The Toronto G20 Summit, held on June 26 and 27, 2010, brought with it the largest number of mass arrests in Canadian peacetime history.
Toronto Police Services Superintendent Mark Fenton, the Major Incident Commander who was responsible for the overall management of police resources during the G20 in 2010, faces three disciplinary charges of professional misconduct for violating basic civil liberties during the international summit.
Cavalluzzo lawyers Phil Abbink, Jan Borowy, Paul Cavalluzzo and Adrienne Telford are representing two of the complainants in relation to incidents on the Esplanade during the night of June 26 to 27, 2010, and are also representing the Canadian Civil Liberties Association which was granted the role of amicus curiae to make submissions in relation to the Charter at the end of the hearing.
This hearing is examining the events of June 26, 2010 when hundreds of peaceful protestors and bystanders were boxed and kettled by police in front of the Novotel Hotel on the Esplanade, with no way to leave. Many of the protesters had attended the demonstration to show their solidarity with striking hotel workers. Over 260 people caught in the kettle were arrested and transported to a "Prisoner Processing Centre", where they were detained under deplorable conditions in cages for up to 26 hours.
The hearing will also review police actions on Sunday June 27, 2010, when another group of peaceful protestors and bystanders were boxed and kettled for over four hours, including through a severe thunderstorm. The Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which investigated these incidents, found that both these mass detentions and arrests occurred under the direction and supervision of the upper echelons of the Toronto Police Service.
The witnesses at the hearing have included Steve Paikin, host of TV Ontario's "The Agenda" program, who had media accreditation and was an eyewitness to the kettling incident on the Esplanade. Several independent human rights monitors who were volunteering with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association when they were arrested and detained during the incidents are also expected to testify, as well as police officers involved in the detentions and arrests.
The charges against Fenton under the Police Services Act are being heard at the Toronto Police Service Auditorium, 2nd Floor, 40 College Street. John Hamilton, a retired Ontario Superior Court judge, is presiding over the hearing.
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