Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Toronto police vetoes our Charter rights in favour of pro-Hamas thugs

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Crazy show today because I went to jail. I'll show you my arrest and I'll

00:00:06.440 give you my thoughts about why it was an illegal arrest. You really have to have the video for

00:00:11.320 this podcast to be valuable. I want you to see what happened. Go to rebelnewsplus.com,

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00:01:20.840 All right, here's today's podcast.

00:01:29.880 Tonight, I was arrested and taken to jail. I'll tell you the whole story. It's November 25th,

00:01:44.120 and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:49.060 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:02:01.080 Sunday, I did not expect to be arrested in jail, but that's exactly what happened to me

00:02:05.400 when I went to cover a local news story that we have covered at Rebel News several times. It's

00:02:11.220 dueling protests in a Jewish residential neighborhood. There's a pro-Israel, pro-Canada

00:02:16.420 side, and then literally pro-Hamas. They're not even pro-Palestinian. They're actually supportive

00:02:21.720 of Hamas. They come into town from far away. They're paid activists, and they bring the most 1.00

00:02:27.720 vile anti-Semitic threats and propaganda with them. It's just astonishing. It would be like

00:02:34.340 the Ku Klux Klan coming and burning a cross in front of a black church. In fact, they have in 0.97

00:02:40.240 common that they often wear masks. The difference is the police protect the Hamas thugs, and they 0.82

00:02:47.180 arrest those who would shine a light of scrutiny on them. I want to show you my report on this that

00:02:53.160 I delivered in a live stream today. So the whole live stream was about an hour. I'm not going to show

00:02:57.820 you the full hour, but I'll tell you the story of what happened, and I'll take you through a court

00:03:03.400 ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada in 2019 that specifically deals with arresting someone whose

00:03:12.160 conduct is lawful because someone else might disturb the peace. Did you know the Supreme Court had a

00:03:18.260 unanimous ruling on the very thing that was used to arrest me? I'll take you through that.

00:03:22.240 So without further ado, here is my broadcast from the live stream today because, frankly,

00:03:27.860 I would just say the same thing again to you, and it's a good way to look at what

00:03:31.240 happened. I'll come back at the end with some final thoughts. Here, take a look at my weekend.

00:03:38.620 Well, hi, everybody. Ezra Levant here. I'm out of jail. I'm back in our world headquarters in Toronto.

00:03:44.660 I've been to jail before. In fact, I was in jail just a couple weeks ago visiting Tommy Robinson in HMP

00:03:49.940 Woodhill in the United Kingdom, but as I just mentioned, it was as a visitor. I have visited

00:03:55.200 people in jail before. It's very different being put in jail, and what is most surprising is being

00:04:01.920 put in jail for the offense of committing journalism, and that's what happened to me yesterday in my

00:04:07.900 hometown of Toronto. I was at home puttering, and I see out of the corner of my eye this absurd display

00:04:16.420 on the streets of my city that some pro-Hamas activists had reenacted the demise of Yahya

00:04:27.720 Sinwar, the head of Hamas. They sort of had, they recreated the scene. This is in a Jewish residential 0.95

00:04:34.360 neighborhood. It's not in front of an embassy. It's not in front of a political place. All these

00:04:40.280 Hamas extremists come into the heart of a Jewish residential neighborhood and set up this sort 1.00

00:04:45.100 of almost like a wax museum of anti-Semitic terrorists, and they have their flags and their 0.78

00:04:51.940 chanting, and yeah, there it is right there. Freeze there on that image. So that's supposed

00:04:59.440 to be Yahya Sinwar in a chair when he ended his life, and that's supposed to be blood, and you can

00:05:05.240 see they're all wearing masks in the Hamas way. So I see that on social media, and I say, that's insane.

00:05:13.980 And that is, no, that's not being pro-Palestinian now. That's being pro-Hamas. And I happen to know 0.96

00:05:21.040 that if you support the terrorist group Hamas in certain measurable ways, that's actually against

00:05:25.580 the law in Canada. And I know there's a ton of police there. So I went down just to take a picture

00:05:33.780 of that. I was going to make a point about it later, probably tweet about it.

00:05:38.880 And police physically shoved me away from that. They said, you can't, you can't take pictures of

00:05:47.740 that. You're too close to the pro-Hamas people, and that incites them to be excitable or whatever.

00:05:55.040 And I objected to that, but I wasn't about to fight him. I mean, a big cop pulling you away,

00:05:59.060 never fight with a cop, just some word to the wise. So they frog march me away from this display.

00:06:07.120 And they say, there's a journal, there's a free speech zone over there. If you want to do

00:06:11.540 journalism, go over there. Well, the journalism's over there, brother, but thanks for the tip.

00:06:17.300 No, you go over there. Well, you're not my editor. I'm a citizen. I'm a taxpayer. And the only reason

00:06:23.560 the Hamas people don't want me there is because I'm Jewish. And I know this because they say so. 1.00

00:06:28.740 This is not my conspiracy theory. They explicitly say so. They'll say so right now if you ask.

00:06:34.540 And then the top cop comes over and he says, I am the law. No, you're not. You're a servant of the

00:06:39.720 law. We live in a society that has the rule of law, not the rule of thin-skinned little Napoleons in a

00:06:46.400 uniform. And I said that. I said, no, I'm a Jew, but I still have the right to be on a sidewalk.

