I’ve been reflecting a bit on the direct actions for social and ecological justice that I’ve been a part of over the years that have shaped me as a human being. Here are some ‘snapshot’ memories of many of them:
Student Days of Action – Toronto, ON – February 7, 1996. This was my very first protest and my first day meeting folks at the Student Christian Movement, a group that I discovered because they were a Christian ministry that had brought Noam Chomsky to campus to speak. It was focused on tuition increases under the Mike Harris regime and was quite radicalising – given that a large group of us we broke through the front doors of the Provincial Legislature and occupied it for a short time. Some of the organisers, if I recall, were charged with ‘Intimidating a Legislature’.
Metro Days of Action – Toronto, ON – October 26, 1996. This one was huge, albeit pretty calm and broad-based, with strong union support. It was protesting the neoliberal policies of Mike Harris. It’s not at all about celebrity to be sure, but 23-year old me particularly remembers the sets from two of my musical heroes of the time, Bruce Cockburn and Billy Bragg, playing their best political songs. Call It Democracy.
George Bush Honorary Degree at Uof T – Toronto, ON – November 19, 1997. My office, as SCM Chaplain was in UofT’s Hart House where the degree to George, Sr. was being granted. We were kicked out by the US Secret Service but we cheekily hung an upside down US flag in protest (it was removed, go figure). Without any intentional attempt to provoke, I was hit by a police baton and almost trampled by a horse in the crowd. I remember a pile of tenured professors, including the great Ursula Franklin, walked out in protest.
Sword and Cross Action – Toronto, ON – Good Friday, April 2, 1999. The late Rev. Dan (Don) Heap and Fr. Bob Holmes (aka ‘Hobo’) are two of my social justice heroes. I was honoured to be a small part of the liturgy and protest in front of St. Paul’s Anglican in Toronto, when Dan and Hobo attempted to pry the sword of the war memorial of commemorating the Military Unit that Dan had fought with in WWII. They believed (as do I) that a sword on a cross is heretical. Hobo was our priest in the Catholic Worker and did amazing presence with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Gaza and elsewhere – and I was arrested with him at the Downsview action (see below). In elementary school, I came across a photo of Dan in a time-life history of Canada, where he was in his clericals protesting Vietnam – exposing me to radical Christianity for the first time. He had later been an NDP MP. I remember him telling me how his parish church did the Eucharist all wrong (a political radical, but a liturgical traditionalist).
Protest at the Cardinal’s Dinner – Granite Club, Toronto, late 1990s. I can’t remember when this one was – and I think we were protesting homophobic statements by the Catholic hierarchy (perhaps the Cardinal himself). It was at the posh private Granite Club and my main memory is of the manager of the club coming out to talk with us, confused, asking why we were protesting when they’d been letting Jews in for decades (early 1960s, my research tells me) (!)
Homes Not Bombs Mackenzie Street Bridge –Transforming the War Dept. into the Housing Dept. – Ottawa, ON – November 12, 1999. This was my first action to intentionally risk arrest. There was rigorous non-violent training and a strong commitment to non-violence, which is why I participated. There were 54 of us arrested as we turned the Mackenzie Street Bridge during rush hour into a living room in front of the Canadian Forces (DND) offices to protest a raise in military spending and a cut in housing. I spent the night in a jail on Bank Street. I was a staff associate youth minister in the United Church in the Beach at that time, and Rob Oliphant, a minister, friend (and now a Liberal Member of Parliament) informed the UCC Presbytery I had been charged, which resulted in a suspension of my ministry until I had a church trial. The Presbytery eventually affirmed my action (the Secretary did so very begrudgingly and gave me a lecture about how things are done in the UCC) and the Ministry and Personnel committee of the congregation passed a motion affirming any future non-violent civil disobedience I would be involved in. Eventually, all charges were dropped.
The Times They Are A Changing Bank of Montreal Teach-ins – Toronto, ON – late 1999 (?). I can’t remember the exact date, but I think it was late 1999. This was my first or second exposure to the Toronto Catholic Worker Community, which I would later join. We started at the old United Church neighbourhood house where the Worker had their bakery and headed to the bank. The Bank of Montreal had just decided to use the Bob Dylan song in their ads. We first occupied the Parkdale branch of BMO, and handed out flyers – and then processed to the head office at King and Bay. There, we also sang the Times they Are A Changin’ and handed out information on Credit Unions as an alternative to traditional corporate banking. Very peaceful, fun, joyful.
IMF and World Bank – Washington, DC – late December 1999. This was organized with Christian Peacemaker Teams and we managed to successfully shut down the IMF and World Bank headquarters on the eve of the (Y2K!) millenium for a few hours. As the (non)apocalypse approached, we prayed and sang songs in the entranceways. It ended up resulting in a meaningful meeting with their spokespeople – who happened to be a Jesuit priest, if I recall. I talk about this one a bit at the beginning and end of this sermon. I can also remember crossing over the US-Canada border in the Catholic Worker van with close the SOA bumper sticker on it. The border guard asked Jim Loney, the driver, what that meant (see below). Jim explained and the border guard said “our government does that – you go right on through”. I’m pretty sure the Holy Spirit was with us that day.
