Not that I expect it to go anywhere...

[bcholmes]

At a hastily convened meeting on Tuesday, the civilian body that oversees Toronto's police approved an independent review of policing during last month's G20 summit.

This is a welcome about-face. Just a week before, despite all the concerns over excessive use of police force and violations of charter rights, the Toronto Police Services Board expressed its "profound appreciation" for the way the police performed their duties.

However, the proposed review of Toronto police actions is still insufficient in scope to get to the bottom of what happened in our city on the G20 weekend. The decision-makers included not just the Toronto police but also their counterparts from the OPP and RCMP and politicians in all three levels of government.

Collectively, they turned our city into an armed camp with empty streets, secretly invoked special police powers, allowed a few hooligans to run amok burning police cruisers and smashing store windows, and then arrested and incarcerated more than a thousand people, the vast majority of them guilty of no crime. Businesses in the downtown area suffered a big drop in sales. Instead of showcasing the city, the event produced damaging images, broadcast around the world. What is needed is a full public inquiry, called by either the province or Ottawa.

— Board review of G20 not enough, The Toronto Star