Toronto police kidnapped my child - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty - Column

During the OCAP housing action on Saturday November 8, Toronto police officers abducted my 2-year-old son, Saoirse. Shortly after the march arrived at 558 Gerrard Street East to open the "Gatekeeper Squat," police attacked my child's mother, violently snatching Saoirse right off of her shoulders. When I attempted to stop this kidnapping in process, I was surrounded by officers who refused to let me retrieve my child, even after I had given identification showing that I was the father.

After a tense stand-off, one officer told me, in the chilling language of a kidnapper, that "The only way you will EVER get your child back is to get into one of our cars." When I got into the back seat of the police vehicle, rather than being allowed to leave with my son, the door was slammed shut and locked behind us and we were driven away.

At this point it was quite clear that an abduction was underway. At no point was I told, despite repeated requests, why we were being held or where we were being taken. When the car came to a stop around the corner from the squat, I demanded to be released from the vehicle, since I was not being charged. My baby was in need of his food and essentials.

It was at that stop that I heard the call come across the police radio ordering all officers to withdraw from the premises of the squat since they had no jurisdiction over the property at that point. This made clear that the police had no authority to stop people from approaching the property at the time that Saoirse's morn was attacked and arrested.

The officer refused my request to be released and instead drove me and Saoirse to 51 Division where two calls were put in to get child services ready to take us, and thus legalize the police kidnapping. When I refused to go into the building two additional officers were sent out to "escort" us in. I still refused to enter the station since I had not been charged with anything and the reason for our being held had never been stated.

At this point one of the officers who had come to escort us inside grabbed me violently by the arm and wrenching it shoved me against the car. I ended up with a badly sprained ankle that has required medical attention. The officer was not even phased by the fact that I was still holding Saoirse during this attack.

When the officer continued the rough treatment I realized that things would not end well for me and Saoirse unless I got some help. Luckily right at the moment that I started shouting for help a passerby happened on the scene and came over to see what was going on. In response, the officer told me that he was going to charge me with "causing a disturbance" for my calls for help. He then proceeded to shove me again. When I objected to this assault, the officer looked at his colleague and said, "You didn't see anything, did you?" Sensing that with the witness present this might be my only chance to avoid complete capture by child services, I clarified that I had not been charged with anything and then turned and walked away with Saoirse in my arms.

Thankfully we were not pursued. I have absolutely no doubt that had the passerby not arrived at the very moment he did I would have been further assaulted and Saoirse would have been fully captured by child services.

Clearly the Toronto Police will stop at nothing. That they would abduct and traumatize a child in full view of several hundred people and reporters from major media outlets shows again that this is a force that is viciously out of control after years of indulgence from Queen's Park and City Hall. Police in this city have come to believe that they can get away with pretty much anything. At least one other parent has come forward to say that right after my son was abducted, an officer threatened to take her child if she didn't leave the demonstration immediately.

Still, this is not solely about police violations of civil liberties at demonstrations. The violence the police inflicted on my family is the same violence they inflict regularly on poor children and their parents in neighbourhoods across Toronto. A look at the socioeconomic backgrounds of families that are brought under child services confirms that.

While some might like to argue that a demonstration is not a safe place for children, it might be more appropriate to ask if, when it comes to the Toronto Police, there is any safe place in this city for poor children and their parents?

We cannot allow the police to target children and their parents in the streets, in our neighbourhoods or in our homes. We must assert our right to stand with our children publicly in our communities and to raise our voices with our children.

Victory Declared in Gatekeeper Squat!

Liberal MP, Dennis Mills, made a pledge to secure the property occupied by the Ontario Coalition Against Povery (OCAP) and have it converted to housing within a month or resign from Parliament. The promise was made on November 8th in order to de-escalate the stand-off with police who were preparing to attack those inside the building as well as their supporters on the street. On the basis of the pledge, people left the building to allow him time to honour his undertaking. Mills called the OCAP office on December 5th to report that the abandoned house will be made available for housing.

Financing for the new project has been secured and the Laborers' Internal Union and the Canadian Auto Workers have undertaken to provide skilled labour and resources.

The victory we have won is important in that it points the way forward. Those denied the right to housing must organize to win it and be prepared to take it, if governments refuse to act. In Toronto, 70,000 sit on a years' long waiting list for housing and the homeless shelters are overflowing. At the same time, dozens of buildings are left empty as so many monuments to greed and irrationality.

Jeff Shantz is a member of the Toronto General Defence Committee.

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