Given the serial embarrassments associated with hosting leaders of the world’s most developed economies, it’s a wonder that many nations are still keen to take on that task.
Toronto not only embraced the idea, it looked at the summit as a global showpiece, a tool of economic development and a tourist magnet.
It hosted the G-20 summit for two days in June 2010, and we are still paying for it in hard costs and reputations tarnished.
Shortly before the summit opened, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair announced that the policing price tag would be $122 million.
Of that total, $82 million was allocated to pay salaries for police officers — 3,500 from Toronto and 1,600 from out of town, including a prominent Mountie from Red Deer. About 900 civilians were also brought in to help plan and manage the event.
Another $40 million was allocated for services and equipment, Blair said.
Every last dime of those costs was paid by the federal government, which is to say by you and me.
If there was any enduring return on that huge investment, it’s well hidden, other than as a template on what not to do. The anticipated glow of publicity for Toronto the Good hosting the world’s most prominent and influential government leaders did not materialize.
What we saw on that weekend was a global embarrassment.
It contained elements of paralyzed ineptitude and zealous overreach.
The weekend attracted thousands of people with a range of motivations.
Some were garden-variety thugs, bent on making trouble.
Others were political activists, intent on exercising their legal rights to march and carry banners peacefully.
Some were curious, innocent citizens, out to witness a public spectacle unfolding.
They saw more than they expected.
Anarchists were allowed to set vehicles on fire while police officers stood idly by, awaiting instructions.
On the other hand, television cameras also showed police officers illegally restraining citizens whose rights to gather and march peacefully were egregiously denied. Some police officers described a commanding officer’s behaviour as “maniacal.”
Some cops removed their name tags so they could not be easily identified on video, performing crude, cruel or illegal acts that they could not possibly defend. Hundreds of peaceful citizens who had done nothing wrong were surrounded by police and detained for hours without shelter in a driving rainstorm.
People had property unlawfully seized and searched with no legal justification or warrants.
One woman had her brassiere confiscated as a “weapon.”
Other people were detained and penned together for hours with no proper washrooms or toilet paper.
More than 1,000 people were arrested that weekend. Almost all were released without ever being charged.
The full number will never be known because police did not keep accurate records.
For an event that was scheduled years in advance, the execution of that plan was staggeringly inept.
A report this week by Ontario’s independent police watchdog details these egregious behaviours and more.
It said police used excessive force, held citizens illegally and violated their civil rights. The report offers 42 recommendations on how things could have been done better.
The 300-page report was written by Gerry McNeilly, Ontario’s director of Independent Police Review.
With an event as big the G-20 summit, you know the anarchists, hell raisers and thugs are going to show up and show off. But you would not expect, and cannot condone, some of the worst offences coming from out-of control peace officers.
The host nation’s fundamental goals should be to give world leaders the space and security to properly do their job of co-ordinating the global economy. Staging the event in the centre of the nation’s largest city made security a nightmare and the grim consequences of poor planning almost inevitable.
If there are enduring lessons from Toronto’s G-20, it’s that police need to obey the laws too and that being the host is no bargain.
Canada hosted the G-8 summit — a much smaller, more manageable affair — in Kananaskis Country in 2002 and the G-20 in 2010.
Why not give all the other partners a chance?
Eighteen years from now, in 2030, we should have a thick dossier of notes on what to do and what to avoid from other host cities. We may be ready to take another turn at the wheel then, with a commitment to arrest scofflaws and respect the rights of peaceful, innocent citizens.
By then, we should also be thoroughly disabused of any smug hopes that it will be an economic generator and select a venue that can be easily policed.
Joe McLaughlin is the retired former managing editor of the Red Deer Advocate.