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1. I just watched Supt. Sinopoli's press conference here: https://www.cp24.com/news/etobicoke-restaurant-owner-facing-new-charges-for-again-defying-covid-19-lockdown-rules-1.5205287
He says he received an "order" from @epdevilla under the Health Protection Act to seize @adamsonbarbecue. But she has no such power under the law; she has to go to a judge to get an order. Did she? https://twitter.com/TPSOperations/status/1332066819029553155
He says he received an "order" from @epdevilla under the Health Protection Act to seize @adamsonbarbecue. But she has no such power under the law; she has to go to a judge to get an order. Did she? https://twitter.com/TPSOperations/status/1332066819029553155
2. To be accurate, Supt. Sinopoli says @epdevilla "ESSENTIALLY giving us her power" under the act. What does that mean? Can we see this "order" please? Is @epdevilla a judge now?
3. Here's a copy of the Health Protection Act: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h07 Police are mentioned in only two cases -- arresting a "Typhoid Mary"-type superspreader under s. 35, and having access to a locked premises under s. 43. Neither apply to your 100-cop SWAT-style raid.
4. Even if you used those two sections, @epdevilla does not have that power. She has to go to a real court to ask the judge for a warrant. Only a judge can then direct the police to enforce her will. Did you in fact go to court? Again: can we see this "order" please?
5. Who made the decision to send in all the king's horses and all the king's men? Was that an operational decision made by @TPSOperations or was that a political spectacle ordered up by @epdevilla or @JohnTory? On what operational grounds do you justify such a shocking display?
6. Under what legal authority does an unelected, unaccountable public health bureaucrat -- not a policeman, not a judge -- command the largest police force in Canada to roll out the riot squad? What is your legal basis for listening to a bureaucrat's unilateral "orders"?
This photo, taken by Joe Warmington, appears to show the legal basis for shutting down @adamsonbarbecue: a section 13 public health order:
You can read s. 13 for yourself, here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h07#BK16
Read s. 14, too though. It outlines what the government can do if someone like Adam Skelly simply refuses to comply with the order.
Read s. 14, too though. It outlines what the government can do if someone like Adam Skelly simply refuses to comply with the order.
Here is the full list of things that @epdevilla can do under the law. You’ll notice, the word “police” is nowhere in there. Neither is “riot police” or “police horses”.
Basically, @epdevilla can put up signs, disinfect things & take away infected things. This is what you'd use if you found, say, a house with a bunch of rats in it with rabies. There's nothing in the law about police, or raiding a man's restaurant and seizing it or arresting him.
If there is a source of authority I'm missing, let me know, @TPSOperations @torontopolice @johntory @jamesramertps. But Supt. Sinopoli clearly said it was an "order" under the Health Protection Act. I simply don't believe that such an order exists, or if it does, that it's valid.
Unless there is another source of authority for this raid, it is illegal. It is beyond the power of a health bureaucrat to order the police to do anything. And it is illegal for the police to take invalid orders from any bureaucrat or politician.
The Health Protection Act specifically requires health bureaucrats to go to a judge to get a warrant. If she skipped that because she didn't want to go through due process, and just wanted an immediate political show of force, that's abuse of process and abuse of office.
There was clearly massive political pressure on the police to do something, anything. So much so, that someone (who?) in the city felt compelled to put out a press release scolding the mayor for ordering the police to do his errands: https://twitter.com/jpags/status/1331783155657940992
Was yesterday's 6 a.m. police raid and door-locking in fact an act of trespass and mischief by police officers doing an illegal political errand under the colour of law? Was their arrest of Adam Skelly in fact an assault and false arrest and false imprisonment?
I don't know. Perhaps Supt. Sinopoli can release a copy of this order that he received from, not a judge, but from the mayor's hand-picked health bureaucrat. The miraculous order that saw the biggest police operation since the G20. I mean, if it's legit, we can see it, right?
