[text adapted from press release for the rally]

On Wednesday, October 20th, elected University of Toronto student representatives, students, faculty and community allies held a rally to demand that those responsible for the mass, arbitrary detentions at the Graduate Student Union gym during the G20 Summit be held accountable. The Toronto Association of Police and Private Security (TAPPS) held a "G20 De-Briefing" that same day on the UofT campus. The rally was organized to protest the lack of accountability over the widespread human rights violations committed during the G8 and G20 summits be held accountable, as well as to raise the role of Reilly private security guards in the crackdown on campus (one of the TAPPS companies that holds a security contract with the UofT administration).

As spokesperson Danielle Sandhu, Vice President Equity for the University of Toronto Students' Union, explains: "We are calling on the University of Toronto Administration and the provincial government to honour the University's Purpose to commit to 'vigilant protection of individual human rights,' including the 'human right to radical, critical teaching and research.' We call on university administrators to respect the campus as a protected space to 'raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.' We reject and will actively oppose all administrative sanction of an oppressive security agenda that undermines these commitments."

The TAPPS' 'G20 Debriefing' was co-hosted by the University of Toronto Campus Community Police Service and Reilly Security. In this closed session, speakers assessed police and private security cooperation during "Canada's largest domestic security operation" and examine "challenges and provide perspective from many of the key players involved
from both police and private security circles."

The UofT community is already familiar with the consequences of 'police and private security' cooperation. During the G20 Summit, at least 75 people from Quebec, who were staying as guests at the GSU Gym, were arrested as a result of a tip provided by a Reilly Security guard working on campus. The security guard noted the presence of 'black-clad individuals' getting off a bus and immediately contacted the UofT 'Incident Command Center' and TAPPS to secure their arrest. Those arrested during this raid have since been cleared of all charges, underscoring the arbitrary nature of these arrests. These arrests are part of a broader trend at UofT in which campus activists and their community allies have experienced increased harassment at the hands of private security guards and campus police.