Occupy Toronto
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Occupy Toronto was a
protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
and demonstration that began on October 15, 2011, in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, near
Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Stree ...
in Downtown Toronto's
Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
and moved to St. James Park. It was a part of the
Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...
, which protested against
economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
,
corporate greed Criticism of capitalism ranges from expressing disagreement with the principles of capitalism in its entirety to expressing disagreement with particular outcomes of capitalism. Criticism of capitalism comes from various political and philoso ...
, and the influence of corporations and
lobbyists In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
on government. As of June 2012, Occupy Toronto had continued to engage in semi-organized meetings, events and actions.


Chronology of events


Global Day of Action

Demonstrators gathered at the intersection of King St. and Bay St. at around 10 am on the 15 October 2011 Global Day of Action and then moved to St. James Park while stressing the importance of a peaceful demonstration and the desire to be heard as a single voice. Early numbers put the visible turnout fluctuating at between 2000 and 3000 participants, including
NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...
MP
Peggy Nash Peggy A. Nash (born June 28, 1951) is a Canadian labour official and politician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Parkdale—High Park electoral district (riding) in Toront ...
, Joel Duff of the
Ontario Federation of Labour The Ontario Federation of Labour is a federation of labour unions in the Canadian province of Ontario. The original OFL was established by the Canadian Congress of Labour in 1944. It was merged with the rival Ontario Provincial Federation of La ...
, and
CUPE The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...
Ontario President Fred Hahn.Shawne McKeown, CityNews.ca, October 15, 2011 After the first few hours, as the sunset progressed the numbers significantly dropped into the hundreds. The
Canadian Union of Postal Workers The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW; french: Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes TTP}) is a public-sector trade union representing postal workers including letter carriers, rural and suburban mail carriers, postal clerk ...
marched over to the intersection after lunch and met up with the protesters. After a large crowd gathered at the Bay Street entrance to the
Toronto-Dominion Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquarte ...
, five people entered the bank and security detained them before removing them from the branch.


St. James Park

Almost two weeks after the protest began, occupiers still maintained their unlawful presence in St. James Park with no threat of removal by the municipal government and scheduled a march on Bay Street for 1 pm on October 27. During that occupation, after the protesters had caused the backup of 10 westbound King streetcars and six streetcars eastbound, bicycle police cleared hundreds of postal workers and other protesters from the intersection of King and Bay streets. In preparation for an indeterminable length of occupation, a
solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
was installed to provide electricity in the media tent and the "Winter's Coming Committee" is drawing up plans to "freeze-proof" the camp. In the hours after another protest on November 2, the media reported developments of the current municipal reaction: "They're still squatting in that park against the law," said Patrick McMurray who owns a restaurant across the street from the park. -He says he's losing business because customers are afraid to come downtown. In response to his concerns, McMurray received an email this week from obFord saying, "When it is determined that we no longer have a peaceful protest, but rather an occupation of the park, we will consider options to remove the individuals who are camping in the park." On November 9, Mayor Ford was quoted as saying that it was time for the Occupy stragglers to "move on", citing the need to repair the estimated $25,000 damage to the grass and what could become a $40,000 repair to the sprinkler system pipes if they are not drained before winter. Premier
Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nearl ...
was reported as saying that the protest was a municipal issue and that his office would not be making decisions in relation to its presence. On November 11, Robyn Doolittle of ''
The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' reported various comments from inside the camp, including answers to the questions of local public outrage and the prospect of being removed, to which occupiers answered: "I think the public outrage has been magnificently exaggerated. Teachers are bringing schoolchildren here all day to come and talk with us and learn why we're here." -and, "We'll just come back. Our legal people are looking into this." On November 12, ''
CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
'' reported that protesters had started setting up an occupation in Queen's Park, which the majority of occupiers remaining in St. James Park. During the morning of November 15, Toronto Police and bylaw officers began distributing eviction notices to campers. On November 21,
Bylaw A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...
officers and police, following a
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
judge ruling, handed out trespass notices to those camped on church property. No clear definition as to what part of the park is city owned and which part is church owned has been offered and occupiers have already made many changes to the camp to fortify it against a forced dismantling by authorities. On November 22, it was reported that the camp was smaller, but that the
yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...
housing the
library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
was
barricade Barricade (from the French ''barrique'' - 'barrel') is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade denot ...
d and had men chained to it and that the
native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...
tent was also barricaded and the sacred fire inside continued to smoke. On the morning of November 23, Toronto Police began enforcing the eviction notice by dismantling most of the tents that still remained. The area surrounding St. James Park was barricaded to traffic. The Yurt Library was also dismantled, but protesters negotiated with police to have the books preserved, and some protesters vowed to regroup elsewhere.