00:06:52.740 I'm a citizen. I'm actually a neighbor here, unlike these foreign provocateurs that we've 1.00

00:06:57.760 allowed on our streets for some reason. And he said, and he just sort of said, you're under arrest.

00:07:02.180 And without further ado, let me show you, I want to play for you. My friend, Efron Monsanto,

00:07:09.860 arrived shortly after I did. And he sort of saw the kerfuffle and he filmed most of it.

00:07:16.400 It's a seven-minute clip, but I think it's worth watching. Don't you think, Olivia?

00:07:21.000 Let's watch this seven-minute clip. This will catch you up on things. Now, the only downside

00:07:24.900 of this is, Efron, I don't think this has the audio from my microphone. So you won't be able

00:07:31.740 to hear everything I say. I don't know if we have a phone. That would be something to link up the audio

00:07:37.440 from my iPhone with this video. We can do that another time maybe. But take a look of what a very

00:07:44.900 momentous seven minutes and 48 seconds in my life was like. Take a look.

00:07:48.320 I'll take a look.

00:07:49.320 I'll take a look.

00:07:51.320 I'll take a look.

00:07:52.320 Make a look.

00:07:53.320 I'll take a look.

00:07:54.320 Let me go.

00:07:55.320 Stay back.

00:07:56.320 I'll take a look.

00:07:57.320 We've set the rules.

00:07:58.320 We've set the rules.

00:07:59.320 Instead of the community, we'll charge our rights. 0.68

00:08:02.320 We've shot that?

00:08:03.320 You're right after.

00:08:04.320 You're right after.

00:08:05.320 I've got to say the police.

00:08:07.320 Does your wife get a PR? 1.00

00:08:08.320 He's has a PR.

00:08:09.320 How do I know?

00:08:10.320 Has your wife got a PR?

00:08:11.320 I think you have.

00:08:12.320 I think you have.

00:08:13.320 I haven't.. I haven't.. I haven't.. I haven't..

00:08:14.320 I haven't.. I haven't..

00:08:15.320 I haven't..

00:08:16.320 I haven't..

00:08:17.320 He's falling for his wife's PR!

00:08:19.320 He's falling for his wife's PR!

00:08:20.320 Is she get it?

00:08:21.320 Is she not deported?

00:08:22.320 She's deported? 0.96

00:08:23.320 No, no, is your wife deported?

00:08:25.320 I don't want to arrest you!

00:08:28.320 I don't want to arrest you! 1.00

00:08:30.320 No, I want us to kill! 1.00

00:08:33.320 One of the.. 1.00

00:08:34.320 ..he's a permit on hard-selecting street!

00:08:37.320 There are Holocaust survivors here! 1.00

00:08:40.320 Stop terrorizing a piece of shit! 1.00

00:08:43.320 Do you see an area, sir? 1.00

00:08:44.320 No!

00:08:45.320 Where I say it's over you, it's immediate!

00:08:47.320 Right now, it's not safe!

00:08:49.320 Because you don't uphold the law! 1.00

00:08:51.320 So, do a piece of shit! 1.00

00:08:53.320 I'm sorry! 1.00

00:08:54.320 I'm sorry!

00:08:55.320 I'm sorry!

00:08:56.320 I'm sorry!

00:08:57.320 I'm sorry!

00:08:58.320 I'm sorry!

00:08:59.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:00.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:01.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:02.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:03.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:04.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:05.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:06.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:07.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:08.320 I'm sorry!

00:09:09.320 What're you doing?

00:09:22.320 What're you doing?

00:09:23.320 Wait!

00:09:24.320 Get them out! 0.99

00:09:25.320 Get them out! 0.99

00:09:28.320 Can you pause for a second?

00:09:52.580 So, that's great footage by Efron.

00:09:56.020 We can't hear a lot of it.

00:09:57.400 Let me tell you, I was sort of arguing with him.

00:09:59.380 And, Olivia, can you send a note to Efron?

00:10:01.280 What I'd like to do is I'd like to take the audio from my cell phone, which was recording from my earbuds, and combined it with that video.

00:10:08.800 Because I think what I was saying to the cop there may be of interest to viewers.

00:10:13.780 I was basically saying, on what basis are you limiting my ability to take photos and videos of a crime scene?

00:10:23.720 I mean, I'm not a fan of hate crimes.

00:10:26.240 I'm a fan of enforcing crime crimes.

00:10:29.280 What I mean by that is uttering a threat, mischief, vandalism, trespass, assault, all of which has happened in Toronto during the massive anti-Semitic crime wave for the last 13 months.

00:10:39.480 But there is on the books a number of hate crimes.

00:10:43.460 And I'm not really a fan of those because I believe in freedom of speech.

00:10:47.400 But the cops believe in those laws.

00:10:50.220 And yet they allow this bizarre, perverse, macabre celebration of a terrorist leader very specifically.

00:10:56.740 That is probably a hate crime.

00:11:00.560 It may even be supporting terrorism.

00:11:02.900 There's sort of four ways to support terrorism that are illegal.

00:11:06.180 I'm not going to get into that now.

00:11:07.800 So I was talking to the cop about that.

