In Toronto, Canada, police continue to repress demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Palestine. The Toronto Police Service (TPS) has expanded a “Hate Crimes Unit” which has largely been engaged in investigating and arresting Palestine solidarity activists. Since October 2023, over 133 people have been arrested for their participation in Palestine solidarity actions. CPT’s Turtle Island Solidarity Network has accompanied those arrested by working with the movement’s Legal Support Committee.
In just a two-week period of July, the Toronto Police arrested 15 people. Five were arrested for allegedly entering Member of Parliament Ahmad Hussen’s campaign office during the federal election campaign in April to demand an arms embargo, after their requests for a meeting with their representative were ignored. At the time, Hussen’s office staff called police to ask them to remove the demonstrators, but the demonstrators left voluntarily. Nevertheless, nearly three months later, police arrested five people and charged them with forcible entry, mischief interfering with property, unlawful assembly, and unlawful assembly while masked. On 19 July, police arrested ten people at a Palestine solidarity demonstration in downtown Toronto. Police demanded that the crowd clear a road intersection and then charged the crowd, grabbing demonstrators. Ten people are now facing charges.
Fourteen of the 15 people arrested were released on a bail condition that bans them from participating in protests. Since 2023, police have imposed this condition six times, and each time judges have removed it because it violates section two of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet police continue to apply this condition, claiming to be following guidance from the Hate Crime Working Group, a group of prosecutors that advises on these cases. Some members of the working group have publicly expressed pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian sentiments.
Members of the Palestine solidarity movement and other social justice movements are deeply concerned about a climate of rising authoritarianism and criminalization of dissent. Several Canadian cities have passed “bubble zone” bylaws banning protest in proximity to places of worship, schools and daycares, despite warnings from civil liberties groups that these bylaws may infringe on Charter rights. Since October 2023, policing of demonstrations for a variety of social justice causes has become more aggressive and violent, and extended police surveillance and harassment of movement organizers has become common.
We pray for strength and resilience for people persisting in the work of resisting oppression, and for courage for others to begin raising their voices and acting in solidarity. We pray for an end to Israel’s genocide against Gaza and for the liberation of the Palestinian people.
