The Dominion - Megan Kinch

Reporting as Resistance

Sandra — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:18:46 +0000

Prisoners shed light on conditions by blogging from the inside

TORONTO—Across Canada people with mundane, everyday risk factors for police repression—poverty, race, being Indigenous, working as a sex worker—face criminalization as part of their daily lives.

Prisoners' Justice Day is annually held in August, but the struggle for solidarity with prisoners is every day. On the inside, Prisoners' Justice Day was recognized by one-day hunger strikes by prisoners themselves, and 150 prisoners from Joyceville Institution, a federal prison in Kingston, have since filed suit for the right to wear Prisoners' Justice Day t-shirts.

On August 10, 2012 in Toronto, about 100 people gathered outside The Don Jail(formally The Toronto Jail, a provincial prison) to read a statement that had been written by prisoners themselves. Many in the crowd were directly affected by the prison system through their own personal encounters or through the imprisonment of those they cared about. Last Friday in Hamilton 50 protesters marched against lockdowns and poor conditions at the Barton Street Jail (formally the Hamilton Wentworth Detention Centre) as a result of a work-to-rule action on the part of the guards. Just this week, early the morning of Wednesday September 12, only hours after correctional officers returned to work, a 42-year-old inmate was found dead.

In such conditions, simply communicating about conditions on the inside to people on the outside becomes a form or resistance.

If the Conservative government has their way, conditions in prison will get much worse. US style mega-prisons are coming to Canada. The Conservative government's recent omnibus crime bill introduced mandatory minimums for pot growing and other drugs and is widely expected to increase the number of prisoners in Canada. Twenty-two new provincial and territorial prisons and 17 prison expansions are being built across the country. Federal prisons are expected to absorb cuts while adding more people—a situation that will increase crowding and make prisons even more dangerous.

This is all part of an austerity agenda that was protested in Toronto during the G20, when over a thousand people were suddenly acquainted with some of the realities of imprisonment. Some of those who are currently doing time related for G20 protest organizing or participation have been keeping blogs—serving as a connection between inside and outside of the prison system in order to demystify the prison experience. Mandy Hiscocks has been writing from inside the Vanier Centre for Women; Alex Hundert was writing from Toronto West Detention Centre and now the Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene and Kelly Pflug-Back, also at Vanier, has recently started her prison blog.

Prisons are total institutions and they control not only the minute details of daily life but also communication inside and out. Combined with social stigma, the marginal social position of prisoners and fantastical television portrayals, many people who are not directly affected by the prison system have no idea what goes on inside. Together, these blogs have been helping make prison life seem less obscure.

Hundert has been writing on conditions inside jail, as well as recounting untold older stories fellow prisoners have shared with him, such as what is now known as the "Ramadan Riot" of 2010 at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex. During the Ramadan fast, meals are supposed to be served before sunrise and again following sunset. Evening meals to break fast were being served cold or late and were not providing enough food to fasting prisoners. Many of the inmates complained to the guards that they were being starved and their official complaint forms were ignored. A peaceful protest was planned where prisoners would refuse to go back to their cells but on one of the blocks a riot started as prisoners there said that they were too upset to protest peacefully. Non-Muslim prisoners also joined in a show of solidarity. Hundert writes, "One of the things that stands out for me [was that] it was not just Muslims who were rioting...guards were beating people who weren’t themselves actually participating, as well as those who were. When I ask [my fellow prisoner] about this further, he tells me that 'people were rioting because jail is bullshit; people understood that Muslims were getting mistreated.'"

From women's prison, Mandy Hiscocks writes that for many women prisoners, being separated from their families, even newborn babies, is one of the most painful parts of their incarceration. "While they're here they can't hug, hold or kiss them because the visits are 'secure.' Prisoners and visitors are divided by glass and speak through the phone...I've been told by people who've experienced it that labour is induced on a pre-determined day and the women are not allowed to refuse this. During labour she's handcuffed to the bed."

She also has written about the fate of those in immigration detention. One woman applied for political asylum at the airport, thinking she would be able to buy a ticket back if necessary and instead found herself in handcuffs. Mandy wrote: "I once asked her if she'd be in danger if she went back. 'Yes. But danger is better than jail.' So what will she do? 'I'm looking for another country now. Because I can't stay in Latvia.'"

