Political policing in Canada

 

The attack on the Indigo 11 is part of a systematic effort to disrupt and contain the growing Palestine solidarity movement

When we hear the term “political police,” we are likely to think of state enforcers operating in countries where no body of democratic rights exists and the ruling regimes openly prohibit free expression and dissent. However, even in a liberal democracy like Canada, the role of the police is heavily politicized and their conduct, closely linked to the needs of the power structure, is directed against those who are perceived as threatening or disruptive.

On November 10, 2023, activists pasted posters and splashed red paint on the windows of an Indigo bookstore in Toronto. The company’s CEO, Heather Reisman, was condemned for “funding genocide” due to her support for Israeli Occupation Forces. By any reasonable application of the law, this political gesture should have been viewed, at most, as a minor breach of the Criminal Code and treated as such in a measured way.

This was clearly not the reaction of the Toronto Police, however. According to Global News, the force conducted a “large-scale investigation… involving more than 70 police officers and 10 nighttime raids.” Dramatic and terrifying arrests were made at peoples’ homes in the early hours. Searches were conducted and phones and computers confiscated. Charges of “mischief, conspiracy and criminal harassment” were laid and, seizing upon the fact that Reisman is Jewish, “Police labelled the incident a ‘hate-motivated mischief investigation.’”

Last month, charges against three more of the so-called Indigo 11 were dropped, and others have been granted absolute discharges. Global notes, “it seems likely that this large-scale investigation…will not achieve a single registered criminal conviction.” Suzanne Narain, one of the accused, whose charges were dropped, stated, “They invaded our homes, destroyed our lives and spent millions of dollars to do this. And there hasn’t been one conviction. Just to silence organizers speaking out against Palestine. And none of us are silent.”  (more...)

Political policing in Canada