Car Modern 2011

The 'because we've had enough' Slutwalk Toronto 2011 begins with 1:30pm speeches and the 2:00pm march from Queens Park South on Sunday, April 3rd and finishing at Toronto Police Headquarters (40 College Street). All these photos are from talented photographer and blogger Joe Hamilton of 'Your Average Joe' blog - you can see more of his photos on his post here.
The Toronto Police representative's suggestion that how women dress contributes to their victimization has galvanized many women to correctly point out that the perpetrator is at fault, not the victim. The well attended Slutwalk was a chance for people to publicly show their support for women and their right to dress as they please.

The heart of downtown Toronto continues to be the Yonge and Dundas intersection and when people want to celebrate or protest the first place they go is the busy roadway and the adjacent public park - Yonge-Dundas Square. With so much turmoil in the world there always seems to be plenty of people ready to gather to protest something. Today it was no different as the middle east has so many countries that are pressing for changes.
Countries like Bahrain, Libya where the UN has started to enforce a no-fly zone over the country with rebels  in a battle against the leader Muammar Gaddafi and Egypt where protests have already forced changes in leadership.

There was a small group of people at Toronto's Old City Hall/ Courthouse protesting in the rain against Bill C-15 which would introduce mandatory minimum sentences penalties for drugs. It is interesting to note that the government studies show that almost 45% of Canadians have tried cannabis in their lifetime.
Bill C-15 information from the Parliament of Canada website: "Its intention is to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act(1) (CDSA) to provide for minimum penalties for serious drug offences, such as dealing drugs for organized crime purposes or when a weapon or violence is involved.  Currently, there are no mandatory minimum penalties under the CDSA.  The bill also increases the maximum penalty for cannabis (marihuana) production and reschedules certain substances from Schedule III of the Act to Schedule I."


They also provide some of the potential downside of the bill which include "Much of the negative reaction to the measures in Bill C-15 centres on opposition to the expansion in the use of mandatory minimum sentences.  Mark Ertel, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa, has said that the measures would strip judges of the ability to apply discretion for mitigating circumstances and could turn Canadian correctional institutions and penitentiaries into US-style inmate warehouses.(72)  Mr. Ertel argues that automatic jail sentences, with no allowance for mitigating considerations, will inevitably prompt the kind of appeal that led to a 1987 Supreme Court of Canada decision (R. v. Smith) striking down a seven‑year mandatory-minimum sentence under the now-repealed Narcotic Control Act as cruel and unusual punishment.  He also argues that the bill targets the wrong problem as almost all violent crime is alcohol-related, yet liquor manufacturers will not be prosecuted.(73)"

There is a crisis in the square - there is stuff there. OMG, wtf! The Toronto Star has run out of crap to think about. "There are more garbages there than an army can use", "a ticket selling booth over there", "the main stage is fenced off"; what the hell is Christopher Hume talking about? He also claims that the Yonge-Dundas Square stage canopy is never used - well here are the hash protesters huddling, pictured above, under that mysterious canopy.
It's f*cking winter out and no one hangs in the square!

PS Another crisis: there is some snow on the sidewalk!

I think that we are on the good side of winter now, heading slowly into spring as the days get longer and hopefully warmer. Our streets remain quite with none of the massive protests that fill so many cities around the world, in fact the cows continue to hang out at Kit Kat overlooking King Street West. Of course the cows (or maybe just one cow cut in half) are not real.

Speaking of protests the last protests I remember, besides the recent gatherings in support of the Arab awakening, were the mildly violent G20 protests and the much more mellow hash protest (or the G-420 march and later snack protest) which took place at the Yonge-Dundas Square.

The old Toronto Stock Exchange building on Bay Street now holds the Design Exchange and maybe they should hang a few cows off the Art Deco facade, or maybe just chip in a new name on their large sign.

I started listening to CHUM radio when I was growing up and I occasionally listen to it in the car, but I miss the old Roger, Rick and Marilyn combo in the morning. At the end of their run I think they were all mad at each other, now Rick has left and Darren fills his spot.

The Ontario Ombudsman (Andre Marin) started a review in early July of the "origin and subsequent communication" of changes to the law known as the Public Works Protection Act used during the G8/G20 Summits. The Ombudsman has twittered that he has finished his report and will present it to the Ontario Government and that it will be made public before the end of this year.

"@Ont_Ombudsman: Our #G20 investigation: evidence gathering complete, draft report to b finalized within next 10 days and provided to Ont gov't for comment."




The photo above shows two lone riot police officers at the north west side of Queen's Park just minutes before long lines of riot police drive people from the south yard of the legislature property while at the same time another large contingent of riot police are sweeping in from the north east.
As many of us know the police explained to the public that within 5 metres of the fence they could stop and arrest people that did not provide identification. This soon extended to unreasonable searches and demands for identification in areas that were outside that 5m distance and in fact were far away from the secure, fenced area down by the Metro Convention Centre. When I saw the police searching backpacks along Yonge Street I asked them why they were searching bags, it didn't take them long to intimidate me and ask for my identification, which they wrote down.
The Toronto Police website states that "Officers may stop pedestrians on the street if they observe an offence, if they are investigating a complaint, or if they believe the person has committed or is about to commit a crime. These interactions usually involve the officer asking for your name, address and identification, and other questions that are appropriate to their investigation." The large amount of police cameras installed through out the downtown core didn't seem to help the police control the black bloc.
It has subsequently been widely reported that the police did not actually have the power they claimed or used so widely. They could only require identification of people trying to enter the secure, fenced area. And if you didn't want to show identification you could leave the area. Here is a picture of Global news reporter Alex Pierson covering the summit.
I feel the Black Bloc was wrong, that this country is peaceful and democratic and that violent protests were not warranted by anyone. I also feel that the many thousands of police could and should have stopped the Black Bloc when they were committing the vandalism, without searching everyone's belongings and asking for identification and even arresting so many peaceful protesters and innocent spectators of the weekend's events.
Interestingly enough a National Post article has a quote from a G20 security spokesman saying "Although Constable Wendy Drummond, a spokeswoman for the G20 Integrated Security Unit, would not address the Black Bloc movement specifically, she said the unit is “prepared for any eventuality.”
Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/14/the-black-bloc-a-look-at-the-anarchists-who-post-the-biggest-g20-security-threat/#ixzz11v8cugFG"


See more pictures after the jump.