Defiant G20 protester jailed 10 months

Dec. 20, 2011 by Peter Small Toronto Star

One of the most prominent anti-G20 Toronto anarchists remained defiant
Tuesday while being sentenced to 10 months in jail for counselling
mischief.

“I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice,” Leah
Henderson, 27, told provincial court Justice Lloyd Budzinsky.

“I submit to your jails because today you hold all the weapons,” she told
a Finch Ave. W. courtroom packed with her supporters.

Henderson and her then-boyfriend, Alex Hundert, were arrested in their
west Toronto apartment after police stormed in during the early hours of
June 26, 2010, the second day of the G20 summit.

She did not participate in protests where some people smashed windows and
set fire to police cruisers, but pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to counselling
others to commit mischief.

It has not been proved that anyone she advised went on to commit crimes.

“This entire prosecution was borne of the politics of fear — fear of our
ideas,” said the self-described anarchist.

She told the judge she responded to the G20 as a person of conscience and
as part of a community that envisages a “future that is truly free.”

Defence lawyer Brydie Bethell said Henderson, who grew up in Alberta, is
committed to social justice and the anarchist ideal of non-hierarchical,
locally driven communities.

But Crown prosecutor Jason Miller said Henderson and others used the G20
“to exercise dissent in a criminal and violent fashion,” thus harming the
freedom of expression of peaceful demonstrators.

Miller said she has shown a degree of maturity lacking in many fellow
accused. “Ms Henderson knew better,” he said.

“It seems apparent to me that Ms Henderson realized at some point that
this got away from her.”

During Miller’s comments, some spectators sniggered, drawing a warning
from the judge.

The judge said Henderson’s politics and beliefs are not being punished,
just her criminal behaviour. “Your approach was to put your beliefs above
the safety … of others,” he said.

He accepted a joint sentencing submission from defence and Crown, sending
her to jail for 10 months on top of the 24 days she spent in custody
before making bail.

Henderson smiled as she was handcuffed to be led away, friends chanting:
“Leah, Leah, Leah.”

On Nov. 22, in the middle of a preliminary hearing, she and five others
pleaded guilty to counselling mischief.

Erik Lankin, 24; Peter Hopperton, 25; and Adam Lewis, 23, have all been
sentenced for their roles.

Amanda Hiscocks, 37, and Hundert, 31, who both pleaded guilty to an
additional charge of counselling to obstruct a peace officer, are yet to
be sentenced.


Leah's statement to the court and letter to community

conspiretoresist.wordpress.com

Below you will find the statement that I read to the court, followed by a
letter to my community.

Statement read in court at sentencing hearing:

All you need to know about me is that I am a person of conscience, I came
to this situation from a place of morality within myself, and I am a
member of a community that shares that morality and a powerful vision for
a future that is truly free.

I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice.

The court has been told, “this prosecution is not political”, and that
this has been done to protect society from danger.

The truth is this entire prosecution is born from the politics of fear.
Fear of our ideas, fear of what we represent:

Freedom.

A Freedom that your jails will not confine.

I am not here for approval.

I am here because this is what stands for justice on this colonized land.

Though I stand here being judged by you, I am accountable to more, that is
beyond these walls.

I am accountable to the indigenous communities whose lands we are on. To
the earth who we’re daily assaulting with saws, and chemicals. To the
elders in my life and to the generations yet to come.

The laws that govern our societies are not laws of community, or laws of
consensus, they are laws of oppression. Laws that underpay and overwork
mothers. That deport the poor and those of colour. Laws that rob
Indigenous Nations of their traditions, their land, their childhoods. Laws
that blame the unemployed and rewards those that get rich on their backs.

I have been deeply and profoundly affected by this process, but have not
been changed by it. I have been moved by the incredible support that I
have received, far beyond what I could have imagined. It has been made
more clear to me through this process that this vision for the future is
part of a groundswell.

I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported me, thank you to my
friends, my family and my lawyer.

I submit to your jails because today you hold many of the weapons, and
many people under your spell. A day is coming when that will not be so.

A day is coming where the distorted mirror that hides the lies of
capitalism and colonialism will shatter.

Sometimes a cupcake, is just a cupcake.

A Letter to my community:
As most of you probably know by now, I have decided to plead guilty to the
charge of counseling to commit mischief. Originally, I along with 20
others was charged with four counts of conspiracy in what was called the
G20 main conspiracy group.