00:11:09.220 And he basically said, you're causing a disturbance.

00:11:16.840 I said, no, I'm not causing it at all.

00:11:18.880 I'm just standing on the sidewalk. 0.98

00:11:20.460 It's these maniacs, these feral foreign provocateurs that are causing the disturbance. 0.99

00:11:27.580 I'm just the path of least resistance. 0.95

00:11:31.120 And I said to him, and I don't know if you could hear that.

00:11:33.080 I said, you're basically saying that whoever has the most bullies, the police will abide them.

00:11:41.420 Because you're not enforcing the law.

00:11:43.740 You're just enforcing the mob.

00:11:45.880 Anyhow, keep playing from, I just wanted to explain what I was saying to that fella.

00:11:50.140 And Olivia, if it's possible to sync up the audio from my phone with the video from that camera,

00:11:56.420 I think that would be a very useful video to watch.

00:11:58.980 Anyhow, let's keep playing, because now I think you can hear some of what I was saying.

00:12:03.260 I'm trying to keep the peace.

00:12:04.580 No, you're not.

00:12:05.160 If you were trying to keep the peace, if anybody wants to get out on the bus,

00:12:08.940 if you want to be in their bidding, just stand over here.

00:12:11.740 I don't have to.

00:12:13.060 Canada is my police chief.

00:12:14.900 Sir, I understand that.

00:12:16.720 Okay?

00:12:17.460 But you're violating my charter rights.

00:12:19.600 That is inciting the potential for violence.

00:12:21.400 I haven't incited anything.

00:12:22.880 They have.

00:12:23.300 You're present in law.

00:12:24.380 And you have obeyed them.

00:12:25.620 So, again, here's where I want you to stand.

00:12:29.220 I know you want me to stand here, but you're not the law.

00:12:32.300 Well, I am the law.

00:12:33.280 No, you're not the law, sir.

00:12:34.940 You're a servant of the law.

00:12:35.980 You are not the law.

00:12:36.940 So now, if you want to interview anybody, they know they can come and talk to you.

00:12:40.300 I'm not interested in interviewing them.

00:12:41.900 I want to show the astonishing hate crime that you are protected. 1.00

00:12:46.980 What a coward you are, sir. 1.00

00:12:48.660 Run away, you little coward. 1.00

00:12:50.900 What a coward. 1.00

00:12:52.020 Holy cow. 1.00

00:12:54.020 I already have.

00:12:55.280 I've touched a lot.

00:12:55.900 You'll be gracing your tourist, though.

00:12:57.880 So, like I said to you before, we were here last week.

00:13:01.360 You had a designated area to stay in, and you agreed to stay in it.

00:13:05.680 I did not.

00:13:06.580 What are you talking about?

00:13:07.380 Well, absolutely.

00:13:08.460 Acting Inspector Ford told me they had a media area for you, and you guys stayed in it.

00:13:11.780 Can you stop for a second?

00:13:12.800 So that cop in the middle there on the left, his name is McDuff, and he wasn't there last

00:13:20.280 week, and he said, you had a media area, and you stayed in it.

00:13:23.720 We absolutely did not.

00:13:25.300 We went and we did our journalism for one reason only, because we had strength in numbers.

00:13:29.760 We had a dozen rebels from across the country who came in to stand with David Menzies.

00:13:33.700 So he is misinformed when he thinks we stayed in his media area.

00:13:39.300 The media area that I care about is called Canada, and I'm allowed to be on any public

00:13:45.780 sidewalk I like, especially in my own neighborhood, especially when it's a group of anti-Semitic

00:13:50.900 thugs.

00:13:52.300 And by the way, you'll notice that they are not restrained from coming right up next to 0.82

00:13:57.180 me.

00:13:57.940 So you have all these cops on me saying I'm inciting a disturbance.

00:14:02.280 But you'll notice all the, I mean, including there was a guy wearing a mask and a camera,

00:14:07.960 I presume it was someone recording for the Hamas side, you know, within a few inches of

00:14:14.100 me, and I didn't really care.

00:14:15.680 But my point is, the cops were not enforcing this keep the peace even-handedly.

00:14:22.700 They were just removing me.

00:14:25.180 And I was there as a journalist.

00:14:26.880 Rebel News is not religious.

00:14:28.680 It's not Christian or Jewish or anything. 0.63

00:14:30.140 It's just Rebel News.

00:14:30.760 I happen to be a Jew.

00:14:31.480 Most of our staff happen to be Christians.

00:14:34.500 But the reason the Hamas extremists were reacting to me is precisely because I am a Jew.

00:14:39.740 And I know that because they say so.

00:14:41.720 Because last week when I was there, they unfurled a dozen anti-Semitic epithets.

00:14:47.860 And again, I'm not, in my own world, that's not necessarily a crime.

00:14:51.820 In the world of the police, I think it might be.

00:14:55.380 But anyway, let's play that clip again.

00:14:57.560 I just wanted to give that context.

00:14:58.680 Let's watch.

00:14:59.300 We're halfway through the clip.

00:15:00.260 Let's watch some more.

00:15:01.900 Well, because it's not up to him to say you're a police-meet-stander.

00:15:04.680 Well, yeah, because you're inciting this crowd and then it reaches the peace.