While it's generally assumed that jail is a good time to catch up on reading, Hundert and Hiscocks have both written about issues with access to books and newspapers. Currently in some men’s jails books are almost impossible to access, cannot be mailed to prisoners (officially they can but most are censored) and library programs are either inadequate or non-existent. Three of Hundert's blogs entitled "No books in prisons" have resulted in media attention that has led to some attempts to rectify the situation, but the situation with access to books in many men's prisons is still abysmal. The provincial women’s jail has a limited selection of books and highly gendered magazine choices. Although the quality of the books has improved since 2010, when only romance novels were available, books can't be mailed to inmates unless they are for specific educational courses.

For many, Prisoners' Justice Day is a reminder that for people pushed to the margins of society, simply living and surviving can be an illegal act. As Kelly Plug-Back reminds us, "Every prisoner is a political prisoner."

To read more about life in Canadian prisons visit Alex Hundert's blog at alexhundert.wordpress.com, Mandy Hiscocks’ blog at boredbutnotbroken.tao.ca and Kelly Pflug-Back's blog at supportkellypfl.wordpress.com.

A version of this article was first published in the Ryerson Free Press.

Megan Kinch is writer and editor with the Toronto Media Co-op. follow her on twitter @meganysta

Don Jail vigil

Alex Hundert Sentenced to 13.5 Months in Prison

Tim McSorley — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:51:41 +0000

Last person to be sentenced in the "G20 Conspiracy" trial

hundert_3.jpg

Video by Zach Ruiter with text by Megan Kinch, Toronto Media Co-op. Read the full story here.

On June 26, 2012, Alex Hundert was sentenced to 13-and-a-half months in jail. It was the last court date from the G20 ‘conspiracy’ case, a political case that involved long term undercover cops, 17 (21 at one point) people dragged into one lumped-together court case, unprecedentedly strict bail conditions and finally a reluctant plea bargain. I’m trying to write dispassionately to some extent, like a journalist, but I’m remembering last year, on the G20 anniversary: Alex and I were working together editing the last issue of The Spoke, the TMC broadsheet founded to cover the G20 protests. He helped write and edit the issue, but couldn’t help distribute it as he wasn’t allowed anywhere near the protest due to his bail conditions. Now his bail is over and he’s serving over a year a jail, mainly, in my opinion, for being an effective organizer who helped bridge the divide between the radical settler left and indigenous struggles, especially at Six Nations and Grassy Narrows... [more: http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/node/11534]

A Safety of Our Own

hillarybain — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:38:51 +0000

Security and community in St. James Park

This article was published by the Toronto Media Co-op prior to the eviction of Occupy Toronto from St. James Park on November 23.

TORONTO—How does a non-hierarchical movement deal with the safety of its participants? “Occupy” encampments in many countries have been struggling with this question, and Toronto’s “Occupy” is no exception. Located in the downtown east side, St. James Park has been a refuge to many homeless people, and drinking and drug use have always been present. Dick Johnson, who has been helping de-escalate problems, told me that it was important to be sensitive to the needs of long-term park residents: “We have to remember that they were here first and a lot of the problems are with people who were here before us. The longest resident has been living here for 10 years.”

A team of marshals is trained and on call to de-escalate problems. “The issue is that we are dealing with the acts that go on in the park whether we are here or not,” one member of the Marshal Team said. “We have had to evict several people from the park in a non-violent way. There have been a few instances of extremely disruptive people who we were able to deal with in a non-violent and loving way and who were then able to be extremely productive members of this community. We need to publicize the idea about crisis prevention and de-escalation. What we are doing here is very different from the way society at large deals with conflict. There is a lot to learn for everyone.”

General Assemblies (GAs) in particular have been a site of significant disruption. In the most serious incident, a man showed his penis to the crowd during the meeting. But occupiers are taking steps to deal with these problems. A policy on drugs and alcohol (they are banned) has been passed through the GA.

“Marshals never quit,” said Johnson, one of the marshals. “There have been a lot of proactive solutions happening.”

