Systemic targeting of social justice movements

[bcholmes]

OTTAWA—A parliamentary committee was told Wednesday that a public inquiry is needed into systematic abuse of citizens’ rights by Toronto police before and during the G20 summit.

Mike Leitold, a lawyer with the Law Union of Ontario, said his group’s firsthand work with protestors at the summit shows that what happened in Toronto that weekend was not caused by an overreaction by the police.

“We actually observed a systematic targeting of social justice movements in Canada over the period leading up to the G20 demonstrations and during them and after,” he stated in testimony at the Commons public safety committee.

It amounted to a “systemic repression of critics and those who oppose the policies of this (Conservative) government,” said Leitold, who is part of the Law Union’s Movement Defence Committee. This group provides legal support for “progressive” and “social justice” organizations in Toronto, he told MPs.

He said numerous unanswered questions remain about police conduct at the G20 and said a public inquiry with full powers to subpoena witnesses is required to clear the air.

— "Public inquiry into abuse of citizens’ rights at G20 needed, MPs told", The Toronto Star