Posted: Wednesday, 22 June 2011

The Canadian Labour Congress renews its call for an independent public inquiry into the police response to events that occurred preceding and during the G20 Summit in Toronto in June 2010.

Canadians are rightly concerned about the reaction of police to acts of vandalism that took place in the streets of Toronto on June 26, 2010. While we do not condone acts of violence and vandalism, we are concerned about the subsequent actions by police that resulted in curtailing the civil liberties of Canadian citizens. Police made mass arrests and detentions of hundreds of protesters and bystanders -- most of whom were later released without charge. The news reports of beatings by police, conditions in the detention area, and the denial to detainees of access to legal counsel are very disturbing and must be investigated.

In July 2010, the CLC wrote to Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario, and to Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, asking for them to cooperate in an independent inquiry, but a year has now passed without such an inquiry occurring. A number of investigations are ongoing but none has the scope, authority or independence to discover what truly happened and why. Those investigations are simply not sufficient to address a security effort that spanned multiple jurisdictions.

On the eve of the anniversary of the G20 summit, the public has a right to know how the events in Toronto transpired, and that if mistakes were made the appropriate bodies will be held accountable. The freedoms and civil liberties Canadians hold dear cannot be so easily trampled.