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On Wednesday, June 1st, 2011,  Queer Ontario delivered a deputation to the Independent Civilian Review into Matters Relating to the G20 Summit, which was launched by the Toronto Police Services Board on September 23, 2010 to look into the policing strategy that was employed by the Toronto Police Service during the G20. Headed by John W. Morden,  a former Associate Chief Justice for the Province of Ontario, and guided by the Terms of References outlined here, the Review will present a report with a set of recommendations to the Police Services Board which will determine:

(1) the role the Board played in the planning of the police strategy for the G20 Summit;
(2) the role the Toronto Police Service played during the G20 police strategy; and
(3) whether or not the plans that were developed and implemented were adequate and effective for the proper policing of the Summit.

There are still tho hearing sessions left — one on the 6th, and another on the 13th — so feel free to register at http://g20review.ca/hearings.html if you wish to depute.

Also, do note that while the reviewers are asking deputants to focus on the question of the role civilian oversight should have in determining the policing strategies of major events, they also appear to be accepting deputations on other G20-related issues, so please take the time to share your insights.

Queer Ontario’s deputation can be previewed and downloaded here:

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For a text-only version, click on Read more…

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the infamous bathhouse raids of February 5, 1981, Queer Ontario Political Action Chair Casey Oraa and Queer Ontario Chairperson Nick Mulé braced the cold yesterday to install the NO MORE SHIT banner with the help of a handful of generous and dedicated observers. Found on Church Street just south of Wellesley, we are hoping this banner becomes a familiar feature leading up to the 30th anniversary of the Gay Freedom Rally on March 6th, the first Pride event to ever take place in the city of Toronto.

Indeed, don’t forget to pass by the banner and wave hello on February 6th and February 20th, which mark the days of the two largest anti-police rallies organized in response to the raids.

The NO MORE SHIT! Remembrance Project

To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Operation Soap — the infamous bathhouse raids of 1981 that saw the pillaging of four Toronto bathhouses and the charging of 309 men as keepers and found-ins of a common bawdy house — Queer Ontario has printed and pasted a number of posters throughout the City of Toronto to initiate a remembrance process that looks back on the events of February 5th and the community uprising that let the City and the Metro Toronto Police know that enough was ENOUGH!

As part of this process we invite you to share with us your recollections of the 1981 bathhouse raids and the demonstrations that followed shortly after — the demonstrations of February 6th, for example, those of February 20th, or even the Gay Freedom Rally of March 6th, the predecessor to our present-day Pride festivities! Tell us how these actions on the part of the Metro Police and the gay and lesbian community affected your sense of community, your sense of self, and, yes, even your sense of the Police force and the City. How do you feel the events of 1981 have shaped Toronto’s LGBTQ community to this very day?

Feel free to send us an email at info@queerontario.org or share your story with us in our comments section below so they can be archived on the world wide web for easy access by current and future generations.

Let’s work together to keep our stories alive,

The Queer Ontario Political Action Committee