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Newsstand: June 24, 2011
What could possibly be better than the end of a week? Why, another G20-related lawsuit, of course. In the news today: The infamous bubble-blower sues police, a report reveals police were “overwhelmed” at the G20 (but they were probably just tuckered out from all the spying on civilians they did beforehand), and Toronto gets a new 1812 memorial history centre.
Apparently detaining someone for 50 hours for no good reason isn’t cool, even during the G20. Or so says Courtney Winkels, who is suing Toronto police for $100,000 for allegedly assaulting her, falsely imprisoning her, and violating her rights after she blew bubbles in the face of a police officer who has the coincidental name of Officer Bubbles. Police had little to offer reporters in response apart from saying, “You touch me with that microphone and you’re going into custody.” And unfortunately that’s about as far as our lawyers will let us go with the Officer Bubbles jokes.
Speaking of the G20, a new internal report finds the police were unprepared for and overwhelmed by the events that unfolded that weekend. According to the report, police shortcomings included “interpretation of law,” which is what pretty much everyone has been saying all along. Other problems included inability to communicate with officers on the ground, only having one processing officer at the Eastern Avenue detention centre, and forgetting that not everybody on Queen Street was a protestor.
Perhaps the police should have put as much effort into preparing for the summit demonstrations as they did spying on the people that organized them in the months leading up to the G20. A report obtained through access to information reveals the RCMP and various police forces across Ontario had about 12 undercover officers embedded in protest networks, monitoring their activities, and making preemptive arrests, most of which have been dropped (sound familiar?). All that and the Black Bloc still managed to run riot on Queen Street West.
And speaking of human rights complaints, fired Rogers Sportsnet host Damian Goddard is filing one against his former employer after he was given the boot last month for tweeting his anti–gay marriage views. Goddard claims the firing violated his freedom of speech and religion, and that discriminating against homosexuals shouldn’t be a problem because other people do it as well. He is also complaining that he received no invitation to Pride this year and that his hair stylist hasn’t had a free space for him in weeks.
For those of you wondering if Rob Ford is going to back down on his decision not to attend the Pride parade, yeah, he’s not going to do it. And the Toronto Star‘s got a few ideas why.
It’s a sad day for Torontonians as the city loses one of its most beloved historical landmarks: the Berkeley Street Porsche dealership, which will be replaced with some stupid heritage centre to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Situated on the same spot as Upper Canada’s original parliament building, the centre will provide information on, and artifacts from, the colony’s early years.