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Brutality CanadaPolice Brutality O Canada |
Amnesty International has compiled a lot of data on police brutality and police killings in the U.S. but a comprehensive site for Canada has not been found. And lest the world think that we are not infected with this social disease, we will try to do just that here at
B R U T A L I T Y C A N A D A.
By comprehensive, we intend to include cases of police brutality which can be somewhat categorized as involving: racism, poverty, the gay community, First Nations rights, labour and strikes, protests and rallies and/or the war on drugs.
We will not enter into the politics of whether or not police should even exist here but to take as a fundamental that a problem results when such a powerful body is not answerable to the people. This is not democratic and must be changed. Human nature is subject to excesses that must be curtailed by the authority constituted in the population at large. This is democratic.
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COPWATCHReport Police Harassment |
New Articles!!!
Most of these articles are taken from the mainstream media which are owned by a decreasing number of entities (corporations/individuals). It's a good idea to keep this in mind. For example, there is Hollinger Inc., an international publishing corp. that owns English language media in Canada, the US, UK and Israel. Hollinger owns 58% of Southam which in turn owns many Canadian newspapers including the Ottawa Citizen, the Montreal Gazette, the National Post and many more. Canwest owns Hollinger.
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02.12.02The authors of this web site regret that we lack the resources to regularly update this web site right now. Please bear with us and continue to send your reports of police misconduct. Be patient, we will get back to you. The email list continues to be active. This is Art Eggleton's email response to an inquiry on this photo: "As you can appreciate, the Department of National Defence, for reasons ofsecurity, does not comment on JTF2 operations. However, I can confirm thatthe individual in the picture in question is not a member of JTF2." 11.18.01 The conferences and demonstrations in Ottawa are winding down after several tense days in that city. This photo borrowed from the Indymedia web site tells the dark side of the picture. This officer among the riot police in Ottawa is pictured here with a submachine gun. He is likely army personnel, a member of the Joint Task Force 2. Think what you will about his presence but do think about it and talk about it with your friends and family. |
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The mainstream media does not normally cover demonstrations truthfully. However, after yesterday's police assault on well known CBC reporter Evan Dyer, there has been at least one more accurate account of the real aggression by police. Dyer was indignant on a cbc radio broadcast November 17 after he was hit on the head by a baton wielding police officer. When he told the cop he was a reporter, he was hit again. Evidently, Dyer has just lost his innocence through his own personal experience. How he continues to speak out on air will be interesting to see in the days and weeks ahead.
If you haven't seen it before, you may want to read the legal guide for activists:
in the streets and in the courts -
we fight to win
a legal guide for activists
by the common front legal committee
at the ocap web site.
Some things have changed since 911 and this anti terrorism legislation.
Know your rights but don't be surprised when they're trampled!!
10.28.01Toronto cops were out in full force this weekend to protect (read "impress") delegates at the Police Chiefs conference from demonstrators who were prevented from coming anywhere near the conference venue. See the photos and article.
The flag burner gets beaten by cops. See ontario.indymedia.org
See a helpful guide for documenting injuries if you are considering suing the police. You never know when you might need it!
Professor Thobani who was under investigation by the RCMP for hate crimes is no longer under investigation. Harassment nonetheless. She gave a speech on October 1, critisizing US foreign policy. Methinks the Canadian authorities are trying to impress the Americans with their zeal for anti terrorism. For sure, they are impressing many of us with their stupidity.
10.19.01 Another month has passed and now of course, as the US is bombing the shit out of Afghanistan, Canada is quickly ramming through anti terrorism legislation which will give police more sweeping powers. Our civil liberties are certainly going right out the window at this time. Canada has also sent the Navy to the Persian Gulf to join the brave American and British forces there.
And the people of the world are protesting everywhere!
Meanwhile, the Ontario Common Front has gone ahead with its protests against the Harris government. Tuesday saw a successful kickoff to the fall campaign in Toronto in spite of the TSE being open anyhow and Mike Harris himself upstaging the protesters with his well timed resignation.