“Security in the park should be all of our responsibility,” Johnson said. “We should not let either paranoia or apathy get to us—we also should not be vigilantes. Sometimes the best thing to do is to ask someone one else to help deal with the situation.”

There has also been an education in dealing with mental illnesses and police; people are realizing that it's not appropriate to call the police for mental illness or intoxication and that the paramedics and crisis intervention teams are better for situations that have become too out of hand for the park community to deal with.

Mental health and nursing professionals have started volunteering for the medic committee to help deal with these sorts of issues. There has been a general agreement only to involve the police in serious incidents of assault, and only when the survivor wants to go that route.

Taylor Flook is an experienced environmental activist who has been a key member of many committees at Occupy Toronto that deal with safety in the park. She says that at first people were reluctant to deal with problems out of a misplaced liberal social-ideology where people didn’t want to interfere with anyone else. “And we’re now…ending our third week—we are at a point when I mention that a sexual assault has happened again and that we liaised with the police and had them assist in the apprehension of the perpetrator, people clapped. It was very bizarre [to see such a change in attitudes]. So, we’re seeing that people are getting it. I hope that people are getting it fast enough to mitigate any further trauma upon an individual while people suss out their ideologies of how to deal with things.”

There have been several incidents in which occupiers reluctantly felt they had to involve the official justice system. In the first week, a man was stealing from tents and sexually assaulting people by touching their feet—occupiers caught him, took him to the edge of the park, and turned him over to the police. This week, a team of marshals searched for another man who allegedly sexually assaulted someone and turned him over to police, as the victim wanted to file charges. There was also a citizen’s arrest made of a Sun TV reporter who was pursuing people so aggressively they were being hit with the TV cameras. While the Sun TV reporter was banned from the park, other reporters from the Sun newspaper respectfully camped out for several days without any incident.

Flook regrets that the camp still doesn’t have a firm process for restorative justice and as a result still has to deal with police regarding serious incidents: “…we don’t have elders or first nations people or anyone with a restorative justice process to actually play that out and show what healing is like, what atoning for your actions is like in a community.”

She says that marshals are a good first step (she’d rather they were called “mediators”). She told Toronto Media Co-op: “Marshals are just a bunch of people who were willing to volunteer; brave individuals who were trying to be the piece that is missing in our greater society. The police have, depending on your experience, failed at the ability to mediate conflict, they actually help escalate conflict…instead of that, what we’re trying to do is create community.”

Megan Kinch is an activist and journalist in Toronto.

Questions? Comments? Drop us a line: info@mediacoop.ca.

St James Park

Occupy Toronto survives Eviction Day

Tim McSorley — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:37:44 +0000

Occupiers, city, to present arguments in court today

TORONTO—November 15 was a whirlwind day for Occupy Toronto. Residents woke to the news that an eviction order had been issued for midnight that night. At the same time, word arrived that New York's Occupy Wall Street, the heart of the Occupy Movement, was being evicted from Zuccotti park. A morning march in solidarity with protesters in New York resulted in two arrests.

Bylaw officers soon entered the park, tagging tents and other structures with eviction notices. Camp organizers met with clergy from St. James Cathedral, which technically owns a portion of the land the camp is situated on, and a General Assembly convened to discuss potential responses. The camp buzzed with nervous energy as people prepared for an eviction and the possibility of police violence. A surge of support for Occupy Toronto became evident as the day wore on, with large numbers of people streaming into St. James, and prominent support coming from unions and even some celebrities, including renowned folk singer Gordon Lightfoot.

Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, released an "Open Letter to Rob Ford": "Please take this letter as formal notice that I will be personally joining the occupiers in St. James Park tonight, along with many other labour activists and community leaders, to link arms with the Occupy Movement. We are all part of the 99 per cent. [We] have a long and proud history of support for civil disobedience. It represents the finest instincts of citizens in a democracy to correct the actions of their governments...without it, there would have been no Civil Rights, women’s rights, environmental or other seminal movements that have changed the course of history."