I am writing because the past year and a half of facing these charges and
living under bail conditions has meant that I have not been able to talk
as openly as I would have liked. My voice has been muzzled by the state,
which has served as a powerful reminder of the many voices that are
muzzled by the daily colonialism, patriarchy, racism and violence of the
world. While the silencing of my voice has an end date, the work to hear
the chorus of our grandmothers and the Indigenous Peoples whose land we
stand on is
ongoing.

I never considered that the people in power would see me, my community and
our values as anything other than a threat — because we are a threat. We
are working to tear this system down and to make space for life-centered
systems that make the 1% irrelevant. Those who benefit from the status quo
have always tried to crush that.

I want to tell you that I was arrested because I am seen as a threat. I
want to tell you that you might be too. I want to tell you that this is
something we need to prepare for. I want to tell you that the risk of
incarceration alone should not determine our organizing.

My skills and experience — as a facilitator, as a trainer, as a legal
professional and as someone linking different communities and movements —
were all targeted in this case, with the state trying to depict me as a
“brainwasher” and as a mastermind of mayhem, violence and destruction.
During the week of the G8 & G20 summits, the police targeted legal
observers, street medics and independent media. It is clear that the
skills that make us strong, the alternatives that reduce our reliance on
their systems and prefigure a new world, are the very things that they are
most afraid of.

I organize openly as an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist anarchist. My
organizing is focused on movement building, and this commitment to build
skill sets and support other activists is another part of why the state
has targeted me. However, this attempt to deter me has failed, just as it
has failed to deter thousands of others similarly facing police brutality
and jail. I am strengthened in my resolve to build communities of
resistance. We are building the structures of a new kind of society in the
midst of the old, and we cannot do that without a commitment to
skill-sharing, mutual aid and collective liberation.

Since the G8 & G20 protests, Toronto (and beyond) has witnessed a wave of
repression that has seen the justice system trap people and their
communities in its jaws, using all of their time and energy to survive the
resource-intensive and soul-sucking legal process. The state hoped that
there would be no energy left to fight against them as they cut funding to
essential services, ignored self-determination, and further criminalized
poor people, migrants and people of colour.

They were wrong.

The awe-inspiring and humbling surprise in all of this is that we have
refused to be crushed and, in fact, we have grown in strategy, strength
and numbers: in Toronto, I’ve seen the anti-austerity movements grow with
campaigns like “Stop the Cuts”; in Grassy Narrows, one day of powerful
mobilization forced the government to listen to the community’s demands;
globally, there has been a continued, intensified uprising that is showing
collective dissatisfaction with the capitalist system and austerity agenda
that the G8 & G20 perpetuate.

I took this plea willingly. I consented today to confine myself to a cage,
away from the people, work and struggles that I am connected to. I did
this for a reason.

As a group of accused, we come to organizing with different access to
power. When the 17 of us found ourselves around a table facing a trial,
continued disruption of our lives and livelihoods, possible convictions,
jail sentences and deportations, it became essential that some of us plead
guilty to ensure that the rest walk free.

It was a decision that could not be and was not taken lightly. I was
inspired, along with the rest of the 17, by a proud history of political
trials, where people have chosen to plead guilty to end the legal process?
if it resulted in the best possible deal for all involved.

This plea is not a defeat. I am energized. I am hopeful knowing that we
have each other’s back and will take care of each other, even if it means
that some of us go to jail. I am proud. I hope you are too.

I am incredibly grateful for the people in my life who have been
supporting me and who will continue to do so.

To the women who have carried me through this — you are my faeries with
magick wands and combat boots; you’ve granted me wishes and kicked the
crap out of anything I couldn’t handle. Your care and support is
revolutionary. May it become less invisible to the world.

To my family — every day I am grateful for your unconditional love and
support; that I chose you when I came into this world is perhaps the
greatest gift I have given to myself.

To my community — you have grown and expanded with me since my arrest;
this growth is a testament to our strength.

To my sureties — you took me out into the world when no one else could;
you housed me, sat on absurdly uncomfortable court benches while pregnant
and while waiting to see if your own child would be released from custody.

To the assistants, receptionists, lawyers, and legal workers that
represented us — thank you for your dedication and commitment.

To my friends that stayed in to keep me company, moved me, brought me
comfort and, most importantly, helped me to laugh and cry and rage-craft
through this — I hope that I can give half as much to you as I have
received.

To my co-evils (otherwise known as co-accused):

“While I can’t have you, I long for you… I spin worlds where we could be
together. I dream you.” – Jeannette Winterson

I’ve missed you, friends. After all this time, my heart still beats as one
with yours. But things have changed, we have grown, my heartbeat sounds
different — I’m sure yours does too. Since we became wrapped up in this
together, I have carried you with me everywhere I go. I’m excited to begin
new relationships with you that don’t have the state stuck in between us.
Thank you for all that you have been through this process:
fierce,vulnerable, honest, inspiring, loving, strong, and deeply committed
to working collectively, challenging oppression and building communities
of resistance.