And in spite of mainstream media reports to the contrary, the well disciplined protesters were met with the usual bullying and breach of civil liberties at the hands of Toronto's finest. There are numerous reports at Indymedia and Citizens on the Web. This report by an independent journalist is particularly graphic and outrageous.
Toronto will also host the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference on October 25 & 26. Protests and workshops are planned to oppose and expose them too. See the Actions Page.
See the new legal guide for activists. You'll need it if you plan to be on the streets at all!
9.18.01An entire month has passed since this page was last updated. September 11 has marked a turning point in the course of history. Not to say that thousands of people aren't dying as the result of terrorism all over the world every day. But the thing that makes this moment in time so critical is that we have a choice and the choice we make collectively speaking, will set the course of things for a long time to come.
Meanwhile, we can expect that one of the most significant results of last Tuesday's events, will be increased repression on the domestic front. After this first wave of racist backlash against Arabs, Muslims and anyone who remotely looks like Arabs and Muslims, there will be another wave of repression on the Peace and Justice movement in Canada and elsewhere. (Remember that Hitler went after the communists before the Jews.)
On Sunday evening past, some mourners/peace activists were harassed by RCMP in front of the US Embassy in Toronto.
In the words of the most respected elder and Chief Oren Lyons of the Onindaga Nation, "Expect Surprise!"
8.18.01 In Toronto last night, a Reclaim the Streets event is invaded by police on horseback. Several people are pepper sprayed and two were held overnight at 52 division while dozens stand vigil outside. Read the report sent to the brutality canada list.
It comes as no surprise to read that the RCMP have formed a "public order program" to deal with the growing number of demonstrations. Read about it at Mounties create unit to control public protests: Program to be 'centre of excellence' for handling dissent
In a little known drama unfolding in Vancouver, Native activist, Ron Barbour is harassed by Vancouver Police. Ron is a supporter of the The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada.
Rosie Rowbotham, Canada's longest serving marijuana prisoner and CBC journalist is in prison. He has written condemning reports about the Kingston Pentitentiary guards and may end up in there himself. His life will be imperiled by such a move. Read the article.
8.03.01All across the country, people are resisting oppression and injustice. Everywhere they are met by the repressive hand of the local authorities. In Montreal, some 200 squatters have settled in at an abandoned building in spite of threats of a police eviction. In Sydney, Nova Scotia, citizens protesting one of the worst toxic waste sites in the country, are pepper sprayed by police and arrested. In British Columbia, Native people continue to resist Sun Peaks on their sacred land.
7.30.01Toronto will be hosting the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in October. Many people will be out to protest this gathering of some 15,000 police personnel, including 650 exhibitors, peddling wares from handcuffs to pepper spray.
After the murder and abuse of protesters by Caribinieri in Genoa and Chretien's announcement about the location of the g8 summit in Canada next year, the RCMP are quick to declare their readiness for anything and everything.
7.15.01Cops and robbers are shooting each other in Montreal while in Regina, an epileptic man dies after being pepper sprayed by police. In London, a coroner's inquest finds suicide by police!
If you think this web site does not tell enough, then maybe you're not sending in your reports of police brutality and harassment!
7.8.01More damning evidence is coming out against Premier Harris, his ministers and the OPP in the Ipperwash scandal. The family and supporters of slain Dudley George will not just go away. Justice must prevail for the Aazhoodena at Stoney Point.
In an extremely disgusting case involving sexism and racism and misuse of the internet, several OPP officers and MN employees are under investigation. Will the full force of the law be brought down upon them?? We shall see if they are even arrested!
In Whitby, Ontario a former Toronto Police officer pleads guilty to drug trafficking.
In Edmonton, Canada Day celebrations turn ugly as revellers apparently riot. Police arrest 20 but what went wrong on this city's streets that night??
