I participated in the spokescouncil gathered together to oppose the G20, IMF and World Bank on behalf of the Ottawa Centre NDP.  Our riding association has been quite active in anti-globalization issues, and have participated in several events, including sending a bus to Quebec City for the FTAA protests in April 2001.  My goal in joining the spokescouncil and in becoming a member of the Action Committee (which was charged with the task of organizing the N17 March and Rally) was to offer my skills toward organizing a peaceful event, one that would attract the greatest and most diverse number of participants possible.

Once the spokescouncil called for the March and Rally, the Action Committee set to work on logistics: the time of the event (which needed to accomodate people coming in from out of town as well as local protestors), the starting point, the route and the location of the rally at the end, the programme for the rallies, and the equipment necessary to keep the event safe, inclusive, and powerful.   We billed the event the “Family Fun March” to most accurately reflect these goals.

It did not take us long to determine that the Supreme Court was the best option for an end point.  We wanted to be far enough away from the barrier to maintain the integrity of the green zone and keep protestors safe, but we wanted a location significant enough to underline our political message.   We decided to hold multiple starting points in recognition that people would be coming from different parts of the two cities.  Our primary concern about the route of the march was the uncertainty about where the security perimeter would be, or what police would be doing  We wanted to make sure that people could get to the rally safely, whether they were coming from either side of the Canal, or from Hull.

The Action Committee decided that we needed to meet with police, to inform them of our route and determine whether we would be able to march unimpeded,  and to assure them that our march would be peaceful and they should keep police presence minimal for the duration of the March and Rally in order to reduce provocation and conflict between police and protestors.    We figured that if they were aware of our plans, they wouldn’t feel the need to come out in full force because they didn’t have an sense of what to expect.

Here is a timeline of my activity leading up to and during the weekend:

October 27
First Spokescouncil meeting.
Call for a march/rally on November 17 - an event to accommodate the biggest number of protesters, people coming in from out of town, etc.

October 29, November 2
Action Committee meets to develop initial plans.

November 3
Spokescouncil Meeting
Action committee makes proposal for March and Rally on N17.  Spokescouncil agrees on “Family Fun” approach to March, in order to attract the widest possible array of demonstrators.  Possible routes are discussed, but to be confirmed when we know where the Perimeter will be. Discussion of police liaison; identification of a subgroup to liaise with police on march routes only, not on events being planned by other groups that weekend.

November 6-9
Initial attempts to contact police are made, with no success.  At this point we were still trying to determine who has jurisdiction over the operation, what security plans are in progress, and whether there will be a perimeter.   Some volunteers contact Councillors’ offices to find out what they know, whether they can assist with permits and other logistical matters, such as the provision of toilets at the rallying points.  I left messages with Rick Murphy and Paul Wilson as well as the office of the team working on G20 (it took a few phone calls to determine there was a team working on the G20).

Nov 8
I finally received a phone call from Ottawa Police, informing me that the officer responsible for liaison with protestors, Ray Thomas, is out of town until Monday, Nov 12.  I left a voicemail message for Sgt. Thomas.

Nov 9
I was contacted by Claude Voyer, RCMP Police Liaison.  I described problems contacting Ottawa police to arrange a meeting about the March.  Voyer offered to contact Ottawa Police to set up a meeting the following week.

Nov 13
David Robbins, Peter Atack, Sarah Dover and I met with Claude Voyer (RCMP) and Ray Thomas (Ottawa Carleton Police).

See letter from Police Liaison group regarding this meeting.   I have little to add that is not already there.
 
Nov 15
Call from Ray Thomas re: meeting to discuss traffic control during March.  He wanted to get our group together with the bike cops. A meeting was arranged for noon, however Sgt. Thomas called later to cancel as the people from Traffic are unavailable!

