Scammer
Banned
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair says he will not resign because of G20 criticism.
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair acknowledged missteps in the lead up to the G20 summit in June, but said those errors are not enough to force his resignation.
Asked by reporters in Victoria if he is going to resign in the wake of a report from the Ontario ombudsman that stated the Toronto police response to demonstrators during the G20 was the "most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history," Blair said, simply, "No, I'm not."
Blair, who is attending a meeting of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said the issue of the so-called "five-metre rule" should never have presented the problem it did.
The chief said he was, at first, given legal advice that police had the authority to detain people within five metres of the security fence and ask them to produce identification. That legal advice was later retracted and Blair was told the law only applied to people inside the security fence.
Blair said he communicated the change to his officers but in hindsight he should've held a news conference to explain the rule to the media and to the public.
"I regret that. It's something I wish we could've and should've taken the time to do," the chief said.
On Tuesday, Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin released a report which strongly criticized the Liberal government's decision to enact Regulation 233/10, which was passed by the provincial cabinet on June 2 without debate.
It designated parts of the area within the G20 security fence in Toronto a public work, bringing it under the purview of the Public Works Protection Act, which was enacted in 1939 to protect infrastructure works from wartime enemies.
But police believed they were given extraordinary powers: that anyone who failed to provide identification or explain why they were within five metres of the security zone could be searched and arrested. Penalties included up to two months in jail and a $500 fine.
Identified 5 officers
In his news conference, Blair also said the Toronto force has identified five officers who were involved in the arrest of Adam Nobody, who suffered a broken nose and a shattered cheek.
A recently concluded investigation by the Special Investigations Unit failed to identify any of the officers. Blair said video evidence provided to the Toronto Star led to his investigators to identify the five officers.
"From the moment we received that information we have identified five of the officers and I'm very confident that by the end of the day we'll have identified all of them," Blair said.
Blair said his force is doing everything it can to get to the truth, and if there is evidence of misconduct among his officers it will be dealt with.
Calls from critics for the chief to resign were turned aside.
"My job is to be responsible for the conduct and discipline of police officers," he said, "and I'm doing my job."
It also appears unlikely Toronto's new mayor will call for the chief's dismissal.
Although Mayor Rob Ford didn't talk with reporters on Tuesday, his deputy made it clear Blair has the backing of the new administration.
"No, I wouldn't call for the chief to resign on this," said Doug Holyday.
"I think that was a difficult situation for him to handle. I think he did the best that he could do. Heck, I'd like to pay more attention to the vandals and the thugs that came here and wrecked our town, never mind the police that tried to stop it."