There is a complex combination of rage and inspiration that this
experience has given me that cannot be summed up in one statement, let
alone a lifetime of statements, but moving forward, I am energized and
filled with hope that we will continue to struggle together in creative,
supportive and inspiring ways. I would say see you in the streets, but if
you know me, you know that I’m more excited to see you in a meeting.

With love, rage and solidarity,
Leah

Please write to me! If you don’t know what to write, send my a copy of
your favourite poem(s), recipes, you really like or short stories.

Leah Henderson
c/o Vanier Centre for Women
655 Martin Street, Box 1040
Milton ON L9T 5E6

Toronto G20 Main Conspiracy Co-defendant Statement

conspire to resist

November 22, 2011 — As people across Turtle Island look towards the global
wave of protests against the austerity agenda, the memory of the 2010 G20
protests in Toronto looms large as both inspiration and caution. We are
seventeen people accused by the state of planning to disrupt the leaders
summit – the prosecutors call us the G20 Main Conspiracy Group.

This alleged conspiracy is absurd. We were never all part of any one
group, we didn’t all organize together, and our political backgrounds are
all different. Some of us met for the first time in jail. What we do have
in common is that we, like many others, are passionate about creating
communities of resistance.

Separately and together, we work with movements against colonialism,
capitalism, borders, patriarchy, white supremacy, ableism,
hetero/cis-normativity, and environmental destruction. These are movements
for radical change, and they represent real alternatives to existing power
structures. It is for this reason that we were targeted by the state.

Although these conspiracy charges have been a big part of our daily
reality for the past year and a half, we have been slow in speaking out
collectively. This is partly because of the restrictive bail conditions
that were placed on us, including non-association with our co-accused and
many of our close allies. In addition, those of us who did speak out have
been subjected to a campaign of intimidation and harassment by the police
and prosecutors. We are writing now because we have decided to resolve
our charges to bring this spectacle to an end.

The state’s strategy after the G20 has been to cast a wide net over those
who mobilized against the summit (over 1, 000 detained and over 300
charged) and then to single out those they perceived to be leaders. Being
accused of conspiracy is a surreal, bureaucratic nightmare that few
political organizers have experienced in this country, but unfortunately
it is becoming more common. We can’t say with any certainty if what we did
was in fact an illegal conspiracy. Ultimately though, whether or not our
organizing fits into the hypocritical and oppressive confines of the law
isn’t what’s important. This is a political prosecution. The government
made a political decision to spend millions of dollars to surveil and
infiltrate anarchist, Indigenous solidarity, and migrant justice
organizing over several years. After that kind of investment, what sort of
justice are we to expect?

We have not been powerless in this process; however any leverage we’ve had
has not come from the legal system, but from making decisions
collectively. This has been a priority throughout, particularly in the
last several months, as the preliminary inquiry gradually took a back seat
to negotiations for a deal to end it. The consensus process has been at
times a heart-wrenching, thoughtful, gruelling, disappointing, and
inspiring experience, and in the end, we got through it together.

Of the seventeen of us, six will be pleading and the eleven others will
have their charges withdrawn. Alex Hundert, and Mandy Hiscocks are each
pleading to one count of counselling mischief over $5,000 and one count of
counselling to obstruct police, and Leah Henderson, Peter Hopperton, Erik
Lankin, and Adam Lewis are each pleading to a single count of counselling
mischief over $5,000. We are expecting sentences to range between 6 and 24
months, and all will get some credit for time already served in jail and
on house arrest.

Three defendants in this case had their charges withdrawn earlier and one
has already taken a plea to counselling mischief over $5,000 that involved
no further jail time. This means that out of twenty-one people in the
supposed G20 Main Conspiracy Group, only seven were convicted of anything,
and none were convicted of conspiracy. The total of fourteen withdrawals
demonstrates the tenuous nature of the charges.

This system targets many groups of people including racialized,
impoverished and Indigenous communities, those with precarious immigration
status, and those dealing with mental health and addiction. The kinds of
violence that we have experienced, such as the pre-dawn raids, the
strip-searches, the surveillance, and pre-sentence incarceration happen
all the time. The seventeen of us have moved through the legal system
with a lot of privilege and support. This includes greater access to
“acceptable” sureties, and the financial means to support ourselves and
our case. While the use of conspiracy charges against such a large group
of political organizers is noteworthy, these tactics of repression are
used against other targeted communities every day.

