December 2024
On 1 December, I attended a pro-Israel rally at the corner of Bathurst And Sheppard in North York, Ontario. This is a largely Jewish area of Toronto, with many carrying rally attendees carrying posters with the faces of the hostages taken by Hamas during their attack.
These rallies have been held every Sunday since the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel on 7 October 2023, the longest running pro-Israel weekly rally in the world. They have become increasingly tense over the past year. This was the most activist thing since my days in university, when I attended a rally in support of the First Gulf War in 1990, followed the next day by an anti-war rally that turned into a pro-war rally when pro-war supporters like myself crashed the rally.
This occasion had an additional purpose of supporting Rebel News Publisher Ezra Levant, who was arrested by Toronto Police officers the previous Sunday, for the shameful “crime” of being Jewish and demanding police respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Apparently Toronto Police Staff Sergeant MacDuff and Sergeant Flanders felt that Levant standing on a public sidewalk would cause the pro-Hamas agitators to commit a violent assault on him, thus Levant was the bad guy and needed to be arrested.
According to Toronto Police, the solution to people who have previously demonstrated violent tendencies, and who spout rhetoric with implicit violent intentions, is to forcefully arrest and remove a lone, middle-aged man, who is also a working journalist and has never shown any violent tendencies, or been known to be violent. While it certainly can be prudent at times to remove a person from a situation to prevent them from being injured or killed by a violent mob, a better, and more permanent solution, would be to arrest those threatening or committing violent acts.
The reason Toronto Police gave for Ezra’s arrest was that his “…mere presence was inciting a breach of the peace by the pro-Hamas activists…” In a recent court ruling, Fleming v Ontario (2019), the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that police and peace officers can’t arrest a lawful person, who is doing nothing illegal, just because someone else may breach the peace. In other words, you can’t punish the victim.
Sure, having the police arrest a violent mob can result in something resembling a multi-fighter MMA cage match, but this is exactly the reason why police services have Public Order Units, or SWAT to those who love American cop shows. Being a retired police officer, I know that sometimes police have to get physical to prevent crimes and keep order.
Toronto Police certainly haven’t been afraid to use such tactics before, including the use of mounted unit officers. Recent examples include the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa in February 2022 and Adam’s BBQ restaurant in Etobicoke in November 2020. Once again, it’s a great day if police don’t have to arrest or get physical with anyone, but this lack of action towards those who can easily be described as violent bullies has quite obviously emboldened these pro-Hamas agitators to continue to be threatening and violent bullies.
As a quick aside, I was bullied occasionally as a kid. I was told by every adult that I should just “ignore the bully and they will leave you alone.” Well, that never worked! What did work was me punching the bully in the nose! Regardless of whether the bully promptly pounded me into the ground, I pounded them, or it was a draw, that bully never bothered me again. In fact, I became friends with two of them in high school.
Speaking of pushing back against bullies, after a morning of waking around the intersection, snapping pictures and chatting with the occasional person, on both sides of the rally, I was essentially bullied by Toronto Police Sergeant Jon Collins, who took offence to me standing on the opposite side of a barrier from where the pro-Hamas agitators were corralled, taking photos and a video of them.
I was just standing there, silently, listening to one of the speakers, when Sergeant Collins told me to move along. As I was standing on a public sidewalk, in a public area, not committing anything even remotely resembling an illegal act of any kind, I told him that I wasn’t going to move. This didn’t go over too well with Sergeant Collins, who promptly grabbed me and pushed me forward, away from the agitators.
I should also take the time to state that not a single one of the pro-Hamas agitators expressed any desire for me to move along, nor expressed any concern about my presence. Most of them may not have even been aware that I was standing there, even though I was very conspicuous, with my red Military Police beret atop my head and my service medals attached to my jacket. Other than one person used their Palestinian support sign to cover two people in my line of sight, it didn’t seem that any of them really cared that I was standing there.
When Sergeant Collins grabbed be, I didn’t resist and allowed him to drag me down the sidewalk to the “safe” area. What occurred next was me sternly advising him that I had the Charter Right to stand where I had been standing, as this is still a free country, and he had no lawful authority to demand that I move anywhere. Collins walked away shortly afterwards, and the other police officers around me tried to argue with me that I was the one being unreasonable.
When I tried again to walk back to the intersection, another officer shoved me behind the barrier a second time.
At one point I told an officer that I was going to walk to the intersection where I had previously been standing, and moved the barrier aside so I could walk past. They blocked my way and I spent the next couple of minutes listening to some of the same officers lecturing me in a condescending manner as to why I was the problem, not the pro-Hamas agitators or frankly, their own behaviour in violating my civil rights. I once again told the officers that I fully intended to walk to the intersection, and demanded to know if they were going to arrest me. Eventually another officer approached and told me to go ahead and walk to the intersection. It may have helped that by this time, Levant and his cameraman had approached and were filming the encounter.
I wasn’t aggressive or offensive in my dealings with these officers, but was very stern and direct with them.
Like most people, you occasionally have an encounter where you think of something really witty, clever, maybe bitingly funny, after the fact. One thing that I wish I had thought to say to the officers who dealt with me, is that if one of the pro-Hamas agitators had assaulted me, as they claimed could happen if they didn’t violate my civil rights, that after they arrested the thugs who assaulted me, they could tell me, “We told you so.”