May we hazard a guess that alcohol is implicated. Not to say that people can't drink and enjoy themselves but the problem lies, in part, with the regulations regarding consumption of alcohol. It is common enough knowledge that drinkers, knowing the establishment will soon close and knowing that they cannot take any with them or purchase alcohol legally late at night, drink faster and more during the last hour or so before closing time. Then at a given hour dozens, even hundreds of very intoxicated people spill onto the streets. In this case Whyte Avenue in Edmonton is host to several drinking establishments frequented by young people. This author would also go so far as to say that the owners promote excessive drinking by many devious little strategies and of course, the youth are willing particpants. And the government is also implicated with its outrageous tax laws.
And then there is the fighting that inevitably goes on, whether it is over women or politics, many individuals take pleasure in participating in and watching fights. Then more join in and before you know it, there is a riot. What role did the police play in escalating or calming the situation given their present day tactics and attitudes toward people? That is a valid question.
Not far from Edmonton in Sherwood park, a few days earlier a young man, Marty Thomas is shot by RCMP.
Further research reveals:
There have been four police shootings in Alberta in the past two months:
- April 29 -- A Lethbridge police officer shot and killed a knife-wielding man, 53-year-old Allan Thomas Symons, during an altercation at his apartment. Days before, a man is pepper sprayed, clubbed, shocked and shot to death by RCMP near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- May 16 -- An Edmonton tactical officer shot and killed a man, 31-year-old John Pavic, after he lunged at the officer with a butcher knife at his apartment. Read what a lawyers groups suggest and the opinions of some citizens published in the Edmonton Journal.
- June 1 -- A Hobbema RCMP officer shot a man in the abdomen who refused to put down his gun. Dennis Greene, 19, survived and was charged with dangerous use of a firearm and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.
- June 22 -- An Edmonton RCMP emergency response officer shot a man in the stomach as he charged at him with a knife. Marty Thomas, 21, is listed in fair condition in hospital.
Is it not possible that this number of police shootings in such a short period of time would seriously affect the mindset of many citizens, especially those who are most likely to come into contact with police. Why would someone like John Pavic be so afraid of police? What were the rioters on Canada Day so mad about? Once again, the question must be asked, what role did the police play to exacerbate or placate the violence in each and every situation where someone is injured or killed. It would be interesting to know the outcome of the various assault cases against police now in Alberta courts.-ed
In yet another police chase in Ottawa, another man is dead, this time a 19-year-old youth. Three occupants of the car are injured in what started out as a joy ride. And yet another high speed chase this time in Saskatchewan, north of Regina, ends tragically when the pursued shoots himself. When will the police cease and desist from these dramatic high-speed chases which so often involve young people and so often end in a crash???
6.30.01The full force of the judicial system is being used by the Ontario government in its efforts to crush the growing anti poverty movement led by OCAP in Ontario. An OCAP organizer and one member remain in custody on spurious charges. Evidently they are being made an example to intimidate others from resisting. However, when the State reveals its iron fist, many disgruntled citizens tend to become even more angry and outraged at the blatant injustice. In their suffering, OCAP members become martyrs and heroes. Their strength will further galvanize a movement born out of necessity. Where one falls ten will rise. -ed
Ontario jails will soon use an eye test to detect drug use by inmates. What does the Harris regime really have in mind here?
Ottawa police, RCMP et al are getting ready for the protesters sure to come next summer with the summit of the G8.
6.25.01On a Montreal highway, an RCMP officer, Jocelyn Hotte, shoots and kills his ex girlfriend. The occupants of her car are all seriously injured. In Ottawa, a suspected thief fleeing on a bicycle is run over by Ottawa Police. Days later Benoit Aube, 38 is dead from his injuries. What makes these cops think they can get away with this stuff or are they just plain crazy? Could their behaviour on and off duty have something to do with their training and the way they are taught to view other human beings?
6.20.01As summer heats up in all the cities, we see more and more people out on the streets resisting oppression spontaneously or in organized rallies. Government is not listening to the people's protests and demonstrations.
Everywhere, more direct actions are being taken especially by working people. In Ontario, companies hire security to intimidate striking workers. Read about Accu-fax and the Action scheduled for June 20. In Nova Scotia, angry nurses have besieged their politicians. Read the article from the Ottawa Citizen at Nurses.
