November 4, 2026 - (Toronto, ON) A press conference was held on the morning of Nov. 3 in downtown Toronto at Bloor St. W. and St. George to address the draconian terms of the arrests of four people, during the recent bike lane removal protests, including two-time Canadian Paralympian Aly Van Wyck-Smart. On hand were some of the arrested protesters, their legal team, and other supporters.
David Shellnutt, founding partner of The Biking Lawyer LLP, a lead organizer of the bike lane removal protests, spoke about the incredibly massive and unwarranted police response to Toronto cyclists protesting the removal of safe infrastructure, including the huge waste of resources. The legal team is also questioning why the TPS Hate Crime Unit is involved.
“The heavy-handed response is something we’ve seen before in progressive protest movements in Toronto, but it’s still surprising when it’s against people trying to defend safe infrastructure,” said Shellnut. “Dozens of cruisers, the Public Order Unit (POU), riot police, mounted police, bicycle police, they even had drone surveillance. That number of police over bike lane protests has got to make everyone scratch their head and wonder why. All of this so that the Minister can say he’s doing his job.”
Amidst budget constraints and diminishing response times, it’s hoped that city councillors will question the Toronto Police Service Board about such overwhelming use of resources for protests over bike lane removals.
Shellnut added that he also hopes that TPS will be asked why the Hate Crime Unit is involved, “We all know that Toronto police may have a hate-on for cyclists but I think we can all agree that protesting about the removal of bike lanes is not a hate crime.”
He remarked that in only 36 hours, over $40,000 has been raised by the community to help pay for legal fees and other supports for those arrested via a GoFundMe campaign. The protest organizers plan to raise a lot more money and with the RFP (Request for Proposals) for the removal of the remaining bike lanes, coming up in December, more protests are planned.
“I’d like to speak to the companies submitting those proposals, and frankly to the premier and the minister as well. We had several hundred cyclists go out morning to night in Etobicoke, but if you attempt to take out the bike lanes on University Ave., I can tell you that there will be several thousand of cyclists, day in and day out, ready to defend our safe infrastructure,” added Shellnut. “We’re calling on everybody to join us and stand up to Premier Doug Ford and Minister Sarkaria’s attack on our local democracy, there’s no way the premier should be meddling in the affairs of Toronto or any other municipality.”
One of the lawyers from the criminal law team, Leora Smith of Community Justice Collective, spoke about the conditions of release the arrested protesters were forced to sign – a violation of their constitutional rights.
“I want to share what happened behind the scenes with these arrests that should be very alarming to everyone in the city,” said Smith. “After being taken into custody, our clients were told they could only leave if they signed document containing Conditions of Release, which are rules that they have to follow the entire time that their charges are pending – which could be up to a year or longer. The rules that the police demanded were extreme, prohibiting our clients from a wide range of protests on public or private property, on any issue.”
The arrested protesters were told they could challenge the restrictions but that they’d have to stay in detention, perhaps even overnight. Faced with this choice they all signed the document.
“I want to be clear that these conditions, and the prohibition on protest, is a serious violation of our client’s constitutional rights including their Charter rights to freedom of expression (2b), freedom of assembly (2c) and freedom of association (2d). The police have no authority – moral or legal – to demand that any person sign away their right to protest,” stated Smith. “We will be challenging these conditions in court.”
She pointed out that any breach of a Conditions of Release, is a serious matter and can result in further criminal charges.
“What happened here is part of a broader and very disturbing trend that started during Covid when police started imposing these anti-protest conditions – we fought those conditions and won. They continued when people were protesting against the situation in Gaza and we challenged them again and won. Now they’re being applied to people fighting for road safety and bike lanes – we’ll challenge them and we will win again,” explained Smith.
The Hate Crime Unit’s involvement is another troubling trend and Smith remarked that during the Palestinian-Israeli conflict the Unit was expanded from six officers to 32, and now they’re involved in the bike lane protests.
“Protesting against bike lanes is not a hate crime and we should all be concerned about this escalating government infrastructure that’s being used to supress political dissent, and people’s fundamental rights,” she added.
According to CBC, police spokesperson, Stephanie Sayer, said police wouldn’t comment on the conditions of release and that if there were concerns about the legality or appropriateness, they should be directed to the courts.
The four people who were arrested during the protests now face charges ranging from obstructing police, to mischief, to theft under $5,000. Some of the arrested protesters were at the press conference including Prajjwal Rajawat, Khoa Thanh Phan (who also goes by the name Candice Doe), and Van Wyck-Smart, who uses a wheelchair. The fourth protester, Nina Thi Thi Tran from Hamilton, was not in attendance.
Van Wyck-Smart spoke of the sensibility of the bike lanes and the injustice of removing them. “It’s ridiculous and a waste of money – people will die. People use the bike lanes every day and we’ve had no say in this,” she commented. The removal of the bike lanes is estimated to cost taxpayers $48 million.
Supporting the press conference were Michael Longfield, Executive Director at Cycle Toronto, and Jess Spieker, a Spokesperson for Friends and Families for Safe Streets. “I want to express my gratitude to everyone who came out to support the bike lanes and especially the four people who were arrested defending our safe streets,” said Spieker. “What the provincial government is doing is morally abhorrent and shocking. Their actions will result in unnecessary road crashes, violence and death – it’s a slap in the face of anyone who has lost a loved one on Ontario’s streets.”
The location of the press conference at Bloor St. W. and St. George is also the site of the ghost bike roadside memorial installed in 2018 to honour Dalia Chako. The 58-year-old cyclist and grandmother, died after being hit by a flatbed truck back while cycling in the Bloor Street bike lane “doing what she loved”.
During the press conference a fire truck came by with sirens blaring and Shellnut pointed out that this was another aspect of the Ford government’s false claims that emergency vehicles are impeded by bike lanes. Toronto Fire Services Deputy Chief Jim Jessop has stated that emergency response times based on core performance indicators have actually improved or remained consistent following the installation of major corridor bike lanes, such as those on Bloor Street West.
The press conference concluded with “badges of honour” being given to the arrested protesters by members of advocacy group, Friends and Families for Safe Streets, to recognize and thank them for their courage and fortitude.
