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Ontario Superior Court Judge David Brown ruled yesterday morning that the city’s eviction request — first issued on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 — was a reasonable infringement on Occupy Toronto activists’ Charter rights.

Occupy Toronto activists had gone to the courts that Tuesday to seek an injunction to stop the park’s eviction that same evening, arguing that Occupy Toronto’s ability to pitch tents to occupy a downtown location close to the financial district is an essential part of the activist movement itself and therefore protected under Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Judge Brown heard the case on Friday, November 18, 2011, where he listened to arguments from Occupy Toronto activists, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the City of Toronto.

The City of Toronto argued that Occupy Toronto was breaching city bylaws and the Trespass to Property Act by remaining in the park between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. daily and by pitching tents in a public park without a permit.

Countering that argument, Occupy Toronto activists argued that city bylaws should not trump Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Section 2 protection of freedom of expression, freedom of religion (in relation to the First Nation Sacred Fire) and freedom of association.

It was this Charter challenge that formed the basis of the injunction that halted the immediate eviction order last week.

Another law evoked to protect the Occupy Toronto site was Canadian Criminal Code C46, Section 176: “Disturbing religious worship or certain meeting”

(2) Anyone who willfully disturbs or interrupts an assemblage of persons met for religious worship or for moral, social or benevolent purpose is guilty of an offense punishable on summary conviction.”

The Occupy site has been active at St. James Park since Oct. 15, 2011, and has become a city within a city.

There was a Toronto Sun article on Sunday critical of the movement, complete with a photo of empty tents, when truth the tents here are mostly empty as most individuals — due to the cold — have been sleeping in the yurts to keep warm. Well, as warm as it can get as the nights have become very cold and organizers are concerned for everyone’s safety.

Activists were nervous at the start of this week, knowing that Judge Brown was to rule on Monday on the fate of Occupy Toronto. Yesterday morning at 9:00 a.m., Judge Brown lifted the injunction, returning Occupy Toronto to its pre-injunction status of facing imminent eviction. Immediately activists gathered their strength and began to prepare the camp. Susan Ursel, council for Occupy Toronto, addressed the noon General Assembly but has yet to announce if she plans to appeal.

Some activists took down their tents and dropped off their belongings at home before returning to defend the park. Other activists began fortifying their structures, including the library yurt — after the recent police raid on Occupy Wall Street led to the destruction of an estimated 5,000 books in their library.

During the afternoon, the mood at the site spiked between panic and a sense of strength.
Individuals needing housing assistance when they lose their homes when Occupy Toronto is evicted have been directed to (chronically underfunded) social services.

At issue here is that this ruling technically prevents anyone from sleeping or even being in a city park between 12:01 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.

If the city wants to enforce such a bylaw then it should step up and provide adequate and health shelters and access to appropriate social housing, not sell off existing stock of social housing.

Five Toronto police officers and one bylaw officer returned to the site yesterday at 2:14 p.m. to deliver another official eviction notices, just as they did last Tuesday when they delivered the first round of official eviction notices from the city. Upon their arrival, Occupy activists immediately went into defensive mode and followed on the agreed plan of action to defend the critical areas of the camp.

Unlike last Tuesday’s delivery of eviction notices, the First Nations’ Sacred Fire on site received an eviction order. This prompted elders to ceremonially close the fire to protect it. There is no longer a Sacred Fire burning on the site.

This new eviction order — different and separate from the city sponsored eviction notice since it came straight from the church at the city, which had at one point promised to support activists at the site but has since flip-flopped — came directly from the Cathedral Church of St. James and stated: “You are hereby given notice that you are prohibited from engaging in the following activists on St. James Cathedral property:

1: Installing erecting or maintaining a tent, shelter or other structure;
2: Using, entering or gathering on Cathedral property between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.

So now Occupy Toronto has been technically received eviction notices from the City of Toronto and St. James Cathedral. It is actually, technically, more unsafe to remain on church property – on church property, the police will charge anyone with criminal trespass but no city land, the police will ticket you for trespassing.

An emergency rally was called 5:00 p.m. last night at St. James Park, and hundreds of Ontario Federation of Labours marched down to the site. This followed into the evening General Assembly where over a thousand people listened to eviction strategies and voted on proposals.

Technically, Occupy Toronto faced eviction from the city and St. James Cathedral at 12:01 a.m. for remaining on site. As midnight neared, the crowd grew despite the cold. Different faith groups — “Protest Chaplains” have been involved in this movement from the start — held prayer vigils while other debated and drummed. The crowd eventually swelled to over 2,000 people as Occupy Toronto en masse waited for the police to arrive. Scouts rode the streets and essential logistical, medical and media personnel steeled themselves.

At 12:01 a.m. when it was announced that “all was well,” the crowd refused to move despite an announcement to remind everyone on site that they were now under the risk of arrest for standing up to the city, the police and St. James Cathedral and defending (or participating) in the Occupy Toronto community.

At dawn, Occupy Toronto had survived the night.

During the day today, the site remains busy. Two donated yurts are being disassembled to be donated to First Nations communities and other smaller tents are being packed up. Other groups are clustering their tents together for protection.

Numerous rallies are scheduled for today, including an earlier march for affordable housing and a 4:00 p.m. solidarity march in support of G20 defendants.there is a call to rally at City Hall at 6:00 pm. There will be a decision making General Assembly at 6:30 pm. All are welcome to attend. 

The Toronto Star has reported that police will likely move in earlier Wednesday morning. Activists are bracing themselves for another long night. But despite the fatigue, hope burns bright. That Sacred Fire that burns in everyone’s heart.

People have come up to me and asked if I am nervous. I say: Don’t panic. Occupy Toronto is just evolving. We can’t stay a caterpillar forever. We’re going to be OK.

Please follow my coverage on Twitter @krystalline_k or watch the Occupy Toronto livestream.

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...