Some charges dropped in Indigo protest because of reparations, guilty pleas: Crown

Police maintain a presence as protesters gather outside an Indigo store in Toronto, on Thursday November 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — Crown prosecutors say their decision to withdraw charges against three people accused of defacing a downtown Indigo bookstore in a 2023 protest was not based on a lack of reasonable prospect of conviction.

Rather, the Crown says the charges were dropped Thursday because the three have made reparations and “the most culpable individuals” in the larger group of accused entered guilty pleas in the case.

Eleven people faced criminal charges after the Indigo store was postered and splashed with red paint in what Toronto police described at the time as “suspected hate-motivated offences,” and the charges against seven accused have since been dropped.

Indigo founder and chief executive Heather Reisman, who is Jewish, has been a target of protests over a foundation she started with her husband that offers scholarships to people with no family ties in Israel who served in that country’s military.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and other organizations have denounced the Indigo protests as antisemitic — an allegation denied by protesters and their supporters, who accused authorities of trying to silence pro-Palestinian activism.

Toronto police say the bookstore defacement caused harm and fear within the community, pointing to the four guilty pleas entered in the case as a “clear message.”

“Criminal behaviour — regardless of motive — has consequences,” police said in a statement Friday.

“Acts of vandalism and targeted intimidation are not protected forms of expression; they are criminal offences that have real and lasting impacts on our communities.”

Toronto lawyer Arash Ghiassi has said that while two of the accused pleaded guilty on Thursday, they will be seeking absolute discharges from the court, which were granted to two others who previously entered guilty pleas.

He said an absolute discharge means no jail sentence and no criminal record for the individual.

Ghiassi suggested at a news conference Thursday that the Crown only agreed to drop charges against three members of the group because lawyers had previously filed a “detailed court application over the heavy-handed and unlawful police investigation in this case.”

But in its statement issued through Toronto police, the Crown says it withdrew the charges because those three people have “made reparations to the community by way of charitable donations, combined with the fact that the most culpable individuals of the group have accepted responsibility for their actions by way of a guilty plea.”

In dropping charges against four other members of the group last year, the Crown had cited the lack of a reasonable prospect of conviction.

Toronto police say it was a “challenging and complex case.” They have argued that arrests were justified, saying in past statements that they carried out “judicially authorized” search warrants as part of the investigation.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs expressed disappointment about the dropped charges in a statement.

“Canadians rightly expect that those who break the law will be held accountable. When our justice system fails to do so, it only undermines public confidence in authorities. That’s certainly what our Jewish community will take away from the decision to drop multiple charges in this case,” the organization’s vice-president Michelle Stock said.