Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw to talk about a pro-Palestine protest one day before the protest was shut down, government documents confirm.
Access to information documents obtained by Rebel News show that Trudeau had met with Demkiw to discuss, in part, a pro-Palestine protest on a Toronto highway overpass in a Jewish area, which had garnered national media attention.
The meeting raises questions about whether Trudeau influenced or encouraged a particular police response, which would jeopardize the independence of the Toronto Police Service.
In late December, a pro-Palestine demonstration emerged on the Avenue Road and the 401 highway overpass, close to a neighborhood with a significant Jewish population.
The demonstration was roundly condemned, however the police did not take action to bar demonstrators from protesting on the Avenue Road bridge for several weeks, until the day after Demkiw’s meeting with Trudeau.
In fact, the police were captured handing a box of Tim Hortons coffee to pro-Palestine protesters at the behest of those who could not reach the main demonstration.
Trudeau met with Demkiw Jan. 10 to discuss rising antisemitism, as described by Trudeau in a post on X.
In heavily redacted access to information documents obtained by Rebel News, the prime minister’s staff had specifically mentioned the protest at Avenue and 401 as a topic for Trudeau and Demkiw to discuss in their meeting.
“We are looking to chat about rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia and the protests on Avenue and 401,” reads an email from a Prime Minister’s Office staffer to Demkiw’s office.
The day after Trudeau and Demkiw held their meeting, Toronto police issued a ban on any demonstrations on the Avenue Road bridge.
Demkiw argued that the situation had escalated and that the demonstrations posed a threat to public safety and the surrounding Jewish community.
True North reached out to Prime Minister Trudeau for comment, though no response was received.
Rebel News’ Sheila Gunn Reid said it is inappropriate for the prime minister to insert himself into local policing matters, even if she supports the dismantling of the Avenue Road bridge protest.
“It looks like the Toronto police were waiting for permission from their political masters to finally do something. They were seeking permission, maybe approval from Trudeau who has no business injecting himself into the day-to-day policing of cities and towns in this country,” said Reid.