There is no victory in the courts. The legal system is and always has been
a political tool used against groups deemed undesirable or who refuse to
co-operate with the state. It exists to protect Canada’s colonial and
capitalist social structure. It is also deeply individualistic and
expensive. This system is designed to break up communities and turn
friends against each other.

Within this winless situation, we decided that the best course of action
was to clearly identify our goals and needs and then to explore our
options. Within our group, we faced different levels of risk if convicted,
and so we began with the agreement that our top priority was to avoid any
deportations. Other key goals we reached were to minimize the number of
convictions, to honour people’s individual needs, and to be mindful of how
our decisions affect our broader movements. Although we are giving up some
important things by not going to trial, this deal achieves specific goals
that we weren’t willing to gamble.

Our conversations have always been advised by concern for the broader
political impacts of our choices. One noteworthy outcome is that there are
no conspiracy convictions emerging from this case, thus avoiding the
creation of a dangerous legal precedent that would in effect criminalize
routine tasks like facilitation. Taking this deal also frees up community
resources that have been embroiled in this legal process.

We emerge from this united and in solidarity.

To those who took us in while on house arrest, to those who raised money
for our legal and living expenses, to those who cooked food, wrote
letters, offered rides and supported us politically and emotionally
throughout, thank you.

To those in jail or still on charges from the anti-G20 protests, to
political prisoners and prisoners in struggle, we are still with you.

To communities and neighbourhoods fighting back from Cairo to London, from
Greece to Chile, in Occupied Turtle Island and beyond, see you in the
streets.

from top-left: Pat Cadorette, Erik Lankin, Paul Sauder, Meghan Lankin,
Bill Vandreil, Joanna Adamiak, Julia Kerr, David Prychitka, Alex
Hundert, Monica Peters, Sterling Stutz, Leah Henderson, Adam Lewis,
Mandy Hiscocks, Peter Hopperton, SK Hussan, Terrance Luscombe


If you would like to issue a solidarity statement, please email
toronto.g20resist@gmail.com and let us know.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Le 22 novembre 2011 – Alors qu’aux quatre coins de l’Île-Tortue nos
communautés se tournent vers le courant planétaire d’opposition aux
diktats d’austérité, le souvenir des manifestations anti-G20 de juin 2010
à Toronto nous sert autant d’inspiration que de mise en garde.

Nous sommes dix-sept. Dix-sept personnes accusées par l’État canadien
d’avoir «conspiré» pour perturber le sommet des «leaders» du G20. Les
procureurs de la couronne nous ont attribué l’étrange étiquette de
«Principal groupe de comploteurs du G20», ou “G20 Main Conspiracy Group“.

Ces accusations de complot ne sont rien d’autre qu’une sinistre farce.
Nous n’avons jamais tous et toutes participé à un seul et même groupe,
nous n’avons jamais organisé tous et toutes ensemble et, en réalité, nous
sommes tous et toutes issuEs d’horizons politiques variés. En fait,
certainEs d’entre nous se sont rencontréEs pour la première fois entre les
murs de la prison ! Ce que nous partageons par contre, et ce, avec un
nombre incalculable de camarades, c’est une passion pour la création de
communautés de résistance.

Séparément ou ensemble, nous œuvrons au sein de mouvements opposés au
colonialisme, au capitalisme, aux frontières, au patriarcat, à la
suprématie blanche, à la discrimination fondée sur les capacités, à
l’hétéronormativité et à la destruction de l’environnement et des milieux
de vie. Nos mouvements militent en faveur du changement radical et
représentent d’authentiques alternatives aux structures de pouvoir
actuelles. C’est principalement pour cette raison que nous avons été
cibléEs.

Ces accusations, aussi ridicules soient-elles, ont occupé le plus clair de
notre temps au cours des dix-huit derniers mois. Malgré cela, il nous aura
fallu tous ce temps pour enfin nous exprimer d’une seule et même voix. Ce
silence est en partie attribuable aux conditions sévères qui pesaient sur
nous, y compris la non association avec nos co-accuséEs et plusieurs de
nos alliéEs les plus proches. De plus, ceux et celles d’entre nous qui se
sont expriméEs publiquement ont fait l’objet de campagnes d’intimidation
de la part de la police et des procureurs. Nous écrivons aujourd’hui parce
que nous avons négocié une entente visant à mettre un terme aux poursuites
entamées contre nous et hâter la conclusion de cette ridicule comédie.

