Sunday, October 14, 2018

Toronto Police probing anti-abortion activist attack at Ryerson

Toronto Police is investigating an anti-abortion demonstration turned violent at Ryerson University earlier this month.

Officers were called to Gould St. around 2:10 p.m. on Oct. 1 after a woman with the Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective allegedly assaulted another woman, who was protesting with the Toronto Against Abortion group.


In a YouTube video posted by Toronto Against Abortion, a woman — identified by the group as Gabby Skwarko, who Toronto Police confirm is a person of interest — is seen kicking graphic posters of embryos to the ground, throwing a metal clamp, then grabbing an anti-abortion protester by her backpack and shoving her a few times.

Katie Somers, the director of Toronto Against Abortion, claims she was the woman who was assaulted and told The Toronto Sun she sustained bruising on her leg.

“My colleague Blaise Alleyne were in a conversation with members of the Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective, who had been there blocking our signs, and we were having a civil debate about abortion,” Somers said Friday.



“Gabby appeared out of nowhere. First, she was calling out to us, asking us when we were going to leave. She just kicked our signs over, pushing down on my leg. They hit my wrist as well. I cried out in pain and she picked up the trolley and threw it at me and the metal clamp we used to hold the signs, she threw that at me as well. Then she grabbed my stainless steel water bottle and smashed it on the ground and started grabbing my backpack and try to wrestle me around. She was trying to get me to fight her.”

Somers said “she couldn’t believe” the attack was so brazen, given that she hadn’t spoken to the pro-choice activist that day, though the two have exchanged words previously in March.

“When I saw the cart get thrown, I thought, ‘This is another level. I can’t fight this person off of me because she’s willing to use a metal cart as a weapon,’” she said. “I was terrified it was going to smash my teeth in or worse.”

Toronto Police spokesman Katrina Arrogante said this is an ongoing investigation and police have a person of interest in the video footage seen, but there have been no arrests at this time.



A complaint was filed with Ryerson University’s student conduct office. A spokesman from the university could not be reached for comment.

Olson Crow, the president and founder of the Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective declined comment on Friday.

Joyce Arthur, the executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, said it abhors any kind of violence when it comes to protests, however, graphic photos on placards run the risk of triggering people who have undergone abortions.

“I wanted to point out what I see as the hypocrisy on the anti-choice side — they’re always filming these things with the expressed purpose of trying to catch people on tape and then they exploit these incidents in order to paint themselves as martyrs,” she said.

“There is a decades-long history of protests outside of abortion clinics, where patients and escorts are being harassed, yelled at, sometimes assaulted. These stories are very common but we don’t hear about them, because we don’t film them. It’s really seeking to whitewash the history of harassment, intimidation and violence from the anti-choice side.”




This Ryerson incident follows a similar incident on Sept. 30 in the Keele and Bloor Sts. intersection where a man was filmed allegedly scribbling on the jackets of several Life Choice anti-abortion protesters and round-house kicking another female protester, causing her to drop her phone.

Jordan Hunt, 26, was arrested a few days later and faces eight counts of assault and seven counts of mischief under $5,000.

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