Settlement Reached In 2010 G20 Summit Class Action Between Toronto Police And 1,100 Mass Arrested Demonstrators

TORONTO, Aug. 17, 2020 /CNW/ - After ten years of court proceedings and negotiations, the Toronto Police Services Board and representatives of about 1,100 individuals and public demonstrators who were mass arrested at the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto have signed a comprehensive and unprecedented class action Settlement Agreement. 

The Settlement Agreement is a three-part package that includes individual financial compensation totalling up to $16.5 million for those who were mass arrested and detained, a public police acknowledgement regarding the mass arrests and the conditions in which protestors where detained, and a police commitment to detailed changes regarding policing of future public demonstrations.  The Settlement Agreement also provides for the expungement of police records of those allegedly wrongfully mass arrested.

Under the Settlement Agreement, those arrested will be entitled to monetary compensation of between $5,000 and $24,700 per person, depending on their experiences. 

During the G20 Summit of world leaders held in Toronto in June of 2010, many public demonstrations were organized on public issues such as climate change, global poverty and other issues.  Thousands of protestors demonstrated peacefully, but the protests were also accompanied by deliberate vandalism by some individuals. 

Toronto police reacted by encircling large groups of hundreds of protestors in several locations in downtown Toronto with cordons of riot police, holding them for hours, and then transferring many of them to a temporary Detention Centre where hundreds of protestors were held in extremely harsh conditions. Ontario's Ombudsman at the time called what happened "the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history".

The lawsuit was launched in August of 2010 by Sherry Good as legal representative of the approximately 1,100 class members, later joined by Thomas Taylor.  Toronto Police Services objected to the class action proceedings in court, and class action status was not finalized until a police appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was dismissed in November of 2016.

Class Representative Sherry Good said:  "The terrifying way in which I and 400 others were suddenly and arbitrarily surrounded and held by riot police on a street corner for four hours in a freezing downpour changed forever the way I look at police, continues to give me chills.  I believe that this Settlement Agreement does bring about some justice, and I hope, and I think, that our freedom of expression rights will now be better respected for a long time to come."

Thomas Taylor, also a Class Representative, said "For me and hundreds of others, being suddenly surrounded and held captive by frightening numbers of riot police when we had done nothing at all, going through violent and unlawful arrests, and then being thrown into a nightmare detention centre, was a stunning and horrifying experience.  I had never imagined that such a thing could happen in Canada, but that experience showed me how very fragile civil liberties are for so many of us.  I truly hope that this Settlement Agreement will help make sure that such a thing never happens again."

The class action was lead from the beginning by Toronto litigation lawyers Murray Klippenstein and Eric Gillespie.  According to Gillespie, "When these events happened many Canadians could not believe they happened in Canada. The settlement appears to fairly recognize through financial compensation, acknowledgements and reforms that they shouldn't have happened and will never happen again".

Murray Klippenstein commented that "Canada had never seen anything like what happened at the G20 Summit, and hopefully it never will again.  We are hopeful that this settlement will bring some justice and some relief to class members, and that we all, including the police, can benefit in the future from the acknowledgements and commitments to policing improvements that are built into the Settlement Agreement".

Under Ontario class action laws, a class action settlement agreement must be reviewed by a Superior Court Judge for final approval, and the Settlement Agreement is scheduled for an approval hearing before Justice Edward Belobaba on October 19, 2020.

Lawyers Klippenstein and Gillespie have urged anyone who was present in June of 2010 and who might be eligible for compensation to contact them or to review the G20 class action website.  A copy of the Settlement Agreement is available on the website for review.

SOURCE Eric K. Gillespie Professional Corporation

Eric Gillespie, 416-436-7473 (call/voicemail/text); Murray Klippenstein, 416-598-0288