The G20 Summit in Toronto

These images are not the whole story.

The G20 Toronto Summit was a meeting of international heads of state held in June 2010, which aimed to address the state of the world economy in the wake of an ongoing global recession.

While these meetings were taking place inside the safe space of a convention centre, much of what grabbed the world’s attention took place outside on the streets of Toronto. A fence had been erected, dividing Toronto's downtown into public space and no-access zones. Thousands of citizens peacefully gathered to make their voices heard. However, what was primarily captured by the media was the chaos of the Black Bloc: of burning police cars and vandalism, which erupted into clashes between protesters and police.

By the time the G20 ended, over 1100 people were detained and arrested, making it the largest mass arrest in Canadian History. Class action suits against the Toronto Police Services Board over mass arrests were recently settled in October 2020, after a decade of court proceedings and negotiations.  

The Toronto Police Services Board initially objected to the class-action proceedings in court, resulting in the class-action status only being finalized in November 2016. After the $16.5 million agreement was reached in 2020, a news report by the the Toronto Police Services Board stated: "We understand and acknowledge that in attempting to preserve peace and safety during those two days, there were times when matters were not addressed in the way they should have been and many hundreds of member of the public were detained or arrested when they should not have been and were held in detention in conditions that were unacceptable. We regret that mistakes were made."

Those arrested at the G20 were entitled to compensation and able to have their police records expunged. The deal also required police to share a public acknowledgement regarding the mass arrests and the detainment conditions, as well as a commitment to changing how protests are handled in the future.

Cross-referencing a decade of Toronto police disciplinary decisions, CBC News found that only 1% of public complaints against Toronto police led to a disciplinary hearing over the past five years. Henry G20 brings the conversation of police accountability to the forefront – a conversation which remains relevant more than 10 years after the G20 summit in Toronto.