Below is the text of an address I made to the Toronto G20 Inquiry on Monday June 13th, 2011 at the Scarborough Civic Centre before Justice John Morden (ret’d.) I was rather disappointed to see so few people present at the hearing, but it was the third and final one and the press was quite sparsely represented also. All the usual suspects were present, and speaker after speaker received calls of “Right on!” together with loud, disruptive clapping by several present, including one woman who was invited to speak before the TV cameras even though she did not address the Inquiry. I received no press coverage that I am aware of, although I stuck to the issue and made several recommendations for the Inquiry’s consideration. The TV coverage seemed to come from Global TV, and CTV was nowhere to be seen. Receiving coverage were several people who complained bitterly about police misbehaviour and their own ‘harrowing’ experiences, but had nothing to say beyond that. They were clearly playing to the press, and to the gallery. When I came to the issue of “Officer Bubbles” I was aware of a stirring in the crowd, but didn’t know why and continued with my address. It appears that Courtney Winkels was sitting just a few feet away from me. She too was interviewed by Global. At the end of my submission I wasn’t asked any questions, but Judge Morden did hold up the typed copy of my submission and said that he would refer to it again in his deliberations. So my primary objective, which was to provide worthwhile input to the Inquiry, was met. My second objective, which was to obtain press coverage to add wider reinforcement to objective number one, failed. C’est la vie! One can only try.
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