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A $16.5 million class action settlement has been reached over the mass arrests of protestors during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto.
If you were one of the approximately 1,100 people arrested during the G20 Summit, you could be entitled to compensation ranging from $5,000 to $24,700, depending on your experience. Class Members who were wrongly arrested will have their police records expunged according to the G20 Summit mass arrests class action settlement.
In addition to providing compensation to eligible Class Members, the G20 Summit mass arrests class action settlement will also include a public acknowledgement by police of the mass arrests and the conditions in which they detained protestors. The class action rebates also includes a commitment by police to address how future protests are policed.
On June 26 and 27, 2010, Toronto hosted world leaders during the G20 Summit. Many public demonstrations took place to address global issues like poverty, climate change and globalization. Although most of the protestors were peaceful, some deliberate vandalism accompanied the demonstrations.
In response, police reportedly encircled large groups of protestors in downtown Toronto and kept them there for hours. Many were subsequently transferred to a temporary detention centre. Ontario’s Ombudsman at the time reportedly called the mass arrests “the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history.”
Sherry Good filed the G20 Summit mass arrests class action lawsuit Canada in August 2010 on behalf of herself and approximately 1,100 Class Members. Thomas Taylor later joined Sherry as a Class Representative.
The Toronto G20 Summit class action lawsuit alleges various groups of public demonstrators were subject to wrongful mass arrest by the Toronto Police Services Board, and many of those were allegedly wrongfully detained in a temporary detention centre that had been prepared by the TPS for the G20 Summit.
The Toronto Police Service objected to the lawsuit, but its status as a class action lawsuit Canada was reportedly finalized in November 2016.
“The terrifying way in which I and 400 others were suddenly and arbitrarily surrounded and held by riot police on a street corner for four hours in a freezing downpour changed forever the way I look at police, continues to give me chills,” Sherry reportedly said.
“I believe that this Settlement Agreement does bring about some justice, and I hope, and I think, that our freedom of expression rights will now be better respected for a long time to come,” she continued.
“For me and hundreds of others, being suddenly surrounded and held captive by frightening numbers of riot police when we had done nothing at all, going through violent and unlawful arrests, and then being thrown into a nightmare detention centre, was a stunning and horrifying experience,” Thomas said.
“I had never imagined that such a thing could happen in Canada, but that experience showed me how very fragile civil liberties are for so many of us,” he continued. “I truly hope that this Settlement Agreement will help make sure that such a thing never happens again.”
Lawyers representing the Class Members believe the proposed G20 Summit mass arrests class action settlement provides fair compensation to those affected and includes a commitment to reforms that will keep similar situations from arising in the future.
“When these events happened many Canadians could not believe they happened in Canada,” Toronto litigation lawyer Eric Gillespie said. “The settlement appears to fairly recognize through financial compensation, acknowledgements and reforms that they shouldn’t have happened and will never happen again.”
An approval hearing for the Toronto G20 Summit mass arrest class action settlement has been scheduled for Oct. 19, 2020. The claims submission process will not be open until the court approves the class action settlement. If approved, additional details about how to file a claim will be posted.
Class Members who wish to object to the G20 mass arrests class action settlement must do so no later than Oct. 5, 2020.
More information about the G20 class action settlement is available at https://www.G-20ClassActionSettlement.ca.
Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement once they are available. Keep checking ca.TopClassActions.com for the latest class action lawsuit and settlement news. You can also sign up for a free account and click the “Follow Article” button to receive updates about the G20 Summit mass arrests class action settlement, including when the settlement administrator begins accepting claims.
What do you think about the G20 Summit mass arrests settlement? Is $16.5 million dollars fair compensation for what happened? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
Class Members are represented by Murray Klippenstein of Klippensteins Barristers & Solicitors and Eric Gillespie of Eric K. Gillespie Professional Corporation.
The Toronto G20 Summit Mass Arrests Class Action Lawsuits are Sherry Good v. Toronto Police Services Board, Case No. CV-10-408131 00CP and Thomas Howard Taylor v. Toronto Police Services Board, Case No. CV-15-524523 00CP, in the Ontario Court of Justice, Canada.
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