La stratégie de l’État à l’égard du G20 a été de jeter des filets aussi
larges que possible sur tous ceux et toutes celles qui s’étaient
mobiliséEs contre le sommet (plus de 1 000 manifestants et manifestantes
détenuEs et plus de 300 accuséEs) pour ensuite déterminer celles et ceux
qui faisaient, aux yeux de la couronne, figure de leaders. Être accuséE de
complot est un cauchemar bureaucratique surréaliste que bien peu de
militants et militantes ont eu l’infortune de connaître au Canada jusqu’à
présent. Malheureusement, ce cauchemar tend à se répéter. Il nous est
impossible d’affirmer avec certitude si ce que nous avons fait constitue
ou non un complot ou une «conspiration». Mais en fin de compte, il importe
peu que nos actions répondent ou non aux définitions oppressives et
hypocrites de la loi. Car il nous semble évident que ces poursuites sont,
avant tout, de nature politique. Le gouvernement a sciemment choisi de
dépenser des centaines de millions de dollars pour surveiller et infiltrer
les milieux anarchistes, les réseaux de solidarité avec les autochtones et
les mouvements de justice pour les migrants et migrantes. Après l’aveu
d’un investissement aussi démesuré, quelle justice pouvons-nous encore
espérer?

Malgré tout, nous n’étions pas complètement impuissantEs dans ce
processus. Le peu de prise que nous avons eu sur les négociations est dû à
notre rigoureux processus de prise de décision collective.
Particulièrement au cours des derniers mois, au fur et à mesure que
l’enquête préliminaire laissait place aux transactions visant à en finir
au plus vite, cette recherche de consensus est restée pour nous une
constante priorité. Cette conversation a été une expérience tour à tour
déchirante, épuisante, décevante et inspirante. Mais au final, nous en
sommes sortiEs uniEs.

Des dix-sept, six plaideront coupable et les onze autres verront leurs
accusations retirées. Alex Hundert et Mandy Hiscocks plaident chacunE
coupable à deux accusations d’avoir «conseillé la commission d’une
infraction», et Leah Henderson, Peter Hopperton, Erik Lankin et Adam Lewis
plaideront chacunE coupable à un chef d’accusation similaire. Nous nous
attendons à des peines d’emprisonnement variant entre six et 24 mois, et
on nous créditera le temps déjà passé en détention ou en assignation à
domicile.

Trois accuséEs impliquéEs dans la même affaire ont déjà vu leurs
accusations tomber et un quatrième avait déjà négocié sa sortie sans peine
d’emprisonnement supplémentaire. Cela signifie que des 21 personnes
initialement comprises dans le «Principal groupe de comploteurs du G20»,
seulement sept ont été condamnées et aucune n’a été trouvée coupable de
complot. Cette proportion de retraits est saisissante et démontre
clairement l’absurdité des accusations!

L’ordre dominant opprime de nombreux segments de la population, et en
particulier les communautés racisées, défavorisées ou autochtones ainsi
que les personnes au statut d’immigration précaire et celles et ceux qui
vivent avec des problèmes de dépendance ou de santé mentale. La violence
que nous avons subie, y compris les rafles de police au petit matin, les
fouilles à nuE, la surveillance et l’incarcération avant procès, s’abat
quotidiennement sur ces personnes et ces communautés. Nous avons eu la
chance et le privilège d’être soutenuEs tout au long de notre traversée du
système judiciaire. Cela inclut l’accès à des garantEs de caution jugéEs
«acceptables» et à des moyens financiers pour assurer notre survie
quotidienne et notre défense juridique. Même s’il est remarquable que,
dans ce cas-ci, l’État ait eu recours à des accusations de complot contre
un aussi grand nombre de militants et militantes, il convient de noter
également que ces tactiques répressives sont employées quotidiennement
contre d’autres communautés persécutées.

Au tribunal, aucune victoire n’est vraiment possible. Le système
judiciaire est et a toujours été un instrument politique employé contre
les groupes considérés indésirables ou réfractaires à l’État. Ce système
existe pour protéger la structure sociale coloniale et capitaliste du
Canada. C’est une machine infernale et ruineuse qui brise les accuséEs et
les pousse à adopter des solutions égoïstes. Ce système est conçu pour
détruire des communautés et transformer des camarades en adversaires.