00:15:09.520 Well, your presence is inciting them.

00:15:11.160 And that's exactly what you're trying to do.

00:15:12.760 Because I'm a Jew.

00:15:13.500 No, because you're trying to incite them.

00:15:14.820 I haven't tried to incite them.

00:15:15.960 I want you to take a picture of the hate crime that you're abiding.

00:15:18.460 Well, you've done it on the other side.

00:15:19.420 You didn't need to walk over here.

00:15:20.460 No, I wanted to go up.

00:15:21.840 Now I'm going to tell you to move over there. 1.00

00:15:23.760 And ultimately, I allowed you to take that video.

00:15:27.000 I allowed you to take that video.

00:15:27.880 Yeah.

00:15:28.020 So you're refusing to leave?

00:15:29.600 I'm refusing to leave.

00:15:30.680 Why?

00:15:31.460 Because I'm a Jew.

00:15:33.060 I'm a citizen.

00:15:34.220 And I'm your boss.

00:15:35.640 And I don't leave if you say Jews are the wrong way of the street.

00:15:37.580 Well, you know what?

00:15:38.320 In the interest of keeping peace here and public safety, you're under arrest for breach of

00:15:42.080 police.

00:15:42.140 Okay, pause right there.

00:15:43.020 Stop right there.

00:15:44.800 So let me say a few obvious things here, if you want to put me back on screen for a second,

00:15:49.360 Olivia.

00:15:51.600 At this point, I am far away from the display I went to photograph.

00:15:56.020 At this point, the police who sort of pulled me away had let me go, right?

00:16:02.180 Obviously.

00:16:03.320 So I was no longer near the display they wanted me away from.

00:16:07.900 The cop who pushed me away had concluded his little project of pushing me away.

00:16:12.640 And you can actually see there were no Hamas supporters around.

00:16:16.960 There was no disturbance to be caused.

00:16:19.920 The reason he arrested me is obvious.

00:16:22.400 Because I said, I'm a citizen.

00:16:24.980 I'm a Jew.

00:16:25.560 I have the right to be here on the streets.

00:16:27.060 I forget my exact word.

00:16:27.840 I said, and I'm your boss.

00:16:29.560 Which, of course, is true. 0.88

00:16:30.760 We have civilian oversight of police.

00:16:33.060 We don't live in a police state.

00:16:35.580 And that's when he said, I'm arresting you for breaching the peace.

00:16:40.400 But I wasn't breaching the peace.

00:16:42.040 I had been let go by the other officer.

00:16:44.280 We were far away from the zoning question.

00:16:46.940 There actually weren't any Palestinian activists, Hamas activists right nearby.

00:16:51.160 It was simply his own ego. 0.95

00:16:53.740 He's a bit of a thug, this Macduff. 1.00

00:16:55.360 He's a bit of a bully. 0.99

00:16:56.860 Do you see my point?

00:16:58.740 If they would have arrested me right near the display, I would not have been happy about it.

00:17:02.040 But at least their argument, you are near this display and that's upsetting people.

00:17:06.740 You know, on the face of it, it would have some credence, even though that's no excuse to violate my charter rights.

00:17:12.300 The cop on the right there had frog-marched me out and then let me go.

00:17:16.900 I was standing far away from things.

00:17:20.920 And I just, it was that cop's temper that said, you know what, I'll show this guy.

00:17:25.780 I'll arrest him.

00:17:26.420 Keep playing the tape.

00:17:27.020 I'm being arrested because I'm standing on the sidewalk in my city.

00:17:45.060 I'm a Jew who lives in this neighborhood and I'm being arrested because the police say that's the path of least resistance.

00:17:54.060 Do you have a scouting ?

00:17:57.100 Do you have a scouting or to flick?

00:17:58.680 You are out плох an inch, man.

00:18:01.600 Puff his meat.

00:18:06.840 Use the Shield.

00:18:11.480 Hey guys, come on.

00:18:13.420 Come on! 0.61

00:18:14.840 La-ala, la-ala, la-ala! 0.99

00:18:22.500 One thing, boy.

00:18:29.780 Including M φушки çərhua an böyle diyebdling. 0.56

00:18:33.640 Hosy ab SHation. 1.00

00:18:36.340 Lord, um Więcman, atmos 1.00

00:18:40.420 as for En pourquoi Sion.

00:18:44.420 I was arrested for standing on the streets because I'm a Jew, and they said I was causing a disturbance.

00:18:52.420 What kind of disturbance is that we're doing?

00:18:59.420 We got people calling to the staff.

00:19:02.420 Let's make the police call right here.

00:19:05.420 I'm Jack Barkivis, I have AM960.

00:19:11.420 I've been arrested by the police because I refused to get off the public sidewalk.

00:19:22.420 They said that I cannot be on the sidewalk because that, apparently, is a disturbance.

00:19:27.420 They said that by standing there, and I wasn't even interviewing anyone, they said that that was such a disturbance that I would be arrested.

00:19:34.420 And I think that's a little bit cowardly because arresting me, they know I'm not going to have a riot like there was last night in Montreal.

00:19:41.420 They know I'm going to go easily because I'm a law-riding Canadian.

00:19:44.420 They're afraid of the Hamas activists, and they're woke.

