The following letter is already posted on-line, and will be in tomorrow’s Toronto Sun hard-copies.
I sometimes send in letters to the editor just to let off steam, never expecting them to be published. Oh well, if I don’t post anything here for a while (again!) you should be able to write to me at my jail cell…
“We didn’t know much of what had happened at Queen’s Park – not the scope or the depth. The kettling fiasco had not been fully brought to light yet and we were still learning how disastrous the detention centre had been. We knew police had detained several hundred people and then the chief had come in and directed the front-line people to let them go. We didn’t know at that time that there had been a dispute between the service’s top brass and Supt. Mark Fenton, the front-line commander who was insisting on giving people tickets or sending them to the detention centre, completely misreading the chief’s direction. We did not know then that the chief had pulled rank on the RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit (ISU) to give this order” – and – “We made it clear to (Police Chief Bill) Blair that officers from other forces would need to undergo training to learn our board’s approach to policing. They were to be appointed by me to act as officers in Toronto and the agreement for them to do so was to be between police boards, not police chiefs.” (*).
“Almost nine years ago, he dared to walk along Argyle Street in the town of Caledonia, Ont., carrying a Canadian flag on a pole towards a peaceful so-called ‘flag rally’… For this impudence, he was wrestled to the ground by a half-dozen Ontario Provincial Police officers, permanently injured and charged with obstructing police… After 12 court appearances, the Crown abruptly withdrew the criminal charge.” – Christie Blatchford, National Post (1).
“The law firm of Hunton & Williams has just issued an independent, 207-page report on the Unite the Right protest that took place in Charlottesville last August. The city of Charlottesville commissioned and paid for the report, but it is no cover up. It is a slashing indictment of the way the city prepared for and handled the demonstrations. It is a thorough vindication of the perspective of the Unite the Right demonstrators.” (Emphasis added)- American Renaissance (1).
“Re ‘Ontario judicial applicants invited to self-identify’ (Cdn. Press, August 11): The last thing we need is judicial ‘equity hires’ who will be able to play race and politics on the bench… And now the ultimate boundary – the very interpretation and maintenance of the system of laws which holds our society together – is to be given to the ‘culturally diverse’ while better-qualified White people are kicked into the gutter? I don’t think it will take long before we see astonishing anti-police and other precedents emanating from our courts which it will be ‘politically incorrect’ to overturn…”
“Councillor Maurice Brenner hasn’t the faintest idea of how this came about, as he wasn’t there, yet he blindly assumes that animal sacrifice wasn’t the motive because ‘religious groups that slaughter animals for food do not waste a body, and would not leave it lying on a beach’. I think we can safely rule out ‘food’ as a motive in this case… As sounds of drumming have been reported in the area, and as Santeria is described as an ‘Afro-American religion of Caribbean origin’, I perceive a distinct possibility that we could be in for a rough ride in the near future on the matter of animal rights. We definitely have a say in where these activities can be carried out, but we might not be able to prevent them.”
“Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders says recommendations made earlier this year by the Transformational Task Force – aimed at modernizing the service – should start to be implemented by the end of January… Among the changes, officers will focus on priority calls rather than be bogged down by incidents where they are not needed and they will be ‘connected’ via electronic memo books, he explained… So far this year, there has been a 41% increase in shooting occurrences in the city from 2015, murders are up 25% and gun deaths have jumped 52%.” (Emphasis added).
“(But) instead of sending Reid to jail for six to 12 months – the sentence sought by the Crown for three counts of trafficking in crack cocaine and one count of possession of the proceeds of crime – (Judge Ed) Morgan recently handed down what’s known as a conditional sentence, more commonly known as house arrest… Morgan explains that he considered both Reid’s personal circumstances and societal forces – including anti-black racism and the over-incarceration of people from the black community.” (Emphasis added).
Five observations on Const. James Forcillo’s attempted murder conviction in the Sammy Yatim shooting death…
All emphasis added by me – JG.
“Six seconds later, with Yatim now crumpled to the ground on that same streetcar, still clutching the knife but with his spine severed and mortally wounded, the jury had no doubts about Forcillo’s intention when he fired a second volley of shots… he was trying to kill Sammy Yatim.” – Toronto Sun, “Jury knew what Forcillo was trying to do with second volley of shots” – Jan. 25th.
The National Post has now published my letter to them, and I am waiting to see if the Sun, Star and Globe will publish my letters to them as well. I am very annoyed about this issue, and anxious to get my point of view across to as many people as possible. Here is the NP letter, which has been edited slightly: