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Wednesday WTF: G20 cops armed themselves with hipster DSLR cameras

simon wallace

Last week we learned that the federal government spent $107,749.52 on Nikon DSLR D300s for the G20. For those of you who, like me five minutes ago, don’t know anything about photography let me tell you all you need to know about the D300s: it’s a really good camera. You can check out the reviews […] More »

Wednesday WTF: Conrad Black bails to Palm Beach; Byron Sonne bides behind bars

claudia calabro

Descriptions of Conrad Black in news stories about his arrest, conviction, subsequent time served in jail, and now his bail hearing, often liken him to some sort of greasy mammal, who has “wriggled free” after “swindling” the public out of $6 million. News of Black’s bail-granting in Chicago broke on Monday, overshadowing the results of […] More »

Toronto's G20 weekend in 7 Tweets

Graham F. Scott

Thousands of people who experienced the G20 summit weekend in Toronto have their own individual stories—some of them terrifying, we’ll have some from our own correspondents soon—and Twitter was one of the main ways that the narrative was shaped. Lots of people took their smartphones into the streets to document the protests and the police […] More »

The 5 most important photos from the G20 Summit in Toronto

Graham F. Scott

Jonas Naimark took one of the most striking photos from Sunday, showing the demonstrators and bystanders hemmed in by riot police at the corner of Queen and Spadina. This is just a small portion of the image; click to see the remarkable full-size photo on Naimark’s website. One of the most notorious images from Saturday […] More »

The 5 most important videos from the G20 Summit in Toronto

Graham F. Scott

By far the most significant video of the weekend was this one, shot by Meghann Millard from her third floor office on Queen St. West, in which the protesters sing the national anthem, and are then charged by a line of police in riot gear. This video received an extra boost when no less than […] More »
May-June 2010

6 tips for protesting the G8 and G20 in style and safety

Gillian Bennett

From June 25–27, the world’s most influential political and economic leaders will descend upon Muskoka and Toronto for the G8 and G20 summits. Joining them will be thousands of protesters advocating everything from anti-globalization to climate justice. If you want to get in on the dissent, check out this advice for emerging activists from Mike […] More »
March-April 2010

Capturing the Life of Helen Betty Osborne, in words and pictures

Susan Peters

November 13, 1971, The Pas, Manitoba. Four young white men drive past Helen Betty Osborne, a 19-year-old Cree girl. They call for her to get in the car and party with them. “I think I heard a yes,” one man taunts. When she refuses, the men pull her into the car and drive off. Flip […] More »
January-February 2010

Olympic Countdown: Quick guide to Vancouver 2010 protest do’s and don’ts

Kim Hart MacneillWebsite

Why yes, officer, I can hand out this leaflet. Maybe. It’s no doubt that clashes between protesters and police will end up being the big story of the 2010 Olympics. There are new bylaws on the books, the usual International Olympic Committee rules, our own Canadian Charter rights, and official statements from the Vancouver Police […] More »

Queerly Canadian #22: Chris Skinner's murder and the meaning of "community"

cate simpson

It’s hard to read the story of Chris Skinner, the 27-year-old gay man who was beaten and then run over at Bay and Adelaide in Toronto just over a month ago, without feeling chilled. In addition to the obvious horror, there is something extremely disturbing about a violent attack you can’t pin an explanation on. […] More »

New reforms aim to protect Kenyans—from their own police force

Siena AnstisWebsite

One evening in December, during the post-election violence in Kisumu, Western Kenya, Dennis Otieno was walking down Tom Mboya Street with four other friends. Once a busy thoroughfare, he was now walking past empty stores with their windows smashed in and their goods looted. Suddenly, a police car pulled up and two policemen spilled out […] More »

Wednesday WTF: Why is prior "police contact" relevant to a cycling death?

Graham F. Scott

The chain of events late Monday night that ended in the death of Toronto cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard—during an altercation with former Ontario MPP Michael Bryant’s car—are terrible and sad to behold. The news spread like wildfire yesterday and the local and national media descended en masse to report every detail. One such detail (among […] More »