Nov 16
Peace Vigil Fiasco
Late Afternoon: I joined the Peace Vigil at the Human Rights Monument.  They were having trouble with the sound system, so the event started late.  A group of marchers joined us and began to dance.  It would have been a festive atmosphere - the mood of solidarity was strong - but for the hundred or so riot police in tow.  The police surrounded the vigil, leaving no openings for us to escape.  They had dogs and weapons, and assumed a menacing posture with both.  This was obviously quite distressing to the members of the Muslim community who were there to pray.   After a couple of speeches, in which the MC adopted a “repeat after me” strategy both to silence the dancers and ensure the speakers were heard, the Muslim students attempted to leave.  A few of us tried to intervene with police, to negotiate safe passage so they could go pray (clearly, they did not feel safe to pray at the Human Rights Monument).  I was met with stony expressions by the riot police, so I approached an officer in a regular uniform who seemed to have a supervisory role.  I asked him if Ray Thomas was around, hoping Ray could intervene to quell the rising tension. He said he didn’t know.  I explained that we had to find a way to get the Muslim community out of there so they could go pray.  He turned and walked away from me.  I pursued him, shouting “But we’re asking for your help!”, and he ran.  Then a sort of grenade went off, and I smelled what I thought was tear gas (later Ray told me it was a percussion grenade, which contained some pepper spray).    Somehow the Muslim students managed to get out.  The rest of us marched together through the streets, looking for a way to get safely back to the University of Ottawa.  I saw at least one person injured by snatch squads on the route.

9pm I met with Claude Voyer and Ray Thomas, on Ray’s request.   The point of the meeting, I  was told, was to introduce me to the person responsible for Bike Cops and to discuss traffic control.  However, when I arrived at police HQ, only Ray and Claude turned up for the meeting.  It seems they were more interested in discussing the day’s events and pumping me for information than talking about what would happen the following morning.  After providing them with my significant criticisms of police action during the Peace Vigil, I asked again for their assurance that we would be able to march unimpeded the next day.  They said we would.  They said the day’s police actions were directed at arresting the people who broke the McDonald’s window, and that they had done so.

November 17
Lebreton Flats:   Large numbers of police mobilized at the fringes of Flats as Rally gathered.  Guides dressed in orange toques distributed copies of the route map and the guidelines for the march.  The guidelines simply reinforced the agreement that the march be peaceful, and asked marchers to help us ensure that it remain so.  We asked people to look after each other, and to stay positive, peaceful and powerful.  Around 10am I received a telephone call from Ray with a request to meet.  We met at Lebreton Flats, and Ray was accompanied by an officer from the Metro Toronto Police.  They informed me that they intend to conduct targeted searches, to look for “pipes, baseball bats, heavy flagpoles” and other items that can be used as weapons.  I indicated that pulling people out of the Rally  would be a very bad idea,  and remind them of their promise of a minimal police presence.   Not once did they indicate they would be bringing snatch squads and dogs into the March.  I was under the impression that they intended to search people at the Rallying point. When I saw this wasn’t happening, I assumed that they had re-evaluated this strategy.  I did mention this to a few of our march Guides, so we could warn people if we thought they might be a target.  But there really didn’t seem to be many potential threats in the march, not of the nature the police indicated.

March from Lebreton begins moving up Booth St towards Albert.
I was at the front of the march, in my role as Guide.  As we headed up Booth, I was approached by an Ottawa police officer on a motorcycle, who said “Why didn’t you talk to us - we could have stopped traffic for you”.  I replied that we had indeed been talking to Ray Thomas and that I had been at HQ the night before for a meeting that never materialized.

 Suddenly, a line of police in riot gear marched to form a wide line blocking the path of the protestors.  I called Ray Thomas (he had given me his cellphone number the previous night, after numerous requests for it leading up to the protests) to find out why our path was being obstructed.  Ray, who seemed surprised, said “they shouldn’t try and stop you”.  I said “so we should just proceed along the route?”, and Sgt. Thomas’ reply was affirmative.   I went back to tell the other guides to keep the  march moving and the spirit positive.  We started an appropriate chant: “Ain’t no power like the power of the people and the power of the people won’t stop!”

