Ontario’s Civilian Police Commission will allow an appeal against the sentence handed down to a senior Toronto cop who ordered G20 protesters to be “kettled” and detained back in 2010, after hearing complaints that the punishment was too small.
Supt. David (Mark) Fenton was found by a police tribunal to have exceeded his authority when he ordered the open detention of several hundred protesters and passersby on June 26, 2010 in front of the Novotel on The Esplanade.
At least 260 people were taken to a makeshift detainee processing centre east of downtown which was later criticized for its deplorable conditions.
On June 27, Fenton ordered officers to surround a group of people at the intersection of Queen Street and Spadina Avenue, and kept them there despite a strong thunderstorm that left them sopping wet and cold.
In June 2016, Fenton was handed a formal reprimand and forced to forfeit 30 paid days.
Two of the people detained by Fenton at Queen and Spadina, Shervin Akhavi and Jonathan Deshman, appealed this punishment, saying it was not reasonable given the “serious scale and nature” of Fenton’s violation of detainee’s Charter rights.
The application to appeal was supported by Ontario Independent Police Review Director.
The Toronto Police Service did not file any comment on the application either for or against.
Justice Roy Conacher of the Commission ruled that the appeal should go ahead, as the issues raised in the proposed appeal and the appropriateness of any penalty imposed upon a senior police unit commander continue to be of significant importance to the policing profession and to members of the general public.”