Dans ce contexte où toute victoire paraît impossible, nous avons déterminé
ensemble que la meilleure voie à suivre serait de cerner clairement nos
besoins et objectifs et d’explorer nos options en conséquence. La gravité
des impacts auxquels nous étions confrontéEs variait d’une personne à
l’autre. La première condition sur laquelle nous nous sommes entenduEs à
été d’éviter toute déportation. Parmi les autres objectifs que nous
poursuivions, nous avons également réussi à minimiser le nombre des
condamnations, à respecter le plus possible les besoins individuels de
chacunE et à tenir compte de l’impact qu’auraient nos décisions sur les
mouvements auxquels nous appartenons. Même si nous renonçons à
d’importantes batailles politiques en mettant ainsi fin au procès, cette
entente répond à certains des objectifs que nous n’étions pas disposéEs à
sacrifier.

Au cours de nos discussions, nous avons toujours pris en considération les
conséquences politiques de nos choix. Un des résultats notables est le
fait qu’aucune condamnation pour complot ne découle de cette poursuite.
Nous évitons ainsi la création d’un précédent juridique qui aurait
contribué à criminaliser des tâches aussi importantes que routinières,
comme la rédaction de tracts ou l’animation d’assemblées. Cette entente
permet également de libérer d’importantes ressources qui ont été trop
longtemps accaparées par le processus de défense.

Nous sortons de ce processus uniEs et solidaires.

À celles et ceux qui nous ont accuelliEs dans leurs foyers lorsque nous
étions assignéEs à résidence, aux autres qui ont amassé de l’argent pour
nos dépenses quotidiennes et nos frais juridiques, à celles et ceux qui
ont cuisiné pour nous, nous ont écrit, nous ont offert des lifts et nous
ont soutenuEs politiquement et émotionnellement, merci.

À ceux et celles qui sont en prison ou toujours accuséEs suites aux
actions anti-G20, aux prisonniers et prisonnières politiques, aux rebelles
en lutte, nous sommes toujours avec vous.

Aux communautés et aux quartiers en résistance, du Caire à Londres, de la
Grèce au Chili, depuis l’Île-Tortue occupée, et jusqu’à ce que la victoire
soit nôtre, on se reverra dans la rue.

G20 charges dropped against 11 as 6 plead guilty

Nov 22 2011 Toronto Star
Jennifer Yang and Peter Edwards Staff Reporters

In a joint submission entered in court today, six of the 17 so-called G20
ringleaders have pleaded guilty and the other 11 defendants are going
free.

The six defendants pleaded guilty in a Finch Ave. courtroom this morning
to the lesser charge of counseling to commit mischief over $5,000. Two of
the defendants — Alex Hundert and Amanda Hiscocks — also pleaded guilty to
counseling to obstruct police.

PHOTOS: G20 meets Occupy TO

The other 11 defendants all had their charges withdrawn just before noon.
All 17 were initially charged with conspiracy.

The Star reported Tuesday that the so-called G20 ringleaders struck a plea
bargain with prosecutors after preliminary hearings were suspended in late
September.

For the six who pleaded guilty, the agreed statement of facts read out in
court this morning stated that it couldn’t be proven that any of their
remarks leading up to the G20 contributed to property damage or
obstruction of police during the summit riots.

The agreed statement also noted that none of the six actually took part in
the riots.

After the charges were officially withdrawn, a statement was posted online
in which the 17 collectively condemned the conspiracy charges.

“This alleged conspiracy is absurd,” the statement read. “We were never
all part of any one group, we didn’t all organize together, and our
political backgrounds are all different. Some of us met for the first time
in jail. What we do have in common is that we, like many others, are
passionate about creating communities of resistance.”

According to defence lawyer Howard Morton, the position now being taken by
the Crown is “drastically different” from the one it took at bail
hearings. His client, Joanna Adamiak, had her charge withdrawn as part of
the plea deal.

“This was nothing more than an attempt to create a public image that these
people are terrorists,” Morton said of the prosecution’s portrayal of the
17 activists and self-described anarchists.

“These people are anything but terrorists. I mean, I wonder if any of them
would even survive anarchy.”

Among the six who pleaded guilty are the four arrested in pre-dawn raids
hours before the G20 summit began on June 26, 2010: Alex Hundert, his
then-partner Leah Henderson, Amanda Hiscocks and Peter Hopperton. Erik
Lankin and Adam Lewis, both members of the anarchist group AW@L (Anti-War
at Laurier), also pleaded guilty.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Hundert and Hiscocks will be
given the longest prison terms of 13 ½ and 16 months, respectively. Both
will be sentenced in January.

Hundert has already spent five months in pre-trial custody and another
five months under house arrest. Hiscocks was in jail for one month and
under house arrest for nine.

Hiscocks has spent the past few weeks preparing for jail by cleaning out
her apartment and spending time with friends and family, she told the Star
in an interview prior to today’s court appearance.

