Toronto, ON - October 26, 2010 - On Wednesday October 27^th, 2010, Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, will appear before the federal Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security as part of its review of G20 Summit security.

Des Rosiers will discuss the CCLA's views on how G20 Summit security impacted upon the civil liberties of Canadians and the measures that the Association believes must be taken to ensure accountability and address outstanding questions that remain in the wake of the Summit.

The CCLA has been calling for a public inquiry into G20 Security for several months. The CCLA believes that a public inquiry is needed to probe and examine civil liberties violations that occurred during the G20 Summit. There continues to be a need for answers regarding various aspects of government and police action during the Summit, including:

• the dispersal of peaceful assemblies;
• mass arrests of large groups of peaceful protesters, passer-bys, members of the media and human rights monitors;
• the policing of lawful protesters rather than unlawful vandals;
• the role of federal agencies, such as the RCMP and CSIS, in G20 security.

The CCLA has been urging the federal government to call a public inquiry to examine these issues and others that remain unaddressed in the wake of the G20 Summit. The public is entitled to information about what went wrong during the G20 Summit, throughout which more than 1105 people were arrested, over 800 of them without any subsequent charges being laid against them.

The CCLA continues to urge the federal government to call such an inquiry to promote greater accountability for what happened both before and during the G20 Summit. The CCLA's General Counsel, Nathalie Des Rosiers, noted that, "How the government chooses to respond to the civil liberties violations that occurred during the G20 Summit represents a moment of truth for Canadian democracy. Either we will emerge with stronger democratic institutions, regulatory regimes, accountability frameworks and better policing, or we will have tolerated mass violations of civil liberties with callous indifference. ".

To date, the CCLA has not received a response from the federal government regarding its request for a public inquiry into the planning and policing of the G20 Summit.

For further information on this issue, please see CCLA's reports on the G20:

• A Breach of the Peace - A Preliminary Report of the CCLA's Observations at the G20 Summit
• Looking Back, Moving Forward: Two Months After the G20