00:19:48.420 And Olivia Chow approves, and Doug Ford approves, and Justin Trudeau approves.

00:19:53.420 And so I am arrested for the first time in my life in my home city, the city where I pay taxes.

00:19:59.420 Because these people, and by these people I mean these police, have been instructed not to touch the hate crime.

00:20:06.420 I want to film the hate crime across the city.

00:20:09.420 They actually have reenacted Yahya Seymour's final moment.

00:20:14.420 That would be like having a Hitler recreation. 0.90

00:20:17.420 It would be like having someone dressed up as Hitler in a neighborhood where Holocaust survivors live. 0.98

00:20:24.420 They say that that is not a hate crime, and that for me to report on it is a crime.

00:20:29.420 I'm conscionable.

00:20:31.420 They are protecting Hamas supporters who are called for the murder of Jews. 0.73

00:20:35.420 They are, and because it was easier to arrest me than to arrest the Hamas thugs, that's what they've done. 0.91

00:20:42.420 In my own city, for the crime of journalism is a terrible labor.

00:20:47.420 Do you have anything to say, officer?

00:20:50.420 Officer, do you have anything to say?

00:20:53.420 You're on 960 AM.

00:20:55.420 Do you have anything to say?

00:20:57.420 Do you have to go?

00:20:59.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:00.420 That's right.

00:21:01.420 Keep fighting!

00:21:02.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:04.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:05.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:06.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:07.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:08.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:09.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:10.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:11.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:13.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:14.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:19.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:21.420 Let him go! 1.00

00:21:22.420 Yeah, and then I was put into a police car.

00:21:25.420 There's other clips out there.

00:21:26.420 My friend, Mayor Weinstein, had an excellent clip that shows me all the way to getting into the car.

00:21:31.420 And I was driven away to the police station, where I was removed from the police car, brought into a processing room, searched again, my belongings put in a Ziploc bag.

00:21:41.420 My shoelaces taken out of my boots and my hoodie, and I was put in a five foot by seven foot jail cell.

00:21:48.420 To my relief, it was clean.

00:21:50.420 David Menzies tells me some of the jail cells he's been put on are absolutely filthy.

00:21:55.420 I'm glad to say that wasn't the case here.

00:21:57.420 But it was just a plastic slab, which I guess would be a place to sit on or lie down on, and a toilet that on the top of it also had like a water fountain.

00:22:07.420 And I was just in there by myself.

00:22:10.420 There was a light, and then there was a bar door.

00:22:14.420 It was quite small.

00:22:16.420 It was sort of like being in a, in slightly bigger than a shower.

00:22:20.420 In fact, it had the same acoustics.

00:22:22.420 And I didn't have, they took my phone and my watch.

00:22:24.420 I didn't know what time it was.

00:22:26.420 You know, basically you're alone with your thoughts.

00:22:28.420 And for someone like me, who's really synchronized to their cell phone, it was, it was a little bit, you know, it wobbles you a bit.

00:22:37.420 What's going on?

00:22:38.420 What's happening outside?

00:22:39.420 Do people, what are people doing?

00:22:41.420 They saw me being arrested.

00:22:42.420 I hope someone out there is calling my lawyer.

00:22:45.420 They did.

00:22:46.420 I hope we're showing the film of my arrest.

00:22:48.420 We were.

00:22:49.420 I made three phone calls.

00:22:52.420 My first call was to our lawyer who was right on the file.

00:22:55.420 And she agreed with me.

00:22:56.420 This was absolute BS.

00:22:58.420 Talked to our Rebel News team just to confirm everything was afoot.

00:23:02.420 And it was.

00:23:03.420 And I also wanted to let them that I was fine in prison, in jail.

00:23:07.420 And I was fairly certain that I would be released because you could see I did absolutely nothing wrong.

00:23:11.420 And, you know, just causing a disturbance or whatever, it's not even in the criminal code.

00:23:17.420 And I don't know.

00:23:24.420 I mean, when you, when you don't have anyone else to talk to you, when you don't have a cell phone or a watch or email, time, you're unaware of how much time passes.

00:23:32.420 And of course, there's no interaction with anyone.

00:23:36.420 I'm just saying that it was uncomfortable to be in jail for a couple hours.

00:23:42.420 I can only imagine what it's like for someone like our friend Tommy Robinson, who's in prison in the United Kingdom for an 18 month sentence.

00:23:51.420 He'll probably serve nine months in solitary.

00:23:53.420 I can't imagine being by yourself for nine months, being locked up in a tiny cell like that for nine months.

00:24:00.420 I just can't imagine it.

00:24:02.420 I had three phone calls from jail and I really enjoyed the calls because it was my only interaction with humans.

00:24:09.420 I mean, the guards in the jail themselves were nice enough.

00:24:12.420 They had nothing to do with my arrest.

00:24:17.420 They were just the people I was dumped on.

00:24:19.420 But no, it was very interesting.

00:24:21.420 I knew I would be released with no consequences because what are they going to charge me with what?

00:24:28.420 But I think that I should not let it be.

00:24:31.420 I think I should sue.

00:24:32.420 And here's why.

00:24:34.420 This is the first time I've been arrested, but it's the sixth time that our reporters have been arrested in 2024.

