Canadian Corruption

Wow, what a week!

A lot of shit has hit the fan over the G8/G20 issue alone; not only is the RCMP investigating the questionable spending (for whatever that's going to be worth), but the Toronto Police Service and Canada's attorney general have been hit with MULTIPLE lawsuits over their treatment of innocents. Specifically, the young woman who was threatened with arrest by "Officer Bubbles" (real name, Adam Josephs) is suing, as well as a man who had nothing to do with the protests but was jailed, stripped, beaten, and denied a lawyer, seemingly just for making a flippant remark about the summit.

Not only that, but newly-released documents show that -- as many had suspected -- the protests were infiltrated by various police agencies. One has to wonder if any of these agencies were involved in the only real protester violence, that weekend: the Black Bloc riot that the police were ORDERED to let happen, by persons unknown.

One also has to wonder about Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who was quoted in every newspaper today, as claiming that his cops were unprepared for the number of people. BULLSHIT! There were AT LEAST twice as many cops there as protesters, and they certainly looked like a well-oiled machine when it came to sweeping up and pounding people who were just standing in the street!

On another note... after a year's delay, some of the Afghan detainee documents were released. However, very little in the way of new information was made public, because the Harper Conservatives single-handedly declared the issue to be over. Mind you, what WAS made public is that Stephen Harper and his cabinet were made aware, that prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers were indeed being tortured when transferred to Afghan authorities. Whether or not Harper did anything to stop the abuse, is unclear. However, he certainly has gone out of his way to make sure this issue is not discussed or investigated.

Now, I'm not a legal expert, but I'm pretty sure that when you condone or assist in a war crime, that makes you an accessory. Even if no one in Canada can or will take Harper to task over this, the International Criminal Courts ARE looking into this. I hope forward to seeing what they have to say.

G20 Inquiries -- Kinda Sorta

So after much howling, some investigating is taking place, over the G20 policing. The Toronto Police Association is supposedly looking into its own actions (because the truth ALWAYS comes out, when someone investigates him or herself), and the Ontario Ombudsman -- a frequent thorn in Premier Dalton McGuinty's side -- is looking into the secretly approved rules that allowed some of the arrests near the fence. Too bad that the majority of the outrage is focused on the federally-controlled Integrated Security Unit (or ISU) rounding up, beating, and jailing peaceful protesters and journalists for 30+ hours, without charges or access to a lawyer. Not to mention, the many allegations that prisoners were not only jailed in barbaric conditions, but threatened with rape and further assault. Not to mention, that no one has been totally forthcoming on who told the cops they could search and arrest people who have committed no crime, in places that were not only far from the security zone, but were supposedly guaranteed free speech zones. Not to mention, that this does not address the question of why the Black Bloc was allowed to rampage in the first place (the rambler asked rhetorically).

Much bellyaching has been done by our politicians, about how the ISU did very well under extreme circumstances (even though they allowed a small riot to take place, and then "compensated" with behaviour that ranges from unprofessional to illegal). Most of the media either turns a blind eye to this police state that appeared in Canada's largest city (eg. Global National inserting a clip from a totally unrelated riot, to make the protesters look bad), or flat out attacks anyone who has a problem with it (eg. The Toronto Sun and National Post, who are competing to be Canadian print's version of Fox News). This is particularly strange, given that every news organization on the ground during the protest -- including the Post and Sun -- had people who were arrested and beaten, just for doing their jobs. Even in my hometown of Hamilton, there are polls suggesting that most of my neighbours don't think we need a public inquiry, into this $1 billion exercise in fascism. Even the political opposition, aside from some token outrage -- if that -- has done nothing.

No one seems to mind, that our rights were arbitrarily, secretly, and unnecessarily suspended by people who have no right whatsoever to make those decisions. No one seems to mind, that we have been repeatedly lied to and abused by our leaders and watchdogs. No one seems to mind, that the exact kind of threats and violence we see from corrupt dictatorships, is happening right now, in North America. No one seems to mind, that Canadian leaders and police think that simply speaking out, warrants being kidnapped, assaulted, and being regarded as a terrorist.

Across this country, and around the world -- in graves and battlefields, past and present -- our veterans are weeping. The sacrifices they have made, and continue to make, for our freedoms, have just been rendered in vain.

G20 Aftermath