In Ontario, the Ontario Coalition against Poverty (OCAP) is leading a growing movement to stop the Harris regime in its tracks this fall.
See the coverage, photos and audio of the OCAP rally at Christie Pits on June 15 where representatives from labour, student unions, Native communities and anti poverty groups gathered to pledge their commitment to "economic disruption" beginning October 16 in Toronto:
Toronto Travelogue
With several OCAP members/supporters still in custody, it is evident "that OCAP has graduated in the eyes of the authorities from the status of painful irritant to that of political liability".
And not to forget the persistent non-violent protests at the Hamilton War Show.
5.30.01Germinal Five Update!
The next hearing for convicted murderer OPP Deane will be June 6, 2001.
In less than a month in two different incidents, two Native men, Melvyn Bigsky and Keldon McMillan are shot and killed by police on Highway 41 near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After another high speed police chase, a young man shoots himself near Wynyard, Saskatchewan.
In Edmonton, Kasim Cakmak, 37, a psychiatric patient, pepper sprayed by police is dead.
See the report in NOW magazine Foggy Over Tear Gas Safety
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5.17.01 Read Helen Forsey's report on the Quebec City protests. |
5.15.01 Before the FTAA Summit even started, several people were arrested. Members of the Germinal Movement, five young men still remain in prison at Orsainville. Join the protest rallies on May 22. To find out more, read the report and write letters of solidarity to these political prisoners. Your rights are at stake too!
And while all this commotion is going on, three Toronto-area police officers are facing criminal charges.
4.28.01 The Summit of the Americas in Quebec City has come and gone. Thousands of people went there to attend the People's Summit, to march in the streets in protest and to tear down the wall of shame. They were met by the largest police presence in Canadian history, some 6,000 officers to the tune of $100 million.
When some brave souls breached the fence and protesters spilled inside the perimeter, police responded with tear gas, rubber and plastic bullets, often firing randomly into the crowd. Over 450 people were arrested for spurious reasons and their human rights were violated both on the streets and in jail. Nearly 100 people were reported injured while thousands experiencing the tear gas fumes may have ongoing health problems. Reports of police brutality will continue to pour in and many lawsuits are in the works.
Click the links for some excellent reports. Let's try to maintain some momentum and keep up the pressure on the Beast.
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This is outrageous but comes as no surprise to this reporter. Read the article about Sargent Pepper in the Globe and Mail.
03.30.01 - Toronto - The brutalization of Thomas Kerr by Metro Police is fully exposed by the Fifth Estate. Link to the cbc web site and read the internal police documents! You will be outraged to learn, "Police union spokesmen claimed complete vindication of the officers." Craig Bromell, one of the officers under investigation is now head of the police union.
Citizens continue to fight against repressive laws and Police behaviour with the "Reclaim the Streets lawsuit". Our fundamental right of freedom of assembly is being threatened.
03.29.01 - Quebec - In the largest raid ever in Canada, over 2,000 law enforcement officers, including RCMP and SQ, arrest over 100 Hells Angels including their leader Boucher who is charged with 13 more murders. So why mention it here? Read on to find out...
In BC, a United Church minister speaks out against Church and State. Visit Kevin Annett's web site
03.27.01 - Toronto - Call to action as Somali youth targeted by police for OCAP participation.
03.22.01 - The RCMP get their plastic bullets for the Quebec Summit. Read more.
Students in Peterborough arrested by riot police. NDP Howard Hampton is critical. Why don't YOU write a letter of protest too!
03.02.01 - Toronto just seems to be going crazy these days what with Bill Daughton being denied medical care at the Don Jail, 6 East Detention Centre guards being charged with assault and young offenders allegedly rioting at Mimico Detention Centre. Seems my foot, as more and more people are experiencing police violence, the truth can no longer be hidden. More and more people also refuse and resist, like John Wayne Laws who has filed charges of assault against some of Metro's finest. On the other hand, Judge Gloria Epstein shows no mercy for welfare fraud.