Response


Non-occupying support

As of November 4, it was estimated that thousands of supporters are helping the roughly 500 people occupying St. James Park, including those considered to be in the privileged "1%". A group of seven unions, led by the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU; french: Syndicat des employés de la fonction publique de l'Ontario EFPOlink=no) is a trade union representing public sector employees in the province of Ontario, Canada. It claims a membership ...
, installed porta-potties, generators, Mongolian
yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...
s and a 28-foot
mobile kitchen Mobile catering is the business of selling prepared food from some sort of vehicle. It is a feature of urban culture in many countries. Mobile catering can be performed using food trucks, trailers, carts and food stands. Many types of foods may be ...
. Other donations include straw from the president of a
hydraulics Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...
company, and 250
compostable Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...
bags of water from the owner of a
waste-water Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industr ...
technology company, who said: "There needs to be a correction of how global financial businesses work. Something is wrong. Hopefully, this helps them he occupiersbuy more time to help keep the pressure up until something more concrete comes out of it." Members of the legal community who do not necessarily share the views of the protesters have also offered their support, including legal advice, but with other logistics as well.


Police

At the initial protest, two men were arrested in the mid-afternoon, one for
trespassing Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, ...
and the other for as yet undisclosed reasons. Inspector Howie Page commented to ''
CityNews ''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...
'': "From a policing side, it's been a good day. They've been lawful, they've been peaceful, they told us where they were going to go... they were more than willing to work with us and facilitate what we were asking."


Unions

For the most part, the movement has been backed and funded by unions


Politicians

On the first day of protests, Toronto Mayor
Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...
told ''
CTV Toronto CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3 ...
'': "I have no problem with citizens expressing themselves through the public rally and I don't expect the event to turn violent. If people want to protest peacefully, that is fine. And I am sure it is going to be a peaceful protest."Austin Delaney, CTV News, October 15, 2011 On day three of Occupy Toronto, Former Leader of the Conservative Party
John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...
visited the encampment where he had a rendezvous with Niko Salassidis, creator of Occupy Toronto's Facebook page. Tory was accompanied by several mainstream media outlets as well as NewsTalk1010 which he currently has a partnership with. Tory asked Niko Salassidis a few simple questions, such as what he intends to accomplish. In response Niko mentioned how he wishes to stimulate awareness of the fraudulent nature of the
fractional reserve banking Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking operating in almost all countries worldwide, under which banks that take deposits from the public are required to hold a proportion of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, ...
system which Bank of Canada currently operates under, alongside how this method of banking has entrenched the monetary system as a whole.
John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...
confidently responded "The monetary system is too difficult to explain to the general public.".


Corporate heads

The
Canadian Bankers Association The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA; french: Association des banquiers canadiens) is a trade association and lobby group representing Canadian banks. Its over 60 members include Canada's Big Five banks, smaller domestic banks, and Canadian subs ...
told its members to "prepare for the worst, hope for the best," while a number of downtown banks ordered extra security in preparation. Also,
CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...
obtained an internal memo from
Toronto-Dominion Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquarte ...
, telling employees they were working with "external partners" to maintain the security of their branches. The CEO of TD Bank, Ed Clark was asked what advice he might give to the protesters. His answer was "My main advice is stick to your guns. When people say, 'You don't have a solution,' say, 'Of course we don't. If there was a solution, don't you think people would be doing it?' To ask the people who occupy Wall Street or Bay Street to have a full answer is absurd. They're doing their job which is to say, 'If you think this ystemis working for everyone, it's not.' Now they have to figure out how not to get captured by special interest and keep the pressure on. We need people to talk about these problems and how we're going to solve them.". TD head Ed Clark was a close second to top earning bankers according to an article in the November 2011 issue of Toronto Life, earning $11,426,795.


Media

On October 14, 2011, the tabloid paper, ''
The Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...
'' published thoughts from columnist Joe Warmington: "If this event is real, and I have to admit I am skeptical but am trying to keep an open mind and let it unfold as it does, there will be legitimate demonstrators pointing out how the middle class is being eroded and how taxes are too high or not high enough and how jobs are hard to come by and other concerns. No problem because it's true. But if it becomes a
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
whine-fest or a Black Bloc gang spoiling for a violent fight with the cops, there will not be much tolerance and acceptance from Torontonians who even though they sometimes scold their cops, still respect, appreciate and love them." On November 11, ''
The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
''
columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
David Olive wrote: "Certainly, this is the hour of our discontent. That discontent is income inequality. The spectacular disparity between the super-
affluent Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
and the rest of us is a leading, if not root, cause of widespread ill health, stunted education opportunity, and intolerably high rates of crime and racial discrimination in our communities."David Olive - The Toronto Star, November 11, Section B, Page 4, 2011


Internet users

One site ''toponepercentcanada'' created a fictional counter-protest page for the top 1% to get their voices heard. Counter-signs such as ''End the occupation'' and ''I've got 99 problems but being rich aint one - don't hit me!''