The eviction order, signed by City Manager Joe Pennachetti, states that protesters are being evicted due to business complaints and the need to winterize the park. While media have highlighted several complaints from business owners, the Toronto Media Co-op has reported on several business owners in the area who are supportive of or benign to the Occupy site.

Julie, a City Liaison from Occupy Toronto, said that occupiers were more than willing to help with the process of winterizing the park. “Of course we care about the park, we live in it,” she told the Media Co-op. “I contacted five people at the Parks and Rec department. The only one I could get on the phone told me that he had been instructed not to speak with people from Occupy. I left very polite messages on Thursday the 10th and Monday the 14th with four other city workers indicating our willingness to cooperate with them, and received no reply.” Lana Goldberg, another protester living at the camp, says the city has not approached Occupy Toronto regarding winterizing the park. “We would obviously be willing to work with them on doing so,” she said.

Late in the day, the tide had shifted. As a result of negotiations through the church, police had promised not to follow through with a midnight raid, and a ruling on an injunction filed by several camp members against the eviction came down. Lawyers from Green and Chercover successfully argued for a stay against the eviction until a full hearing could be held to determine its legality. The injunction was granted at 5:30pm November 15, giving the camp a temporary reprieve. The legal teams are scheduled to debate the ruling in court today, Friday, November 18, with a final decision from the judge on Monday, November 23. The lawyers for the occupiers are expected to argue that Charter of Rights and Freedoms, namely freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, protect protestors from any action against the camp.

“I think this case is about whether city by-laws trump Charter rights, which is pretty incredible if you think about it,” said Dave Vasey, an occupier living at the camp who sits on a number of committees. Meanwhile, 11 city councilors have signed a letter calling on the mayor to stop the eviction.

Some activists were unhappy with attempts to call off a planned rally in solidarity with Occupy Toronto, and with the injunction itself. Bruce Darden said “I think it's irresponsible for anyone to ever demobilize people, to thwart community members' desires or will to action...The effect [it will have] is that people will continue to look to the institutions of the one per cent, that of the courts, to solve our problems instead of trying to act together and to deal with our issue in collective spaces like the park.” In spite of this development, a large crowd gathered in St. James for a General Assembly, which went late into the night.

Protestors have vowed to stay and continue to fight the eviction.

Justin Saunders is an information technologist and journalist based in Toronto. Megan Kinch is an activist and journalist in Toronto.

Eviction night in Toronto

In Brief: Extraction Shorts

Tim McSorley — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 05:20:01 +0000

Image by Matt Forsythe

International Mining Abuses Continue Unabated

Bill C-300, the “Responsible Mining Bill” introduced in the wake of a damning 2007 report on the Canadian mining industry’s environmental and human rights record, was defeated during its third reading in Canadian Parliament.

Although the bill was criticized for potential “interference” with the “sovereignty” of developing nations, Canada is simultaneously pursuing C4A, a bloc trade agreement with several Central American countries that would mostly likely override national sovereignty on environmental issues. A subsidiary of Canadian corporation Pacific Rim is already suing the government of El Salvador for millions of dollars under a related agreement (the Central American Free Trade Agreement) for enforcing environmental regulations.

Meanwhile, repression of those reporting on Canadian mining interests abroad is on the rise. Amnesty International issued an urgent action alert in January regarding death threats received by human rights lawyer Hector Berríos on January 23, 2011. Three anti-mining activists were killed in his region of Cabanas, El Salvador, in 2009. Elsewhere, Guatemala is ramping up a “war on drugs” and has suspended civil liberties in areas in which anti-mining organizing is prevalent. In the Philippines, a broadcast journalist covering mining company abuses was recently shot dead. In Papua, New Guinea, police recently began arresting employees of Barrick Gold on charges of rape against Indigenous women near the Porgera mine.

At home, awareness of mining abuses is growing, especially among students. In January, protests were held at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and a series of anti-mining events began at the University of Toronto—alleging links between human rights abuses and increasing academic interference by mining companies within the university.