As an activist, she said she has long been prepared for the possibility
that some day she may wind up behind bars.

“I know a lot of people who do this work end up in jail at some point,”
Hiscocks said.

The arrests of the so-called G20 ringleaders in June 2010 were the
culmination of a year-long investigation by two undercover officers and
eight different police services.

At the June 26, 2010, court appearance for Hundert, Hiscocks, Henderson
and Hopperton, Crown attorney Vincent Paris told the court he was
overwhelmed by the volume of evidence collected on the alleged
co-conspirators.

Prior to a publication ban prohibiting media from reporting trial
evidence, Paris said a plan for violence was put into place over a series
of meetings leading up to the G20 in June 2010. He said the group planned
on hitting targets such as city hall, Metro Hall, Goldman Sachs, The Bay
and various consulates.

As Paris spoke in court during the G20 summit, black-clad vandals were
smashing their way across downtown Toronto and he linked the four
defendants with the “action . . . happening now.”

According to York University law professor Alan Young, a conspiracy case
is often tough to prosecute because it requires proof of an overt
agreement between people who may be loosely connected.

Of the 1,118 people arrested during the G20, more than 140 were charged
with conspiracy, including the 17 described as ringleaders. If the plea
bargain goes through, at least 112 of those conspiracy charges will have
been dropped.

The preliminary hearing for the 17 alleged co-conspirators began Sept. 12,
but was suspended about a week later so the group could enter talks about
a plea deal.

The group has since been embroiled in painstaking negotiations, a
complicated and delicate process involving hours of handwringing and
discussion amongst the multiple co-accused and their respective lawyers.

In an interview with the Star¸ Hiscocks said she was initially vehemently
opposed to striking any deals with the Crown. The 37-year-old longtime
activist said she disapproves of plea bargaining because she considers it
a prosecutorial tactic for eliciting guilty pleas.

But, in the end, Hiscocks agreed a plea deal promised the best possible
outcome for the most people in the group, she said.

“The justice system being what it is, we decided that we weren’t going to
see justice by going through to the end,” Hiscocks said. “We feel like the
most good we’re going to get from the system, for the people in this
group, is going to be through this plea.”

Hiscocks said she believes the charges against her were “politically
motivated” and the group has already been punished by a justice system
that is supposed to presume innocence until proven guilty.

Over the past 15 months, the co-accused have been living either in jail,
under house arrest or subject to restrictive bail conditions preventing
them from doing the community work they devote their lives to, she said.

Everyone has also been prohibited from participating in “demonstrations,”
a word that has been broadly interpreted by the courts. In September 2010,
Hundert was arrested for breaching this bail condition after participating
in a panel discussion at Ryerson University.

“The bail conditions were absolutely ridiculous,” Morton said. “I’ve had
clients charged with manslaughter that had conditions that weren’t this
bad.”

Many of the 17 are also buckling under the emotional and financial strain
of a legal battle being waged at a snail’s pace, according to Hiscocks.

She said people have lost their jobs as a result of the ongoing case and
two of the 17 who stand to have their charges dropped under the deal were
ineligible for legal aid and face an overall legal cost of $150,000 each.
Another co-accused, who would see his charge withdrawn as a part of the
deal, said he faced deportation if convicted.

According to Morton, the case was unlikely to go to trial until next
September at the earliest, more than two years after the charges were
first laid. Some defendants who submitted guilty pleas under the deal will
likely be out of jail and moving on with their lives before the trial
would have started.

Young, an expert on the plea bargaining process, said both sides, the
Crown and defence, have incentives to strike a deal.

“The Crown might perceive there are some weaknesses in the case, the
defence might have some concerns about the claims they want to make,” he
said. “So, ultimately, law of probabilities (says) your best outcome is to
go into court with a joint submission.”

Plea deals also pinch the ballooning costs of a trial, he added. Morton, a
former Crown attorney, estimates the investigation and prosecution has
already cost upwards of $5 million.

But even when people see their charges dropped as a result of a plea deal,
that does not mean they go unpunished, Young added.

“The reality is that the Crown still is victorious in the sense that it
achieves some punitive response without necessarily getting a court
ruling,” he said. “And it’s a very unforgiving process. It doesn’t say
sorry and it doesn’t compensate you for any hardship you suffered.”

Adamiak said she has already spent 20 days in jail and $50,000 defending
herself against charges that would now be dropped under the deal. The
30-year-old York University student said she has depleted her savings to
pay for her defence.