00:24:43.420 In fact, just two weeks and one day ago at that exact corner, David Menzies was arrested by these same cops.

00:24:50.420 And they just do it again and again and again.

00:24:54.420 You can see there's no basis for my arrest.

00:24:57.420 Giving a veto to the Hamas crowd of who gets to be on the street or not, that's not the Canadian way. 0.75

00:25:04.420 And that won't hold up in court.

00:25:06.420 But you do that to me and here's what you do.

00:25:08.420 Number one, you humiliate me, handcuff me, frog march me in public.

00:25:12.420 And you see the braying and the cheering by those Hamas extremists. 0.77

00:25:16.420 They loved it.

00:25:17.420 I mean, the police were doing what they could only hope to do.

00:25:20.420 And maybe one day they will do that.

00:25:22.420 I mean, there's been a lot of violence.

00:25:24.420 Look at the riots in Montreal on Friday night.

00:25:27.420 So they're humiliating me and giving exuberant enthusiasm to the Hamas side. 1.00

00:25:33.420 Number two, they're taking me away.

00:25:34.420 They're stopping me from doing my journalism.

00:25:36.420 Stopping me from reporting on the actual hate crime that was going on there.

00:25:40.420 Number three, they're imposing costs on me.

00:25:43.420 Now, in the end, my consultation with the lawyer was brief because they let me go without charges.

00:25:49.420 But in the half a dozen arrests we've had this year, we've had to go to court, I don't know, five, ten times.

00:25:55.420 We've spent tens of thousands of dollars on legals just for David Menzies alone.

00:25:59.420 But there's one more thing this arrest does, and it moves the Overton window.

00:26:07.420 You know what that word means, the Overton window.

00:26:10.420 It's basically the window of possibilities.

00:26:13.420 Everything within the Overton window is thinkable.

00:26:16.420 Everything outside the Overton window is unthinkable.

00:26:20.420 So what I mean by that is, now we have to change our expectations of the country we're in.

00:26:26.420 The police are no longer neutral.

00:26:29.420 They have favorites, whether it's based on ethnicity or politics, I don't know.

00:26:34.420 But they're no longer neutral, are they?

00:26:36.420 You saw the two-tier policing, that's another way of saying it.

00:26:39.420 I was subject to one standard, but the pro-Hamas types were subject to another, lighter standard.

00:26:45.420 Even though many of them aren't even Canadian nationals.

00:26:49.420 There's a new sheriff in town, and it ain't the cops.

00:26:52.420 It's the Hamas extremists, for whom the cops act as concierge. 0.92

00:26:58.420 This is very demoralizing, and that's the point.

00:27:01.420 When these Hamas thugs do things like snarl traffic, like block important roads, 1.00

00:27:07.420 block Union Station subway in Toronto, block major roads and highways,

00:27:14.420 they're not doing that to persuade people.

00:27:16.420 They know that's extremely irritating.

00:27:19.420 They're doing that to show you who's dominant and who's submissive,

00:27:23.420 to teach you the new rules, which is that they call the shots and you obey.

00:27:30.420 The police follow their lead now, not the law.

00:27:33.420 So the arrest of me was about the Overton window as much as anything.

00:27:38.420 And it was about tamping down the one independent news company in Toronto,

00:27:45.420 and in some ways around the country, that's willing to call out these things.

00:27:50.420 So it was demoralizing from that sense.

00:27:52.420 But I'm not going to be demoralized, because I think the rebel way is when you're knocked down to get up,

00:27:57.420 brush the dust off yourself and get back to it.

00:28:00.420 And not just to get back to the journalism, but in this case to sue the Toronto Police Service and Officer McDuff.

00:28:06.420 You know, I want to show you a case, a legal case.

00:28:09.420 It's from our Supreme Court of Canada.

00:28:12.420 I only heard about this case yesterday because I, although, you know, frankly, I'm sort of surprised I haven't heard about it before,

00:28:23.420 because it's sort of up my alley.

00:28:25.420 And it's a case called Fleming versus Ontario.

00:28:32.420 And it's a Supreme Court case.

00:28:34.420 And I'm just calling it up on my screen.

00:28:36.420 And we've got it there for you too.

00:28:38.420 I'm going to read what's called the head notes.

00:28:41.420 We do that.

00:28:42.420 So I've got the same document open that you do.

00:28:44.420 And you scroll up a little bit more, up a little bit.

00:28:47.420 Yeah.

00:28:48.420 Perfect.

00:28:49.420 Right there.

00:28:50.420 And if you want to put that on the screen, I'll read through this.

00:28:52.420 So by the way, let me just tell you a little something about how Supreme Court rulings are published.

00:28:58.420 So the courts, the judges put their heads together and they have clerks and they sort of negotiate how they write this thing.

00:29:07.420 And scroll down a little bit, right to there.

00:29:09.420 Perfect.

00:29:10.420 And so they write a court ruling.

00:29:13.420 And in this case, the court ruling is, oh, I can't see how many pages long, but it's quite long as Supreme Court rulings are.

00:29:22.420 So there's a summary of the case called a head note.

00:29:26.420 And I'm going to read the head note because obviously I'm not going to read like a multi-page court ruling to you.

00:29:31.420 So you can see the case is called Fleming versus Ontario and it's from 2019.

