement read.
Eric Gillespie, who argued the class-action case alongside fellow Toronto litigation lawyer Murray Klippenstein, said the acknowledgment released by the Toronto police is “very significant.” It goes further than an apology, Gillespie said, because it’s an admission of specific mistakes.
“Acknowledging that what people experienced was ‘unacceptable’ was a very concrete recognition that, in the view of many people, goes beyond simply ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Gillespie said.
“That, coupled with the rest of the settlement, in the view of our clients, does mean there was a very positive result.”
Gillespie noted that the Toronto police board previously issued an apology; in 2012, thenToronto police board chair Alok Mukherjee said he was sorry “for any part I may have played advertently or inadvertently.”
“I extend a very personal apology to those who, though innocent and engaged in lawful and peaceful activities, suffered as a result of the transgressions and failures,” Mukherjee said at a July 2012 meeting.
Mukherjee’s apology came two months after then-police chief Bill Blair wrote an open letter to Toronto saying he accepted responsibility for the actions of his officers during the G20 summit — but stopped short of an apology.
“I will ensure that the lessons we learn during the G20 are incorporated into our procedures, our training and our future response,” Blair said at the time.
Taylor, one of the members of the class action, noted Monday that most of the police leaders who were in charge at the time have retired or moved on, including Blair, who is now Canada’s public safety minister.
Asked if Blair would comment on the Toronto police statement Monday, or issue an apology, a spokesperson for Blair directed the questions to Toronto police.
“In terms of justice for what happened, I mean, when it comes to cases against the police, I guess this is as good as it gets,” Taylor said. “But even then, certainly a lot of the sentiment in the statement does fall short.”
He nonetheless noted that the acknowledgment goes well beyond a typical class-action lawsuit, where there are no public statements or commitments to change. He hopes the acknowledgment sets a strong precedent for cases moving forward and protects citizens in future demonstrations.
Following the G20, Toronto police Supt. Mark Fenton was the only senior police leader found guilty of professional misconduct under Ontario’s Police Services Act. He twice gave the orders to effect mass detentions, including a now-infamous “kettling” incident on Spadina Avenue — which involved penning-in hundreds during a torrential downpour — and another instance outside the Novotel hotel on the Esplanade.
After he was found guilty of professional misconduct in 2015, Fenton apologized to “all those innocent parties that were negatively affected.”
Paul Cavalluzzo, a lawyer who represented some of the complainants and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association during Fenton’s hearing, said in an interview Monday that it was good to see Toronto police recognize wrongdoing — “unfortunately it’s 10 years after the fact, and when the persons responsible, who were the leaders at the time, have moved on.”
“It’s good in one way, but it’s a wake-up call that the rule of law can be endangered in Canada,” he said. Adrienne Lei, who represented complainants kettled at Queen and Spadina during the Fenton hearing, said Monday that it is difficult to be satisfied when Toronto police “can only bring itself to express ‘regret.’ ”
“The tepid apology begins with self-justification and characterizes mass unlawful arrests and breaches of the Charter as trifling errors. This half-hearted gesture comes 10 years and 3 months too late, after millions of dollars have been squandered enriching lawyers on all sides of this fiasco,” Lei wrote in an email.