A lawyer for four people who were arrested and charged while protesting the province’s removal of bike lanes on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke says their Charter rights were violated by the release conditions set by the Toronto Police Service (TPS).
Attorney Leora Smith, of Community Justice Collective, says the accused were handed an ultimatum when they were taken into custody: spend the night in jail, or be released after signing a form prohibiting them from attending future protests.
Facing that unenviable choice, she says they signed, but now argues the trade off was unconstitutional.
“I want to be really clear, these conditions and the prohibition on protests is a serious violation of our clients’ constitutional rights, including their Charter rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly. Police have no authority, moral or legal, to demand that any person sign away their right to protest,” she argued at a news conference on Tuesday morning.
She says release conditions are usually imposed “when they are absolutely necessary to protect a witness or a victim, to ensure that somebody shows up in court or to prevent another offence,” but, she said, “protest is not a criminal offence.”
In a statement, TPS stressed that the accused were not charged for merely being at a protest, but for allegedly obstructing construction crews from completing their work.
They face charges of obstructing police and mischief interfering with property.
“The Toronto Police Service (TPS) recognizes and respects the right to peaceful protest,” a TPS spokesperson said in a statement to CityNews.
“We were clear with demonstrators that while they are entitled to express their views about the removal of bike lanes, anyone who unlawfully obstructed that work or interfered with police officers could face arrest and charges.”
When it comes to the release conditions deemed legally problematic by Smith, the police spokesperson said: “We won’t comment on the specific conditions of release in individual cases. If there are concerns about the legality or appropriateness of those conditions, the courts are the appropriate forum to address them.”
Protests briefly halted bike lane removal
The protests began on Oct. 13, with demonstrators managing to stave off work crews who had arrived to begin the work of removing bike lanes. Work trucks turned around to the cheers of protesters shouting, “Get home safe.”
Crews returned the next morning and began removing concrete curb barriers and other bike lane infrastructure, like reflective strips and transit platforms.
A tense stand-off between cyclists blocking a work truck and the bike lane removal crew was diffused by police later Wednesday, but a person sitting on a concrete barrier further down the lane was arrested after refusing to move.
More arrests would follow before the job was ultimately completed.
The project marked the first completed bike lane removal under the Ford government’s plan to restore road capacity on major Toronto arterial roads, but Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria vowed that work to remove lanes on other main arteries, including Bloor Street, Yonge Street, and University Avenue, would move forward.
“We were elected with a clear mandate to fight gridlock, restore traffic lanes and get drivers moving again, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Sarkaria said in a statement. “We’ve been clear that bike lanes belong where they make sense, not where they make congestion worse.”
Protests will continue, organizer says
David Shellnutt, founding partner of The Biking Lawyer LLP and lead organizer of the bike lane removal protests, criticized Toronto police for what he called their “heavy-handed” approach to policing the protests.
He says there were dozens of cruisers, including riot police, mounted police, bicycle police, and even drones conducting surveillance, at the Bloor Street West protests, all for “people trying to defend safe infrastructure.”
“We’ve paid for these bike lanes, we’re paying to have them removed, and we’re paying for Toronto police to stand over and watch while they are being removed,” Shellnutt said. “The taxpayer is really getting it from all angles here and I think that should concern everyone.”
He also vowed that the arrests would not be a deterrent, and said police could expect an even larger protest when the province moves forward to remove even more bike lanes.
“When you come and take these bike lanes on University [Ave.], I can tell you there will be several thousands cyclists there, day in and day out, to defend our safe infrastructure.”
With files from Dilshad Burman and Lucas Casaletto of CityNews
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