—Megan Kinch

Tar Sands in the Great Lakes

Bitumen from Alberta’s tar sands continues to be processed in Sarnia, Ontario, and the surrounding townships. Imperial Oil, Nova Chemicals, Suncor and Shell all have refineries in Sarnia-Lambton’s well- known “Chemical Valley”—where BP and Enbridge operations can also be found. This petro-chemical industry complex surrounds the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve, and sits directly across the river from Port Huron, Michigan. Aamjiwnaang residents are researching the resulting health impacts on communities in the area. The dramatic reduction in male births, due to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, is one of the most startling outcomes of local pollution. Other health impacts include cancers, respiratory problems and increased blood pressure.

Although tar sands refining is only one of many local pollution sources, the industry casts a significant shadow over the future of the area. As with natural gas from shale rock, bitumen from the tar sands is increasingly necessary to extend the life of fossil fuel and petro-chemical industries in Sarnia. Conventional oil and gas are becoming less affordable and available, yet are used to make rubber, plastics, and various chemical and fuel products in Chemical Valley.

Like many other midwestern cities, Sarnia’s existing oil and gas pipeline networks, and its other historical ties to petrochemical industries, may continue to draw fossil fuel companies to the region. Although Shell abandoned 2008 plans for a new tar sands refinery in the area amid protests, Suncor recently invested $1 billion for refinery upgrades which included further integration with their other tar sands operations.

—Toban Black

Shale gas under fire

The public debate on shale gas extraction is heating up as environmental experts and community groups face off against governments and the fuel industry. Already established in the US and Western Canada, exploratory shale wells are now being drilled across northeastern North America to gauge the quantities of this energy resource, touted by gas producers as a cleaner-burning fossil fuel. In Quebec, the provincial government has thrown its weight behind shale, claiming high energy estimates from existing wells and positive economic spin-offs; it says there is enough gas to supply Quebecers’ energy needs for the next 200 years and spur the creation of thousands of jobs. Yet in many locations environmental and safety impacts have yet to be studied, and leaks have been reported in more than half of the wells in Quebec. Recently, the province’s public health authority joined a growing number of experts and environmental activists in urging a halt to exploration until such impacts are fully assessed.

In Pennsylvania, reports by conservation groups show that shale gas companies have amassed more than 1,500 environmental violations in the course of drilling. Elsewhere, local residents are winning out against industry. Nova Scotian activists met with a cabinet minister after a petition against shale gas exploration was tabled in the provincial legislature. In New York State, lawmakers recently buckled under public pressure and imposed a six-month moratorium on shale gas exploration.

—Paloma Friedman

This article was published in A People's Forecast: The Climate Justice Issue, our 2011 special issue. To read more articles as they are published, click here.

extraction briefs

You've Got Bail! (But No Freedom)

Moira Peters — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:11:46 +0000

Ryan Rainville, and the letter of G20 law

TORONTO—The men’s shelter doesn’t look like a prison. There are no bars on the windows, no sign announcing the building’s institutional status. The walls are decorated with posters about Indigenous pride and occasionally the air is tinged with the sweet smell of burning sage.

For Ryan Rainville however, it is a prison. He is not allowed to leave the shelter except to see his lawyer and for occasional group activities. There is a long list of people—some of whom he has never met—whom the courts have ordered him not to contact. Because of these conditions he can’t work or go to school.

"I went from being able to actually work and come up with my own money to not being able to work...It's driving me nuts that I can't go out there and look for work because I want to help my mom, and her partner," said Rainville, whose mother was recently diagnosed with cancer. "That poor guy is working double shifts so that he can keep up with the [medical] bills."

Rainville is charged with crimes related to alleged participation in the Black Bloc during the G20 protests. He was arrested August 5, 2010. His original bail was denied and he spent three months in pre-trial detention in prisons in the Toronto area before finally being granted bail on November 9, 2010.

During the G20 protests in Toronto in June 2010, more than 1,100 people were arrested in the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Many more were detained or trapped in the rainy streets for hours between lines of riot police using a tactic called "kettling."

The now-infamous Public Works Protection Act, a Second World War-era law that was secretly re-enacted by the province—and which the Ontario Ombudsman called "illegal" and "likely unconstitutional" in a report released in December 2010—was used for arrests across a broad swath of downtown Toronto, even though the act was supposed to apply to the area inside the G20 security fence. In a video posted on YouTube, police officers were quoted as saying, "This ain't Canada right now; you're in G20 land." Only one man—environmental justice activist Dave Vasey—was formally charged under the Public Works Protection Act, but when he arrived at his court date, he found the charges had been "lost."