See the Actions page for updates on the Quebec summit in April. Time is passing really quickly and thousands of people are mobilizing to converge on the fortress city. Be careful what you wear up there, it could cause you to get arrested!
The Four Metro Toronto Police Officers charged in the Death of Otto Vass will be in court February 20th. Supporters are urged to gather at 8.30 am at the court house steps of Old City Hall at Bay and Queen then go into Room 111. Read the report on the Otto Vass Memorial Rally.
Read the latest on the Dudley George murder
Law and disorder: See how Toronto's cops did in 2000.
Read about the Diemaco demo by Homes not Bombs and the arrests of two non-violent protesters.
See how authorities are preparing Quebec City for the April Summit. Pearson International Airport now has face scan.
OPP Sargeant Kenneth Deane who shot and killed Dudley George appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada on January 26, 2001. His appeal was denied. For more details, see Background Information and Analysis:...
Also, in Ottawa, read about a suicide during police chase.
13 Toronto Police officers will appear in court in January on charges in the biggest police corruption scandal ever in the city. Read this article and stay tuned for developments.
The case of a teen author jailed for a short story has captured national attention. From December 8 until January 11, a youth who cannot be identified due to his age, was locked in a detention centre in eastern Ontario. For many years the victim of bullies at school, he wrote a story about a youth who planted explosives in the school. OPP investigating the matter searched the school and the boy's home and found nothing. Their only evidence for arresting him is the story he wrote. Every writer should be alarmed and outraged at this further display of police misuse of authority.
Some foolish people actually think that locking this young man up is for his own good. We would like to suggest that this experience will do him great harm. Hopefully he and his family will have the integrity of character to overcome this great tragedy in their lives and become wiser and more vigilant hereafter. It is this kind of experience that radicalizes otherwise ordinary people.
A judge has ordered the younger brother to remain in custody for a full month after the youth reportedly threatened other students when his older brother was arrested.
Read the articles from the mainstream media.
See also an important new link to this site where the issue of free speech and law enforcement is thoroughly examined in Saskatoon. Hurry, though, cause the censors want to pull the site!
| Read about a small victory in Montreal, Wrongly Arrested Waiter Paid. See the list of donors who helped pay for Toronto Police's new helicopters. |
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Now that outgoing President Clinton has failed to pardon Leonard Peltier, this quote from Peltier's book "Prison Writings" is appropriate to this web site:
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Since the day of my capture by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, my life has become one unending blur of jails and prisons, with occasional visits to courtrooms - first in Canada for my extradition hearings, since then here in the States. Handcuffs and leg-irons and strip searches - "spread'm, Tonto"- have become my daily routine. They don't just take your freedom from you - which you'd think would be enough - but they demean and humiliate you, it seems, whenever and wherever possible. They create vastly more crime and injustice and inhumanity than they ever prevent. All prisons, without exception, are cruel and unusual punishment. Every one of them should be declared unconstitutional. As a supposed "cop killer", I got special attention from the start. In my first jail in Canada, a special guard was stationed outside my cell throughout the night; that would be the norm over the coming months. When I was brought the next day to the metropolitan jail in Vancouver, I found myself surrounded by a group of openly angry cops. One of them removed my handcuffs - so they could blame what was coming on me, I suppose - and the others rolled up their sleeves and started coming at me with clenched fists, absolute hatred on their faces. I got ready to fight back as best I could - I figured I could lay two or three of them out before they got me - but, I can tell you, for a few minutes I was pretty sure they'd kill me right there. Only the intervention of the RCMP sergeant who'd brought me there saved me that time. Yeah, there are good cops, lots of 'em. But there will always be the others, too. You quickly learn within the walls that you're at the mercy of anyone with a sadistic streak; and there's seldom any shortage of those. |
From Prison Writings by Leonard Peltier. You can order the book from the Leonard Peltier Defence Committee by clicking on the link.
With increasing reports of police brutality and police misconduct coming in from all across the land, the pattern becomes hard to ignore. And this in spite of more crime statistics down again this year as if you can believe statistics provided by police.
