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EDITORIAL

The good, the bad and the rowdy

June 23, 2003

Interesting indeed that Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) leader John Clarke would blame "political motivation" for having to face a second trial on charges of inciting a riot at Queen’s Park that caused painful injuries to man and beast.

"We’ve always regarded this as politically motivated," Clarke said. "It’s now reached the point of political vendetta."

Following two months of testimony and five days of deliberation, a mistrial was declared on May 11. It all started when a single juror was dismissed for stress-related medical reasons. Then eight of the remaining 11 jurors announced to the judge that they did not want to continue.

Charges against Clarke stem from his having been charged with allegedly inciting a nasty riot at Queen’s Park on June 15, 2000. The riot caused thousands of dollars of damage to the legislature. At the end of the day, dozens of demonstrators, 42 police officers, and nine police horses had been injured.

Nor was Clarke the only OCAP member to be angered when Crown Attorney Vincent Paris said there would be a second trial.

Charges against OCAP members Gaetan Heroux, 47, and Stefan Pilipa, 27, were stayed, and the conditions of their bail--including a ban on communicating with Clarke and participating in public demonstrations--were lifted.

Outside the courtroom, the activists soon forgot their relief at having been released, and were telling reporters about their disgust with the scheduled retrial of their friend and fellow activist.

Now there’s gratitude for you.

"They’re saying that OCAP is a criminal organization," Pilipa lamented.

Well if the justice system has yet to prove OCAP as criminal, the union-backed organization is one that strikes fear in the heart. OCAP members have shown up at the doors of the homes of individual citizens perceived as their enemies; have bullied their way into meetings at City Hall, and have boldly trashed the offices of at least one elected official.

What all this has done to improve the lot of the genuine homeless is unknown. When police broke up an OCAP park sit-in, Clarke, home in his bed had to be roused by a colleague’s cell phone. Rowdy, traffic stopping poverty activists have walked right past the homeless on some of their marches, and the smell of their open air fish fry wafting from barbecues at Allan Gardens must have been tantalizing to the derelict men sleeping on steps and hallways just around the corner.

Perhaps it’s time for Toronto Free Press to resurrect OCRAP (Ontario Coaliton Really Against Poverty.

Defiant to the end, Clarke said OCAP would fight the charges "legally and politically" through the courts and demonstrations.

Facing off with Brendan Crawley, a communications officer with the Attorney-General’s office, the newly released Pilipa was soon making demands: "You’re wasting time and wasting money prosecuting people who are simply activists. If you’re looking for criminals, you can look within your own Tory party."

Violence is violence and being a simple activist doesn’t qualify it as otherwise.