Frankly, they could even tell me that I got what I deserved for knowingly going into a place where I could get hurt. Fair point, but I would suggest they pay attention to my comment above about dealing with bullies. If more people stood up to both the pro-Hamas agitators and the police who are blatantly allowing their behaviour to continue, we might not be in the mess we all currently find ourselves.
Even a dog eventually learns that if they grab that steak off the kitchen table, they are going to get a smack across their hindquarters. (P.S. “Dog” isn’t serving as a euphemism for the pro-Hamas thugs, although I could see how you could come to that conclusion.)
I regularly use the analogy of getting into a fight with someone, especially if you are in the wrong, when you could just walk away and not lose your front teeth. Even if the assaulter goes to jail, you still have no front teeth, so was it really worth it? Well, that still doesn’t justify the assault in the first place, even if you are in the wrong. That’s like blaming a rape victim for the fact that she wore a low-cut top, while walking alone at night in a questionable area. In this case, I absolutely was in the right.
If Toronto Police took action against anyone who may assault me, for no other reason than I’m not a supporter, then maybe I wouldn’t be in danger of being assaulted. The problem is that Toronto Police have consistently refused to take action against those committing blatant offences.
Later that day, I had a second encounter with a Toronto Police officer, while waiting to cross from the west side of Bathurst to the east. He advised me to cross at the intersection around 100 yards to the south. I told him that I would be crossing right where I was, even though he was standing directly in front of me, blocking my path. He repeated his request (order), adding “respectfully” each time. I replied that “respectfully” I appreciated his advice, buy I would be crossing at the Bathurst & Sheppard intersection regardless of his advice. When the pedestrian light turned green, I proceeded to walk around him. The officer again got in my way, but I again, walked around him.
I will give this particular officer, whose name I didn’t get, credit in that he backed down at this point and let me cross the street.
I wish to be very clear that I didn’t go to this rally with the intention of instigating anything or causing any kind of trouble. That said, I certainly wasn’t going to back down if police tried to violate my Charter Rights or were in clear violation of the law. I learnt a long time ago that standing up to bullies is the only way to stop bullies, even if they have a badge on their chest. Maybe it’s my Irish heritage, but even though I’m not a violent person (I’m not big guy, so I can’t afford to be), I’ve learned to stand up for myself over the years.
That certainly doesn’t mean getting violent, or committing any offences, myself. The last time a kid tried to bully me in school, I threw the books I was carrying on the floor and told him, “Let’s go! Right now, You and me, outside! Right now!” Even though the guy was bigger than me, and probably could have pounded me into the ground, I didn’t care at that point. He quickly backed down, and no one had to lay a finger on anyone. I never had a problem with him from that day forward.
I should also note that beside taking pictures, I did have a few pleasant conversations with some officers and even two of the more reasonable pro-Hamas agitators, even cracking a few jokes here and there. Most didn’t want to engage in conversation, even when I asked friendly questions, but I certainly didn’t start off with any confrontational comments or actions. I joked to Ezra Levant before any of this kerfuffle took place that one of the reasons I came to the rally was that maybe I’d get to spend an afternoon in a cell with him. It was a joke, but that said, I absolutely was willing to get arrested, knowing full well that Levant had promised to support anyone who was illegally arrested for exercising their Charter Rights.
I wouldn’t risk getting arrested if police were legally justified, but for an illegal reason; it might be worth it getting my front teeth knocked out (metaphorically, I hope).
I sometimes do like to poke people in the eye, but on this occasion, I was determined to be as pleasant as I can be and try to disarm some of the people, even some of the pro-Hamas agitators, with some pleasant conversation. I talked about kids with one of the Toronto Police officers, even after we started out a little antagonistic. He has a young child and I have a teenager, and we talked about some of the joys of children. I found two reasonable members of the pro-Hamas crowd by first asking about their signs. One, a woman who professed to want a peaceful end to the war, wore a mask and declined to give me her name, was quite delightful to speak to, even though I disagreed with most of what she was saying. Instead of getting antagonistic, I pushed back at some of her points in a pleasant way, but we agreed to disagree. Isn’t this how things should work in a free, liberal democracy.
Getting back to Sergeant Collins, I was going to make a formal complaint against him, but I found out that the officer-in-charge (OIC) at Bathurst and Eglington that day was in the same Toronto Police recruit class as I was, back in 2000. I contacted him, needing to get Collins’ name and badge number.
I initially intended to see if the OIC would be willing to take internal action against Collins, letting him know that I was willing to hold off making any formal complaint pending his assessment, but after giving him a week to get back to me, I received no notification back. On 16 December, I filed a formal public complaint with the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.
So, how do I feel about turning against my former “Brothers in Blue,” both squaring off with them and filing a complaint against one of them? Well, I sure have given my colleagues the benefit of the doubt at times, but there are times when they cross a line and need to be called-out for it. I certainly have been called-out for my behaviour, at times.
We’ll see what comes of it, but I’m hoping that Toronto Police will finally acknowledge they are protecting a bunch of pro-Hamas agitators and concentrate their efforts on arresting the terrorists who have invaded our country and are terrorizing innocent citizens and committing overt hate crimes, rather than law-abiding Canadians who are trying to take back our country.
Now, more of the good guys
Sources: Ezra Levant returns to weekly pro-Israel rally where he was arrested | National Post, Fleming v Ontario – Wikipedia, Fleming v. Ontario – SCC Cases, Etobicoke BBQ restaurant owner arrested, faces 13 charges after defying COVID-19 lockdown orders | CBC News, WARMINGTON: Police horses trample demonstrators at Ottawa protest | Toronto Sun.