In Kitchener-Waterloo, Justice Colin Westman has slammed Waterloo regional police for their abuse ofauthority.
In a much more serious case in Whitby Ontario, police are acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of a resident and the wounding of his teenaged son.
In the Toronto Sun, Heather Bird responds to police INTIMIDATION. What else would you call it?? She sure is singing a different tune since last June 15...Goes to show, you learn from your own experience!
Read about police excessive force lawsuit in Toronto's Eye Online. Meanwhile, Toronto cops now have taser guns.
Read an article from one of Toronto's radical rags, Eye Magazine, "The real threat to public safety" and one from Canada's leading conservative newspaper, the Toronto Globe and Mail, Crackdown: When Police Wage War Against Activistsby Naomi Klein.
In Montreal, Police killing might be swept under rug while G20 protesters are handled roughly by the MUC.
Read what the Caribbean Camera thinks about Toronto cops.
A Call to Action in Toronto.
See an article called RCMP secret report dangerous by: Kenneth Deer Eastern Door at the Canadian Aboriginal.Com web site.
Though this is not brand new "news", it is an outrageous case and one that has yet to go before the courts. Please see
Police Conduct Violent Drug Raid on Medical Marijuana Users
Written January 20-22, 1998, by Amy von Stackelberg
A constitutional challenge against the charges will be heard in December, 2000 in Edmonton. Supporters are urged to attend.- Ed. This case has been postponed til April, 2001.
Just click on the link.
07.15.01Another man dies after being pepper sprayed by police, this time in Regina.
"During the past decade, OC sprays have become popular with law enforcement and corrections personnel as non-lethal deterrent agents. But there is no real scientific basis for the claim that OC sprays are relatively safe. In fact, a number of reports have associated serious adverse sequelae, including death, with legitimate use, as well as misuse and abuse, of these sprays. "
Read the rest of this North Carolina Medical Journal report called Health Hazards of Pepper Spray
"There have been at least seven deaths in Canada involving police use of pepper spray, including 25-year-old Terry Norris, who died after he was sprayed during a violent scuffle with Ottawa-Carleton police at a gas station in July 1995."
See Archive of Pepper Spray Articles at Citizens on the Web
See Pepper Spray, a recent letter in the Ottawa Citizen.
Not far away, in Montreal, Pepper Spray Kills 2...
And in Calgary, Police Stand by their Pepper Spray
See A pepper spray case in California
See the new Actions Page.
Here in Canada, with increasing incidence of police brutality against the poor, the homeless, the immigrants and people of colour, we need to organize something here to mobilize and teach people that we must stand up for our rights. Incidents of police brutality are not isolated incidents involving a few in law enforcement. These incidents are wide spread and routine in many places. Copwatch groups have been formed in Toronto and Montreal and are much needed in other cities such as Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax.
Police powers are increasing as all levels of governments move towards totalitarianism. Police are confident and gleeful in their actions. Someone must be telling them that it is ok to do what they do. Someone, sitting in a cushy safe chair in an air conditioned office is giving orders and telling them to go ahead and do what they do with impunity. Though I wouldn't expect the average cop to know what "Impunity" means.
These guys get their jobs because they are willing to follow orders. To shut off their minds and to go along with rhetoric and propaganda. For pretty good wages too. Some of them, even many of them, I am sure, chose this line of work because it makes them feel powerful and because they can abuse others. To some people, fighting and seeing blood run is fun and an end in itself.
If there are police officers who disagree we would be glad to hear from them. Hopefully there are a few humans in blue though experience has taught us otherwise.
The Difference between the Military and the Police
See an (American) article entitled "On Racial Profiling and the Michigan State Police Report
Read a message from Ann Pohl of the Ipperwash Coalition.
See the articles about journalists' experiences in Toronto and Montreal (if you haven't already above).
See an informative letter written by a concerned parent in Toronto.
Send your comments and stories of police brutality
This page updated February 12, 2002
