Toronto police admits ‘mistakes were made’ in response to G20 class-action settlement

By The Canadian Press, Lucas Casaletto

Toronto police have released a statement in which the force said ‘we regret that mistakes were made’ during the G20 summit in 2010.

In April of this year, a $16.5-million settlement was reached in a class-action lawsuit over mass arrests at the 2010 G20 summit that was held on the weekend of June 26 and June 27.

The settlement comes after 10 years of court proceedings and negotiations between the Toronto Police Services Board and representatives for over 1,000 people who were arrested during the summit.

Under the settlement, those arrested were awarded compensation between $5,000 and $24,700, depending on their experiences.

“That weekend saw many Canadians exercising their Charter rights of freedom of expression in peaceful demonstrations. At the same time, several people chose to use that occasion to engage in incidents of vandalism, lawbreaking and public disorder,” Toronto police said in a release issued on Monday.

“We understand and acknowledge that in attempting to preserve peace and safety during those two days, there were times when matters were not addressed in the way they should have been and many hundreds of member of the public were detained or arrested when they should not have been and were held in detention in conditions that were unacceptable.”

“We regret that mistakes were made,” it reads.

In August of 2010, a woman named Sherry Good launched the lawsuit against the police force for “breach of civil and personal rights”, as the Class Representative for all those who had been mass arrested and detained.

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The Toronto Police Service initially objected to the class-action proceedings in court, and the class-action status was not finalized until November 2016.

Many public demonstrations were organized to address issues like climate change, globalization and poverty.

Thousands of protestors demonstrated peacefully, but some protests were accompanied by deliberate vandalism.

“Reaching an agreement and an understanding of what worked and what did not work during that weekend are important developments that will help everyone move forward,” Toronto police said.

“We have and will continue to take meaningful steps, through our ongoing modernization process, to significantly enhance and improve our community engagement and all of our relationships to enable us to continue to keep our city safe for everyone.”

With files from the Canadian Press

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