Yuni Kim
Assistant news editor
The hotly debated ‘secret law’ that vastly widened the scope of Toronto police power during the G20 summit will undergo an independent review led by York University’s chancellor, Roy McMurtry scheduled be to released spring 2011.
McMurtry, a former Ontario Chief Justice, will lead the review into the misinterpretation of the context and origins of the “five-metre rule,” which was presented to the public as a regulation established via the 1939 Public Works Protection Act.
During the G20 summit in June, the area hedged in by security fences was deemed “public property.” Toronto police thought this definition, in concert with the regulation, gave them the power to apprehend those who came within five metres of the fence.
James Stribopoulos, an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, said “for people to be appre- hended outside of the security fence was unlawful.”
He added that the law never allowed the police to ask for identification and search persons approaching the outside of the fence.
Introduced prior to the Second World War, the act was intended to give the government authority to regulate access to specific public places for security reasons. “This law has been used to control access to places like courthouses and other public buildings,” said Stribopoulos. “In that context, it was very effective.” It was also used, however, to apprehend people who approached the fence and refused to provide identification. According to the Toronto Star, York master’s student David Vasey was one of the first people arrested under the regulation June 24.
“The police and the government knew there were going to be protests,” said Stribopoulos.
“Both the police and the government were meeting with protest groups in the lead up [to the G20] to talk about ground rules. There shouldn’t have been anything left for debate or uncertainty.”
Stribopoulos said one of the reasons the G20 summit became such a debacle was a lack of communication.
“People didn’t know where they stood with the police, and [the police] didn’t know what the limits were on their powers,” he said. “That’s a bad scenario for everyone involved. Clarity and transparency are absolutely essential.”
“[The York Federation of Students] believes that an investigation is warranted and long overdue,” said Krisna Saravanamuttu, YFS presi- dent. “During the G20 demonstrations, the [YFS] saw a mass denial of civil liberty and large number of unwarranted arrests.”
Saravanamuttu said that he personally witnessed police brutality during the G20 and believes that a review is necessary.“I think it’s absolutely a good piece of news that the chancellor of York has been appointed to conduct these investigations,” he said.
According to the Star, police arrested 1,105 people over the duration of the G20 summit, of which 278 were charged. The rest were released, and most charges have been dropped. Protesters using the black bloc tactic ransacked over 40 businesses, the majority of which were small and independently owned.
