This ain’t Canada right now
Or so says the police officer about 3:50 minutes into this video. Wow. If that is true, then York Regional Police officer 815 was acting out of his jurisdiction and was therefore simply a bully. With a sidearm.
Think about that.
There are dozens and dozens of stories like this coming out of the G20. Only a public inquiry will get to the bottom of that, and it needs to result in some clear guidelines for how police enforce laws within the context of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, even when there are special circumstances. Since 9/11 politicians and police have used “security” as a pretext for suspending civil rights with dubious pieces of legislation and unlawful policing behaviour. This has to stop. If indeed we live in a world with heightened security threats, we have to find ways to deal with them precisely and without arbitrary measures. If the state gets sloppy with law enforcement, it crosses the line. In a democracy you cannot round up dozens of people on the pretext that there might be someone hiding among them. Those who call for that have no idea what they are asking for. We will become a police state no different from other states in which civil rights are suspend for arbitrary reasons.
The cop is right. This ain’t Canada right now. That needs to change.
This certainly *is* Canada right now, no doubt about it and it’s been video recorded for posterity. Woody, Arlo, Pete, and Bobs – we need the likes of you now more than ever.
this machine kills facists
Great video Chris. After spending last weekend with an officer who was there, I can tell you many cops were just as frustrated as the demonstrators with the whole thing . And it seems they were just as misinformed (mis-led) about the 5 metre law as everyone else.
Yeah I saw her piece. My “if” was meant to be understated. I also think we don’t live with heightened security threats. Turns out police usually do a good job of catching the bad guys when they act on intelligence. But when they dont have intelligence and they only have repressive laws they presume guilt on whoever they want to. That ends a democratic justice system right there.
Really amazing video footage here. As I was watching I was imagining what it would be like to be 1 of the dudes being searched. Even without knowledge of Canadian policy and laws … the actions of the police here are just plain wrong. And like Allister’s comments, would love to know what some of the police (minus the bully) were thinking.
Geoff