Many who were released from the temporary detention centre on Eastern Avenue allege beatings by police, threats of rape, strip searches of young women by male officers and widespread denial of the right to call a lawyer after arrest. Due cause was thin on the ground, and in many cases, passers-by were arrested. A Toronto Transit Commission worker in full uniform was arrested while walking between job sites. By the time of the first mass court date for G20 defendants in August 2010, only 300 people faced charges, 100 of which were dropped that day at the courthouse for lack of evidence, and 100 more which were dropped October 14, 2010.

Since the G20, police have engaged in what critics are calling a witchhunt against activists, arresting 11 from Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) during a small demonstration outside Liberal Party headquarters in downtown Toronto. Authorities appear to be targeting particular kinds of activists on thin pretenses. Indigenous activist Jaroslava Avila was arrested after speaking at a health-related event on September 29, 2010, at the University of Toronto, only to have charges dropped for lack of evidence on December 20, 2010, after her name was released to the press and she had spent months living with restrictive bail conditions.

Rainville, 23, is active in Indigenous and working-class organizing. Friends describe him as a tireless activist, always ready with a joke or an insightful observation. He is of Cree background, but notes that he appears White, and therefore escapes the worst racial prejudice.

He is fluent in Spanish—his stepfather is from El Salvador and he taught himself the language while spending time in the country. Self-educated, Rainville is reading through a huge stack of books—political literature, texts on Indigenous land claims and Foucault’s Discipline and Punish. He was working on his high school diploma through an academic upgrading course at George Brown before he was forced to drop out due to post-G20 legal harassment. Prior to his current bail conditions, he supported himself through work as a factory laborer and as a baker.

Despite having no criminal record, Rainville was initially denied bail, and had to wait in jail for three months until his appeal was heard. Most other G20 defendants in this situation were released within days or weeks. Rainville attributes this disparity in treatment to poverty.

“My father is dirt-poor and works for just above minimum wage as a truck driver, and my mother lives in the US right now, and is also dirt-poor,” he said. “She was working in a factory for $7.25 per hour until she contracted breast cancer, for which she just had surgery today.”

Because of economic insecurity, he explained, his family has been forced to disperse from Toronto. This makes it difficult to get bail, as he would be unable to live with family if released. Neither can his family post up large amounts of money, nor purchase a plane ticket to Toronto to testify in court on his behalf. Each of these elements of a disadvantaged economic situation work against someone going through the court system.

“If you have a lot of money you are going to get more justice in this system,“ said lawyer Davin Charney, who is familiar with Rainville's case and is defending other G20 arrestees. “This doesn’t apply just to Ryan; this applies to people of the working class and impoverished people.” Charney said many people in economic difficulty find it hard to access bail, not only because they have trouble raising the large sums of money required, but also because they have trouble finding someone who will be respected by the court, and who has space to put them up if the court requires a residential surety—someone who can vouch for them. Homeless people, for example, do not have an address—a requirement to be granted bail.

Gary McCullough, who was arrested for driving near the G20 zone with most of his possessions in his car, experienced the judicial disadvantage of poverty that Charney cited. According to the Toronto Star, McCullogh was kept in prison with minimal health care and suffered a jailhouse beating, exacerbating his mental illness. He was initially denied bail because his elderly parents are unable to supervise him. He was only released December 6, 2010.

“People charged with what would be essentially the same crime are being treated very differently [than non-G20 related offenders],” said Charney. “For example, in my practice when people are charged with mischief it’s seen as a less serious offence, but for some reason because of the context of the G20 there is all this hysteria…They are pulling officers who would normally be on the homicide squad, or the sexual assault squad, and putting them to investigate these ‘mischief makers,’ which I find really upsetting. It’s a political decision on the part of the police.”

Byron Sonne, charged with computer crimes, has been incarcerated without bail since his arrest on June 22, 2010, before the G20 even started.