Gallery

File:Occupy Toronto sign.jpg File:Yurt Library.jpg File:LibraryYurt.jpg, alt=roblox.com File:No Drugs or Alcohol.jpg File:Group heading to Occupy Toronto in the evening.jpg File:Woman speaking about ending war.jpg File:St James Park Free Wifi.jpg File:Occupy Toronto Media.jpg


See also

Occupy articles *
Occupy Canada Occupy Canada was a collective of Nonviolent resistance, peaceful protests and Demonstration (people), demonstrations that were part of the larger "Occupy" protests, Occupy Together movement which first manifested in the financial district of New ...
* List of global Occupy movement protest locations *
Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...
*
Timeline of Occupy Wall Street The following is a timeline of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), a protest which began on September 17, 2011 on Wall Street, the financial district of New York City and included the occupation of Zuccotti Park, where protesters established a permane ...
*
We are the 99% We are the 99% is a political slogan widely used and coined during the 2011 Occupy movement. The phrase directly refers to the income and wealth inequality in the United States, with a concentration of wealth among the top-earning 1%. It r ...
; Other Protests *
15 October 2011 global protests The 15 October 2011 global protests were part of a series of protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the Icelandic protests, the Portuguese "Geração à Rasca", the Spanish "Indignants", the Greek protests, and the Occupy movement. The protes ...
*
2011 United States public employee protests In February 2011, a series of public employee protests began in the United States against proposed legislation which would weaken the power of labor unions. By March, eighteen states had proposed legislation which would remove some collective barg ...
* 2011 Wisconsin protests ; Related articles *
Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
*
Corporatocracy Corporatocracy (, from corporate and el, -κρατία, translit=-kratía, lit=domination by; short form corpocracy) is an economic, political and judicial system controlled by corporations or corporate interests. The concept has been used ...
*
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...
*
Economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
*
Federal political financing in Canada The financing of federal political entities in Canada (including federal parties, riding associations, candidates, nomination contestants, leadership contestants, and registered third parties) is regulated under the Canada Elections Act. A combi ...
*
Grassroots movement A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
*
Income inequality in the United States Income inequality in the United States is the extent to which income is distributed in differing amounts among the American population. It has fluctuated considerably since measurements began around 1915, moving in an arc between peaks in t ...
*
Plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...
*
Protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
* ''The Corporation'' (film) * ''
The Shock Doctrine ''The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'' is a 2007 book by the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal free market policies (as advocated by the economist Milton Friedman) have ri ...
'' *
Voter turnout in Canada Voter turnout is the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot in an election. The following presents voter turnout figures for Canada's general elections as compiled by Elections Canada. *The average voter turnout for Canada's general el ...
*
Wealth inequality in the United States Wealth inequality in the United States is the unequal distribution of assets among residents of the United States. Wealth commonly includes the values of any homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments, as wel ...


References


Further reading

* (October 15, 2011.
"Occupy movement spreads to Toronto."CNN
Accessed October 2011. * (October 16, 2011.
CBC News
Accessed October 2011. * (October 17, 2011.
CBC News
Accessed October 2011. * (October 18, 2011
CBC News
Accessed October 2011. * (October 22, 2011.
"Occupy Toronto marches, rallies at City Hall."CTV Edmonton
Accessed October 2011.
Toronto Star news article "Protesters settle in..."

National Post article, "Protesters set up "occupation zone"
* Fox, Jonathan A.; Brown David, L. (1998.
''The struggle for accountability: the World Bank, NGOs, and grassroots movements''
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. * Zinn, Howard; ''Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order'' (1968, re-issued 2002) .


External links

*
''Why The #Occupy Movement Is An Environmental Movement''
November 4, 2011
TreeHugger ''TreeHugger'' is a sustainability website that reports on news, and other subjects like eco-friendly design, homes, and gardens. It was rated the top sustainability blog of 2007 by Nielsen Netratings, and was included in Time Magazine's 2009 ...
{{Occupy movement
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
Protests in Canada 2011 in Toronto History of Toronto Temporary populated places in Canada