What happened on the march has been well recounted by others.  I was at the front, and unaware of what was happening at the back until I began receiving calls from the other Guides.  When the police attempted to split the march in two, we halted the front and I went back to find out what was going on and to try and negotiate with the police (this was at the request of the Guides who were nearby).  By the time I got there, they were beginning to retreat.

I had also begun receiving cell phone calls from the other Marches’ guides.  The Hull march reported that they were trapped, and everyone was being forced to subject to a search.  Eventually they were let through, and we met up with them on Bay and Laurier as planned.   The Ottawa U march reported that they were refusing to subject themselves to an illegal search, and after a few calls let me know they were going to try and find an alternate route, or change plans altogether and snake march through the green zone in the Market.  I left messages on Ray’s cell phone, to the effect of “What the heck is going on?”.   Eventually, I heard from the Ottawa U guides, who reported that they’d found a way onto McKenzie bridge and were not being blocked from crossing.  We met up with them on the route.  When we were on O’Connor, Ray Thomas caught up with me, apologizing profusely.

I saved my extreme anger for after the march ended and the rally was in progress.  We were extremely concerned that the planned march to the Green Zone on Rideau would be blocked, so a few of us attempted to dialogue with Claude Voyer and Ray Thomas to find a safe way across the canal.    This seemed to be successful, as the police seemed more interested in containing the situation on Wellington Street.  When we did cross, however, our choices were limited and we had large numbers of riot police facing us at every turn, prescribing our route.

My role as March Guide ended once the rally was over. I joined a small group of people to observe police actions for the remainder of the day.  We had walkie talkies and reported key events to each other.  I went with the green zone march, initially. Other than the voluntary arrests of a few protestors, which you’ve already heard about, the green zone protest was without confrontation.  We turned our backs to the police at the barricades, chanted, danced, ate and handed informational flyers to the onlookers.   It was quite a powerful moment.

After a while, I went with one of my compatriots back to the other side of the canal, to see what was happening.  As we crossed McKenzie Bridge, and approached the small green space that serves as a traffic median at Elgin St, I saw two young men being chased by police.  They rounded the traffic median, went back to Elgin and were taken down.  I approached the barricade at the edge of the median to get a better look at their arrest.  We were several feet above Elgin and clearly not able to intervene in any way.  But the barricade was rushed by a line of police who pointed pepper spray cans and guns at us.  Without warning, they began to fire.  I quickly turned and ran out of the line of fire, and heard the “thunk” of the guns going off.  They were shooting rubber bullets at us, and all we were doing was witnessing an arrest.

Between 7 and 9pm
I was home recuperating from the day’s trauma - which was significant - when I received a call from Claude Voyer, asking me what I knew about a column of marchers heading down Elgin Street.  This clearly reinforced to me that our role, as far as the police were concerned, was not to help them ensure a positive and peaceful expression of dissent and reduce the possibility of conflict, but to use us as a source of intelligence so they could silence us.  It was profoundly disappointing.

I am left with many questions about the weekend’s events, but it seems to me that if we are to truly have accountability, we need to know who was giving the orders that weekend, why such massive force was used when the only “violent” act was a broken window, and why we were sent liaison officers who clearly had no other role but to gain intelligence from us.  I don’t think we could have done anything differently.  I’m proud of the work of the Action committee, the March Guides, and most of all the protestors, who remained determined to march peacefully despite the provocation.

It is, however, unlikely that I will trust our police force again.  This community needs and deserves an apology. If there is no admission of wrongdoing on the part of the abuser in this relationship, then what is the point to any sort of mediation?

I hope the Citizens Panel will recognize the profound legacy of the police overreaction that weekend.  Listening to the testimony, I am struck at the profound impact of these events on the people who attended the March.  I also note that not one example of protestor violence was recounted (I reject Clive Doucet’s testimony, as he was simply reiterating media reports and not describing events he had actually witnessed).  It seems to me that a strong statement rejecting police claims that the event was a success is warranted, as well as a call for a public acknowledgement of the harms their misguided strategy have caused.