Activist Alex Hundert was preemptively arrested in the early morning on June 26, 2010, released on bail, then re-arrested. Police interpreted his speaking with several professors at an indoor panel at Ryerson University on September 17, 2010, as violating a bail condition about speaking at public demonstrations. He was released after the legality of this was challenged and after being forced under duress on October 13 to sign what he called “draconian” conditions. Ten days later, Hundert was re-arrested under the pretense of another alleged bail violation; he was recently released after taking a plea bargain with the crown.

Rainville was eventually released to a Native bail program at his hearing on November 10, 2010, with his father and two professors as sureties. But, contrary to normal procedure, Ryan’s bail conditions prevent him from leaving the shelter at all, even accompanied by his sureties. He also has a no-alcohol condition which he attributes to anti-Indigenous targeting. “Despite the fact that I’ve grown up with white-skinned privilege—and I do look like a settler—they are targeting me based on my Cree background with this whole alcohol issue.”

“Out” on bail, Rainville is technically free, but his is a pitiful freedom. Time spent confined at the shelter will not count toward Rainville’s time served if he is convicted at his trial, scheduled to take place in April. This situation was made worse by the fact that his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and he could only communicate with her by phone. The day he was interviewed at the shelter, she was having surgery. “They’re telling me that I’m free. But if I were free I’d be holding my mom’s hand next to her hospital bed right now in Louisiana.”

More recent tests found his mother to now be free of cancer.

Rainville can leave the shelter for medical and legal appointments and on group field trips with the shelter staff.

“Aside from that I’m forcibly confined...I basically feel like I’m in jail still, minus the fact my mail is not being torn through and I can read whatever literature I want, and I can have visitors not through a glass window. But aside from that I’m forcibly confined.” The front door of the shelter visibly bothers Ryan; he says he effectively acts as his own jailer.

“I’m doing it to myself, it’s basically out of this want to not end up in jail again,” he said. “I go crazy in this place sometimes. I have to stick to doing jumping jacks and push-ups in my room because I feel like a trapped animal.”

In spite of blatant denial of individuals’ civil rights by the Canadian state, G20 arrestees have been first to encourage Canadians to keep their arrests and detentions in perspective.

“It’s a hugely intrusive imposition,” said Hundert of bail conditions before he was placed on conditions which restricted his ability to talk to media, ”I think it’s supposed to disrupt the communities in which we organize and to be punitive despite the fact that we haven’t been convicted of anything.”

Rainville agrees. “Forget about this,” he said. “Forget about me having a little bit of privilege stripped away from me...This whole thing is a walk in the park compared to what they are doing to people like Omar Khadr.“

Megan Kinch is an activist and journalist in Toronto.

Ryan Rainville

G20 Over, but Legal Woes Drag On

Tim McSorley — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:14:16 +0000

Three hundred to appear in court, G20 organizers face police threats as arrests continue

TORONTO and MONTREAL—Nearly two months after the G20 protests in the streets of Toronto, hundreds of people are slowly moving through the legal system. They face a wide range of charges, from obstruction to conspiracy, and a variety of possible punishments, from fines to serious jail time.

The complexities of the justice system can be difficult at the best of times, but with mass arrests and what many see as politically motivated charges, things have become more daunting.

“The court system is incredibly alienating,” says Ryan White, a lawyer working with the Movement Defense Committee (MDC). “That's why [the courts] are used, to use up time and energy to destroy social movements.”

While it’s difficult to predict the outcome for people facing charges, an estimated 300 people – mainly those who were arrested and held at the detention centre set up in a former film studio in Toronto’s east end – are slated for “set date” court appearances on August 23.

A set date is the first step in the trial, where the accused will be able to clarify their exact charges, will be given their next court dates, and will possibly receive disclosure – meaning they will be permitted to see the evidence being held against them.

Since the set date hearings are not arraignments, defendants will not plead innocent or guilty, but resolution discussions – otherwise known as plea deals – may take place. A spokesperson for the Crown's office refused to comment on the possibility of such negotiations, though Riali Johannesson, another lawyer who volunteers with the MDC, says such discussions are common-place.

