Protesters deserve fair hearing

Re: What a riot: A report on police actions at the G20 summit deserves skepticism, May 13.

The Citizen editorial presented a very limited perspective on the Citizens Panel on Policing and the Community Overview Report.

In your haste to say that ours was an unofficial hearing, you ignored the fact that during the G20 events there were approximately 3,000 peaceful marchers from all walks of life who had the courage to voice their views about the global community.

The panel received nearly 70 submissions that consistently showed the emotional and physical hurt many marchers sustained during confrontations with police — confrontations that marchers neither provoked nor believed would occur, given that demonstration planners made every effort to indicate to police that events of that weekend - would be peaceful.

Does your dismissal of these facts mean these views do not count? As a vehicle for community views, it is disconcerting that you choose to ignore the views of so many.

Despite your contentions, witnesses made it clear that their trust in the police has been damaged. While the the force’s Agenda for Excellence report is encouraging, concrete actions by the police in consultation and collaboration with the community are needed to rebuild that trust.

It should also be noted that the panel’s “selective” hearing of “only” the views of marchers was a result of the police choosing not to participate despite being invited.

You say the panel ignored context by concentrating only on events of last November. In fact, the report does indeed refer to a wider context — the policies the police must follow in the deployment of public order units and canine units. (These were clearly not followed.) We also refer to the Hughes report and to the balance between the right to free speech and assembly, and protection of property and dignitaries, that needs to upheld during demonstrations.

The community has a right to expect that balance. It is odd that the Citizen, with its record of supporting the right to dissent and its opposition to criminalizing it, chose not to inform readers of this essential plea by the panel. When that balance is not respected, and marchers believe they have become the enemy, we all should worry. Perhaps they are like the proverbial canary in the mine to be ignored at our peril.

Marion Dewar, Ottawa
Chair
Citizens Panel on Policing and the Community