In 2005 General Rick Hillier, then chief of the Canadian defence staff, was quoted as saying that Canadian forces would be ruthless in pursuing terrorists in Afghanistan. “These are detestable murderers and scumbags, I’ll tell you that right up front. They detest our freedoms, they detest our society, they detest our liberties,” he said, parroting the Bush administration’s propaganda about the motives behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

How ruthless would Canadian forces be? Recent revelations by Canadian diplomats, Canadian Forces translators and by rank and file soldiers have revealed that Canada’s armed forces handed prisoners over to the Afghan authorities in the full knowledge that they would be tortured and, in some instances, murdered. And as we will see, despite his denials, Hillier knew full well that prisoners handed over by Canadian forces were likely to be tortured or murdered by Canada’s Afghan allies. And as we will also see, it was not only Hillier that knew. Canada’s U.S. and British allies knew, Canadian diplomats knew, and the government of Canada knew.

Ryerson University’s contentious funding agreement with Toronto-based Nuclear Waste Management Organization should be reviewed by the public at large, said the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) continues to receive calls from across Toronto regarding incidents that happened during the G20.  If you witnessed an event that you are concerned about, or feel your rights have been violated, the CCLA encourages you to contact them and to fill out an incident reporting form. The CCLA will keep the information confidential unless you specifically give them permission to report what happened.  Once it is complete, email it to the CCLA at mail@ccla.org, or fax it at (416) 861-1291.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) released its preliminary report on the G20 Summit policing and security today, entitled “A Breach of the Peace”. The report (and an appendix which includes CCLA’s correspondence with public officials and the police regardig the G20),is based on the first-hand observations of over 50 human rights monitors that CCLA dispatched to observe the police presence at G20-related demonstrations throughout the week.

On Sunday I was arrested with a group of protesters at Toronto’s Queen and Spadina intersection. We hadn’t gathered at there– we had begun at city hall. Police had blockaded the intersections so that there was nowhere else for us to go.

Initially the mood had been light with one protester holding up a sign that said ‘everything is okay’ and others holding up a banner that said ‘G 5.5,’ the name of a brand of beer. The mood changed abruptly when a wall of black suited riot police appeared around us dividing about two dozen protesters from the rest of the group. I heard the riot police yell, "leave or you’ll be arrested." Unfortunately, there was no way to leave because they had surrounded us on all sides. Then the wall of riot police began closing in on us. I heard a terrified protester scream out "What’s happening?"

A journalist on assignment for The Guardian newspaper was arrested and beaten by police officers at the site of a peaceful demonstration on The Esplanade near the G20 security fence in downtown Toronto at approximately 11:00 p.m. 26 June 2010. Having been punched in the stomach and elbowed in the back by officers, it is believed that Jesse Rosenfeld, a 26-year-old writer from Toronto, was then taken to the temporary detention facility on Eastern Avenue in Toronto.