00:29:39.420 So it's fairly recent.

00:29:41.420 You can see the names of the judges, Wagner, Abella, Moldaver, Cote, etc.

00:29:46.420 So this was an appeal from the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

00:29:50.420 So this case had ricocheted around Ontario and it was important enough that the Supreme Court thought they would weigh in on it.

00:29:57.420 So let me read the head notes.

00:30:00.420 Okay.

00:30:31.420 Whether police have common law power to address, to arrest someone acting lawfully in order to prevent apprehended breach of peace by others.

00:30:39.420 Okay.

00:30:40.420 That was sort of sentence fragments.

00:30:42.420 But you see, so Fleming didn't do anything wrong.

00:30:49.420 Other people were going to breach the peace if Fleming was there.

00:30:55.420 So cops arrest Fleming.

00:30:57.420 Well, maybe that ought to be my mental name.

00:31:00.420 Now I'm going to read a little bit more.

00:31:01.420 So again, this is still part of the head note.

00:31:03.420 Okay.

00:31:04.420 I'm not going to take too much time, but this is the top court in Canada.

00:31:07.420 This is binding on every cop in the country.

00:31:10.420 Let me read it to you.

00:31:13.420 Fleming was arrested while walking to a counter protest flag rally organized in response to Six Nations protesters occupation of a piece of crown land.

00:31:22.420 So this is in Ontario.

00:31:24.420 There's a dispute between indigenous folks and other folks about who gets to be on the land.

00:31:29.420 The police became aware of the flag rally in the months preceding it and had developed an operational plan given the contentious atmosphere in the community,

00:31:38.420 which had on numerous occasions culminated in violent clashes between the two sides.

00:31:43.420 There's some similarities here, aren't there?

00:31:45.420 The plan, including keeping protesters and counter protesters apart and flag rally counter protesters were informed that they were not allowed on the occupied property.

00:31:55.420 When the police spotted Fleming walking on the road, running along the occupied property, they headed toward him with the intentions of placing themselves between him and the entrance to the property to avoid the police vehicles.

00:32:07.420 Fleming stepped onto the occupied property, which appeared to cause a reaction in the group of protesters, some of whom began moving toward him.

00:32:14.420 An officer then approached Fleming and told him he was under arrest to prevent a breach of the peace.

00:32:19.420 When Fleming refused to drop the flag he was carrying, he was forced to the ground, handcuffed, placed in an offenders transport unit van, moved to a jail cell and released two and a half hours later.

00:32:28.420 Sounds familiar, although they didn't slam me on the ground.

00:32:31.420 The Crown eventually withdrew the charge of instructing a police officer, which had been laid against Fleming for resisting his arrest.

00:32:38.420 Fleming subsequently filed a statement of claims, so he sued the province and the police officers who had been involved in his arrest.

00:32:45.420 He claimed general damages for assault and battery, wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, as well as aggravated or punitive damages and damages for the violation of his rights.

00:32:54.420 This is the most important part here. Section 2B, that's freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of speech.

00:33:01.420 Section 7, 9, and 15. That 7 is, I think, due process 15 is equality. I forget section 9.

00:33:08.420 Fleming was successful at trial, but a majority of the Court of Appeals set aside the award of damages on the basis that the police had the authority at common law to arrest him.

00:33:16.420 The Court of Appeals ordered a new trial solely on the issue of excessive force.

00:33:20.420 Fleming appeals to the court on the issue of whether the police acted lawfully in arresting him and on whether a new trial should have been ordered on the question of excessive force.

00:33:29.420 Okay, so that's the head note, but just give me the next paragraph.

00:33:34.420 Held. So this is the result.

00:33:36.420 The appeal should be allowed and the trial judge orders restored.

00:33:40.420 Here's the takeaway. The following sentence is the summary of the entire case.

00:33:44.420 Fleming's arrest was not authorized by law, and there is no basis for intervening in the trial judge's conclusion that the province and the police were liable for battery for their use of force in unlawfully arresting him.

00:34:03.420 As a result, no new trial is needed on the issue of excessive force.

00:34:10.420 And I'm going to scroll down. There is a lot in the head notes, aren't there?

00:34:13.420 And again, this isn't actually written by the judges. These are summaries, so you don't have to read the whole huge thing.

00:34:19.420 Can you skip ahead to the words, as there is no common law power to arrest someone?

00:34:28.420 It's the very last paragraph. Yeah.

00:34:30.420 And let me just read this. Guys, I know I've taken up a lot of your time, but we're learning together.

00:34:34.420 I was actually unfamiliar with this court case until yesterday.

00:34:37.420 You'd think I would know it because it's really up my alley.

00:34:40.420 So let me, I'm going to read the last paragraph of what's called the head notes.

00:34:45.420 So this is basically the clerk summarizing the lengthy ruling that follows.

00:34:50.420 As there is no common law power to arrest someone who's acting lawfully in order to prevent an apprehended breach of the peace by others,

00:35:00.420 the police in this case did not have the lawful authority to arrest Fleming.

00:35:05.420 Well, hello. Did you see what happened to me?

00:35:08.420 I was not breaking the law.

00:35:10.420 There was a breach of the peace apprehended by others.

00:35:14.420 Other people were going to breach the peace.