OCAP Riot – Toronto, ON – June 15th, 2000. Another brutal and scary one with a riot provoked by the Toronto police who viciously turned the horses on the crowds. It was nasty and bloody and got pretty aggressive. My take is that was the result of bad policing, although OCAP were known to be pretty militant as well.
All Out for Mumia – Philidelphia, PA – April 23-25, 2021. This one had a festive, creative feel to call for the release of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. I remember staying at a punk / Food Not Bombs house and making loads of food and marching with Tom and Zach from Rage Against the Machine and lots of great music.
Homes Not Bombs Die-In at Downsview Military Base – Downsview, ON – March 24, 2003. This was a Catholic Worker and HNB action against the Iraq war. We chalked the Nuremberg Principles on a decommissioned tank and played dead and were arrested. I can remember singing hymns (Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty) with Hobo/Fr. Bob Holmes (see sword and cross action, above) in the very reverberating North York jail cell. For a while, as a condition of release, I was banned being within 500 metres of a Canadian military (DND) facility, making it functionally impossible to be in downtown Toronto. Eventually, all the charges were dropped.
Quebec City FTAA/WTO protests – Quebec City, QC – April 20-22, 2001. This one was massive – and scary. I got tear gassed, pepper sprayed and ‘kettled’ more than any other time in one of the big globalisation protests of the time. There’s some great video of this on the Toronto Video Activist Collective youtube page, including one of me getting pepper sprayed. The combo of Quebec Black Bloc (anarchists) and Quebecois police made this one really intense. But it was huge and broad based and the energy of activism of the time – before it would all change 6 months later with 9/11 – was incredible. This was kind of the final breath before activism changed forever.
Close the SOA (WHISC) – Ft. Benning, GA – November 2002? 2003? 2006. I did this three times – first in the early 2000s and the last being in 2006, when I met my amazing first wife, Meagan. Started by a few Jesuit priests who had lost lots of clergy in their order to killings by trainees of the SOA/WHISC – and eventually growing into 10s of 1000s of people gathering each November to protest the US Army base that was responsible for training the folks responsible for the deaths of so many – mostly in Latin America. The giant puppets, creativity, the powerful ‘presente! litany, the massive Jesuit Mass – maybe the largest worship I’ve ever been at. And I know it’s not about music or celebrity, but it was cool to see the Indigo Girls, Pete Seeger, Bruce Cockburn as well as march with Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen. Along the way we visited Koinonia Farm, Open Door Community and a beautiful Roman Catholic Parish in Detroit.
You’ll notice a ‘lull’, here, between 2007 and 2018 as I got married (2007), had twins (2010) and moved to BC (2012). I continued to attend rallies and events for justice – including BLM, Womens’ Marches and Indigenous solidarity gatherings, but was intentionally focusing on being dada and spouse, going to seminary, establishing intentional communities and rooting in spiritual practices which would give an ongoing foundation for this kind of work.
Kinder Morgan Pipeline protests – Burnaby, BC – April 28, 2018. Some members of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (including Will George, who wrote the letter to us) had asked religious leaders to come and risk arrest at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline actions. I was one of 7 that day who risked arrest, including Céline Chuang , Barry Morris and others. This is the statement I read in court. I pleaded guilty and was fined $3000 – all of which was made up by unsolicited donations – almost down to the penny. After having bear grease applied to our cheeks as ‘honorary Tsleil-Waututh warriors’, I was arrested in my clericals reading from the Psalms. Notably, this was my first direct action risking arrest as a parent – and my then 8-year old daughter had a bit of a panic attack watching me be escorted away by the RCMP, bringing me pause to consider the effect of these kinds of actions on my children. My Bishop at the time, +Logan McMenamie, told me he’d be willing to testify to the court that this was part of my job description as clergy if it came down to it.
Wet’suwet’en Solidarity BC Legislature Shut Down – Victoria, BC – February 11, 2020 . As I locked arms with other protestors, police officers came from behind and kicked my (and others’) feet out from underneath me and pushed me to the ground – which was nothing compared to what so many Wet’suwet’en youth and elders – especially those youth who were amazing leaders in that movement – had gone through.
Back to the Beginning. pre-1993… I should note (and I’ve never said this publicly before) that all of this direct action stuff started with a Bell Canada sponsorship of my high school, Nelson High, in Burlington, ON. One day, a big “Bell” logo showed up on the sign of the school – an early expression of corporate sponsorship (to benefit the music department, I believe). A friend and I snuck out late one night with grey spray paint and covered over the logo on one side (notably, as a Halton Police car passed and we ducked to the ground). Until quite recently, that greyed-out sign was still there. Of course, we suburban kids would also do adbuster-inspired anti-corporate graffiti on bus shelters and take up whole lanes of traffic on our bikes, as we were legally entitled to do. I’m not saying it was all mature, but it sure was empowering.