Those who remember the temporary bail court hearings immediately after the G20 summits may doubt the wisdom of processing 300 defendants in one day, but both Crown prosecutors and MDC volunteers believe there should be enough resources and staffing for the process to move smoothly. According to Johannesson, legal defence volunteers are in contact with the Crown to find ways to ease the process and ensure hearings do not drag on.

That is reassuring for the dozens of people who will come in from out of town for the hearings, including 110 people from Quebec alone. Montreal’s Anti-capitalist Convergence (CLAC), which organised buses to Toronto for the G20 summit, is organising transport and lodging for those who need to travel to Ontario for their hearings. Other out-of-town defendants, including most from BC, have secured legal counsel to represent them so they do not need to make the 4,000km trek.

There is a possibility that some charges will be dropped on August 23, and that others may be downgraded following resolution discussions. No one will be obliged to take plea deals and groups like CLAC have expressed hope that enough funds will be raised to enable individuals who wish to challenge their charges to do so.

Fundraising takes time though, and in both Montreal and Toronto, where the two main pushes for fundraising are taking place, it is estimated that at least $250,000 needs to be raised in each city in order to cover the legal fees associated with those facing the most serious charges. Farrah Miranda, a spokesperson with the Toronto Community Mobilisation Network (TCMN) was unable to confirm how much money has been raised so far. The TCMN and CLAC are both planning a series of large events over the coming weeks, though, including a performance by trip-hop band LAL in Toronto, and a fundraising dinner and art auction in Montreal as part of what will be year-long funding drives.

Some of the seventeen people co-accused on charges of conspiracy will be among those appearing August 23. All but one of them have been released on bail and face severe restrictions, including house arrests and limits on who they can associate with, on public statements, organizing or participating in protests, using laptops, cell phones and other wireless devices. Kitchener-based community organizer Eric Lankin however, has been in custody for over six weeks.

The courts have issued a publication ban against reports on the proceedings, and some have been warned that speaking to the media may constitute a violation of the bail conditions, which would leave the sureties financially liable. The sureties for Leah Henderson and Alex Hundert were contacted recently by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), who told them comments to the media made by Henderson and Hundert could be interpreted as a breach of their 'no advising or planning political protest' condition, according to Hundert’s brother Jonah. Such a breach would allow the police to put them back in jail.

“It's absolutely absurd and the principle behind it is disgusting,” he says, adding that if there are concerns about breach of bail conditions the proper route is to contact legal representation. “[The OPP] are basically
harassing my family, just as they try to intimidate all people who speak and stand for social justice.”

Many have been critical of the bail conditions, seeing them as particularly repressive. “The coercive bail conditions force those released into a false choice: to stop organising or to face further repression,” says SK Hussan, who, like Henderson and Hundert, has been accused of conspiracy, among other charges. “We are not simply choosing to fight for a better world; it is our responsibility to do so,” he added.

Ongoing arrests continue to evoke the spectre of the G20 mass detentions. No one knows when they will end, and Toronto police have not said they are through with arrests. In mid-July the Toronto Police Service (TPS) released a “most wanted” list of G20 protesters. Since then, the TPS have arrested several of those listed, most recently Ryan Rainville, an Indigenous solidarity activist, who was arrested in Waterloo, Ontario.

“It's clear that the police will extend [the wave of arrests] as long as they can,” says White. But he is optimistic that fighting in the courts could lead to a kind of victory for the defendants. “There are so many stories out there of people who had their rights trampled by the state who have had success in the courts. It's exciting to think about it proactively. It's one way of holding the state accountable.”

Hussan, for his part, is insistent that the focus not be on the ongoing legal battle he and others face, but on building towards a just world: “What’s become increasingly important is not just how are we going to deal with state violence, but how are we going to create the autonomous, just, free communities we all want to live in?”

For more information about what defendants can expect on August 23 and information on legal defense, visit http://movementdefence.org. For more information on legal defense fundraising efforts and news, visit http://g20.torontomobilize.org/ and http://www.clac2010.net/.

Tim McSorley is an editor with The Dominion. Megan Kinch is an activist and journalist in Toronto.

G20 police line