00:35:16.420 I was doing nothing wrong and the cop arrested me.

00:35:18.420 He said so.

00:35:20.420 What's so amazing about my interaction yesterday, if I may,

00:35:23.420 is that the cops were narrating what they were doing because I was asking them the whole time.

00:35:27.420 It's not like I was standing there and they swooped in and arrested me.

00:35:32.420 And I said, hey, what's going on?

00:35:35.420 We had the conversation for minutes and minutes and minutes before they arrested me.

00:35:40.420 So I knew what was going on.

00:35:41.420 I knew it was exactly in their mind.

00:35:43.420 Because they told me.

00:35:45.420 You don't think that's going to be played in court?

00:35:47.420 Here, let me finish reading this.

00:35:49.420 The trial judge specifically found that Fleming had not done anything unlawful before being arrested.

00:35:59.420 There was no evidence before her that he had committed any offense in walking along the street, entering the occupied property or standing there with his Canadian flag.

00:36:08.420 Imagine arresting a guy for a Canadian flag.

00:36:11.420 That's where we are in Canada.

00:36:13.420 Nor was there evidence that he had himself been about to commit an indictable offense or a breach of the peace.

00:36:19.420 The province and the police have not sought to challenge that finding on appeal.

00:36:23.420 Nor have they cited or relied on any statutory power to arrest Fleming.

00:36:27.420 They rely entirely on a common law power to arrest someone who is acting lawfully in order to prevent an apprehended breach of the peace by other persons.

00:36:34.420 A power that does not exist.

00:36:36.420 That power does not exist.

00:36:39.420 Well, you know what that cop said?

00:36:41.420 I am the law.

00:36:42.420 No, you're not.

00:36:43.420 And it sounds like you need a judge to tell you that.

00:36:47.420 In light of this conclusion, a new trial on the issue of excessive force is not necessary.

00:36:51.420 As the police were not authorized the common law to arrest Fleming, no amount of force would have been justified for the purpose of accomplishing the task.

00:37:00.420 You know, in law school, they use Latin and they would say QED Quo De Erat Demonstrandum.

00:37:07.420 Just demonstrated the whole point there.

00:37:10.420 I know we spent a lot of time on that, but do you feel smarter?

00:37:13.420 Olivia, do you feel smarter about the law?

00:37:15.420 I do too.

00:37:16.420 And I, you know, I'm sort of embarrassed that I didn't know this case because it is sort of a case up my alley.

00:37:24.420 Because we have been arrested time and again because someone else is getting excitable.

00:37:30.420 Fleming versus Ontario, 2019 Supreme Court of Canada case could not be clearer.

00:37:36.420 You cannot arrest someone who's not breaking any law just because someone else might breach the peace because of them.

00:37:45.420 You can't victim blame.

00:37:47.420 And it sounds like that was a unanimous ruling.

00:37:53.420 We've just walked through this case together.

00:37:55.420 The head notes.

00:37:56.420 Obviously, I'm not going to read a multi-page ruling.

00:38:00.420 Those are the official head notes of the Supreme Court of Canada.

00:38:04.420 Do you have any doubt that I was wrongfully arrested?

00:38:07.420 Now, I'm glad I wasn't thrown to the ground, but you heard that last sentence there.

00:38:12.420 Because there was a false arrest, no amount of force is justified.

00:38:17.420 Right?

00:38:18.420 And I'm not going to overly dramatize the bruises on my wrist, but I want to tell you that hurts.

00:38:25.420 I mean, I wasn't crying.

00:38:27.420 And the longer you have those things on, it really starts to get at you.

00:38:32.420 And why did they handcuff me in the first place?

00:38:35.420 Did they think I was going to...

00:38:37.420 I'm a 50-year-old man.

00:38:39.420 And some say I'm in tip-top shape, but I wouldn't know who would say such a thing.

00:38:44.420 What did they think I was going to do?

00:38:46.420 Attack the cops?

00:38:48.420 Seriously, why was I handcuffed?

00:38:50.420 Other than to humiliate me.

00:38:53.420 Did they think I was going to run away?

00:38:55.420 You know, I mean, it's just so absurd.

00:38:58.420 There was no reason to handcuff me at all.

00:39:01.420 And they kept the handcuffs on in the back of the police car.

00:39:03.420 What did they think I was going to do back there?

00:39:06.420 So did you catch that line in Fleming versus Ontario?

00:39:09.420 Because the arrest was illegal, no amount of force is justified.

00:39:16.420 QED, my friends.

00:39:21.420 Well, what do you think of all that?

00:39:23.420 You know, what I really objected to was that a cop was doing the will of the Hamas thugs. 0.98

00:39:29.420 Because they objected to me because I'm Jewish. 0.61

00:39:31.420 So the cop said, yeah, okay, well, your presence here is disqualifying

00:39:36.420 because you will cause them to have a hissy fit.

00:39:39.420 That's just not how it works here in Canada.

00:39:41.420 And it's pretty gross that Canada's largest police force is abiding by that.

00:39:45.420 That's our show for today.

00:39:47.420 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters,

00:39:51.420 I'm here to see you at home. Good night.

00:39:53.420 And keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - November 26, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Toronto police vetoes our Charter rights in favour of pro-Hamas thugs

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