“It’s quite angering to know that the state cast a very wide net at the
G20 and a lot of people had to go through a lot, not just myself,” she
said. “To me, that’s part of the reason why taking a deal to end the
process quickly is what made sense . . . because the process was the
punishment.”

Adamiak admits there were points along the negotiation process where she
felt strongly the trial should proceed.

Ultimately, it was more important to end the process quickly so she and
the others could return to their political work as soon as possible, she
said.

“The use of charges is a fear tactic. It’s to make us fear being part of
particular organizations, to have particular ideologies,” she said. “But,
if anything, it’s made me just much more eager to get back to the things
we were fighting for before.”

Anarchist on trial

Ryan Rainville admits to smashing police cars at the G20, but says he never intended to hurt anyone.

By Ava Baccari Now Magazine April 14, 2011

On trial for his actions during the G20 summit last June, Ryan Rainville
told an Old City Hall courtroom Tuesday that he hadn’t originally intended
to inflict damage on property during the fateful march Saturday, June 26.

Rainville, who has roots in the Saskatchewan’s Sakimay Nation but lives in
Waterloo, was one of the eight people included on the infamous most wanted
list Toronto Police released following the G20 and is facing charges of
obstructing a peace officer and assault.

A self-described anarchist, Rainville was one of only six people who were
spent three months at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton following
his arrest in August and is alleged to be part of the group of protestors
who dressed in black clothing and employed Black Bloc tactics during the
riots that erupted at the summit, smashing windows and attacking police
cruisers.

Dressed in a collared shirt and sporting a grown-out Mohawk hairstyle,
Rainville testified that on the Saturday in question he saw a man lunge on
the windshield of a police car parked near Queen and Spadina. Rainville
approached the vehicle, he said, and made two strikes against the
passenger’s side of the windshield with a flagpole he had been handed when
he joined the march at Dundas and University.

Speaking to a courtroom packed with supporters who made several outbursts
throughout the proceedings, Rainville said that when he noticed the bright
yellow jacket of the officer inside the car he pulled away from the
vehicle and slipped back into the sea of protestors continuing east
towards Bay Street. He claimed that if he had known there was someone
inside the car he wouldn’t have attacked it, explaining that he ensured
two cruisers he attacked later in the day were empty.

As Rainville moved with the crowd heading south on Bay, he said he picked
up a hammer that was lodged in a broken window at the BMO Bank of Montreal
on King and plunged it into the emergency lights and rear window of police
vehicle parked at the intersection. He then says he smashed the windshield
of an unmarked police car nearby.

As his mother watched intently from the front row of the courtroom,
occasionally locking eyes with her son in the witness stand, the
soft-spoken Rainville told the court that he’s not opposed to acts of
vandalism as a form of protest “as long as no harm is done to human or
animal life.”

Crown Attorney Elizabeth Nadeau passed photos around the courtroom of a
man dressed in grey track pants, with a black bag slung over his back and
a red flag draping his shoulders, hovering near a police vehicle. The same
man is pictured smashing the rear window of another cruiser parked near
King and Bay streets.

Det. William McGarry, part of the G20 Investigative Unit, identified the
man as Rainville, using separate photos of him taken at events during the
week leading up the G20.

McGarry played video footage showing attacks made on three separate police
vehicles with the man identified as Rainville engaging in destruction at
each scene. In most of the photos, the man conceals his face with a black
T-shirt.

Staff Sgt. Graham Queen, the officer in the first vehicle Rainville
allegedly attacked at Queen and Spadina, testified that he was trailing
the largely peaceful throng of 10, 000 protestors when he noticed the flow
of the crowd heading west along Queen Street sharply turning back. When he
jumped into his squad car to pull back and create more space for the
fast-approaching protestors, he said three men dressed in black, their
faces covered, swarmed the parked vehicle.

One pounced on the windshield, Queen testified, causing it to partially
collapse, as the officer slunk low in his seat. Shards of shattered glass
rained down as two men, one of them allegedly Rainville, smashed the side
windows with wooden poles. Queen says he was struck on the head as another
man hollowed out the driver’s side window.

A member of the Toronto police force for 23 years, Queen said the
experience was the “most frightened I’ve ever been as a police officer.
There was nowhere for me to go. I felt trapped.”

He put out a distress call and within minutes, officers on foot patrol
rushed to the vehicle, and one reached in to pull Queen out of the smashed
car. He recalled the crowd quickly drawing near and chanting “Who’s
streets? Our streets!” while hurling rocks, apples, and what he believed
to be urine at the baton-wielding officers.

The trial resumes May 31.
Apr 14, 2011 at 12:07 AM