Leora smith (@Leora_smith) header
Leora smith (@Leora_smith) profile picture

Leora smith

@Leora_smith

Lawyer to courageous people. Also a writer. Co-Director of @cjc_TO. Stories w @Propublica @TheAtlantic @NYTmag & CBC, @Harvard_Law alum

 Toronto
cjclaw.org/
Joined September 2012
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11Media
Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)Photo by Leora smith (@Leora_smith)
Cops in Madrid call the fire brigade to open the door to a house whose inhabitants were supposed to be evicted. The fire brigade workers refuse. "We rescue people, not banks". Winner of the working class hero award for today!
Sindicato Vivienda Tetuán (@SVTetuan) profile pictureSindicato Vivienda Tetuán@SVTetuan24 Jun 2022
En el intento de desahucio de hoy, la policía ha llamado a los bomberos para abrir la puerta que ellos eran incapaces de abrir. Los bomberos se han negado a intervenir. Hay trabajos y trabajos. ✊🏽
Image from Sindicato Vivienda Tetuán (@SVTetuan)
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A reminder in this extremely cold winter morning that Khaleel Seivwright, a literal Canadian hero, tried to build tiny homes for our unhoused community members but @JohnTory & and the city of Toronto stopped him.
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Leora smith retweeted
A.C.E.S. (@ACES_thatsus) profile picture
A.C.E.S.@ACES_thatsus14 Jan 2022
Khaleel was criminalized for building a stop gap measure for people who otherwise would have frozen to death or caught COVID. The city said that the Tiny Shelters were a fire hazard and the city had to avoid liability. But why isn't the city liable when people die in the cold?
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Thread. This week, the New York Times's recent dangerous reporting on "crime" reached a new low. I try to document what happened carefully below, because what happens to the leading newspaper in the U.S. has effects on how we all get information about the world.
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Leora smith retweeted
Jeff Gray (@jeffreybgray) profile picture
Jeff Gray@jeffreybgray13 Oct 2021
One protester charged with possession of a weapon allegedly had a bottle of water mixed with milk, which she had been using to clear police pepper spray from other protesters’ eyes. Police described it as “some type of unknown white liquid.” #TOpoli theglobeandmail.com/canada/a…
Toronto encampment protesters decry ‘political’ charges

Toronto encampment protesters decry ‘political’ charges

Lawyers for Toronto park encampment protesters want allegations arising from summer park clearings dropped, accuse police of Charter violations

theglobeandmail.com
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Toronto multi-family listings often highlight when a building’s rents are below market rates, signalling to potential buyers that revenues can be increased if existing tenants are pushed out. Getting rid of tenants is the only way to "reposition" a building or close "rent gaps".
Image from RenovictionsTO (@renovictions)
Image from RenovictionsTO (@renovictions)
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On Jan. 1st, 2022, @fordnation will allow landlords to be able to raise the rent on rent-controlled units by 1.2%. Yet, @fordnation only increased the minimum wage by 0.007% on Oct. 1st. Pretty clear whose welfare is important in this scheme. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/10…
Ontario rent freeze expires on Jan. 1

Ontario rent freeze expires on Jan. 1

Landlords of rent-controlled units can raise rent 1.2 per cent provided tenants who have occupied their units for 12 months or more are given 90 days’ notice.

thestar.com
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Leora smith retweeted
A.C.E.S. (@ACES_thatsus) profile picture
A.C.E.S.@ACES_thatsus2 Oct 2021
“Of the three major parks that were cleared one of them [Alexandra Park] didn’t involve any protesters and therefore didn’t involve any police.” -@JohnTory Photos: Alexandra Park on eviction day
Image from A.C.E.S. (@ACES_thatsus)
Image from A.C.E.S. (@ACES_thatsus)
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From @JohnTory: “I think the traditional inquiry is an entirely inappropriate thing to do here. It suggests some wrongdoing on the part of our public servants who work so hard, including the police by the way.” The Mayor does not think this resembles "wrongdoing."
Image from Diana Chan McNally (@DianaCMcNally)
Image from Diana Chan McNally (@DianaCMcNally)
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My partner was followed, tackled, and wrongfully arrested by plainclothes police after attending an anti-homelessness press conference a couple weeks ago. Recovery has been challenging, but she very bravely wrote this account of what happened. #topoli thestar.com/opinion/contribu…
I went to protest Toronto’s violent encampment removals. I was profiled, frisked and wrongfully...

I went to protest Toronto’s violent encampment removals. I was profiled, frisked and wrongfully...

While the city’s ombudsman has said that they’ll be investigating the encampment removals, this doesn’t include the police. This doesn’t include other cases of a gross abuse of power, Cha-nese Ila...

thestar.com
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Last week, NYT published a major story that suggested falsely that police prevent murder and that one reason for increased murders during a global pandemic was civil rights criticism of police! The NYT did not disclose that the reporter was former CIA/Palantir/police/DA paid.
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Statement from TOR_C_H
We took power back into our own hands today to show the cracks in the City of Toronto’s and TPS narrative on the encampment evictions. The City and TPS want people to believe that we’re outside agitators looking to cause problems – but this a distraction from the housing crisis we are all facing. After TPS’s targeted attempts to intimidate encampment residents and supporters all week, over 20+ people showed up at 8am outside 14 division to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with comrades to re-state that this campaign is about housing and resisting the displacement of working and underhoused people in the city. Then over 40+ supporters logged onto bail court in the afternoon to put pressure on the legal system that bogus conditions and charges will be fought … Today again we’ve shown that our collective power comes from a place of community and commitment to each other. Any further criminalization of organizing is unlawful and wrong. We will continue to organize …

ALT We took power back into our own hands today to show the cracks in the City of Toronto’s and TPS narrative on the encampment evictions. The City and TPS want people to believe that we’re outside agitators looking to cause problems – but this a distraction from the housing crisis we are all facing. After TPS’s targeted attempts to intimidate encampment residents and supporters all week, over 20+ people showed up at 8am outside 14 division to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with comrades to re-state that this campaign is about housing and resisting the displacement of working and underhoused people in the city. Then over 40+ supporters logged onto bail court in the afternoon to put pressure on the legal system that bogus conditions and charges will be fought … Today again we’ve shown that our collective power comes from a place of community and commitment to each other. Any further criminalization of organizing is unlawful and wrong. We will continue to organize …

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Faced with a growing affordability crisis, Berlin will ask voters this month to consider a radical housing decision: whether or not to evict the city’s biggest landlords and transfer 240,000 rental units to public ownership. tgam.ca/3lKbLdK
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Every journalism school should make students study this incident before they’re allowed to get a statement from cops about anything.
Peter Frase (@pefrase) profile picturePeter Frase@pefrase15 Sep 2021
The circle of cop life
Image from Peter Frase (@pefrase)
Image from Peter Frase (@pefrase)
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Leora smith retweeted
Gru (@Gruesomebrat) profile picture
Gru@Gruesomebrat14 Sep 2021
Sept 16 @ 10 AM, come to a press conference at John Tory's condo to support the 50+ encampment residents & defenders ticketed/charged for standing up against the City’s brutal evictions. Let Tory hear demands loud & clear: #StopEvictions #DropAllCharges #RollOutPermanentHousing
Image from Gru (@Gruesomebrat)
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people are so angry that police are allowing demonstrations outside hospitals when we say cops are harmful and we must abolish them, people think we're going too far the alternative is to pay the cops to do whatever they want, and watch in helpless frustration
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