Hi! My name is Katie Nelson, and I need help fundraising money for legal fees!
In the spring of 2012, hundreds of thousands of students put their degrees on the line and went on strike against cuts to education and increases in tuition fees. Many stayed on strike for over six months and are still feeling the academic consequences.
Parallel to this, the Quebec state unleashed violent political repression through its police force, going so far as to adopt anti-protest laws.
During this, I with several others, took on roles calling out police on their brutality and misconduct while attempting to maintain my involvement in the strike movement, and for this I have been targeted by police. The harassment got to the point that I have a civil lawsuit against the city of Montreal and a number of individual officers under the counsel of renowned constitutionalist and civil liberties lawyer Julius Grey, seeking to establish a legal precedent on Politcal Profiling.
In the meantime, the police's targeting of me amounted to over $10,000 dollars worth of tickets issued to me under various municipal and provincial legislation, many of which's constitutionality is under examination in the courts. In the meantime, 2-3 years later, I am now in court over 22 times (22 court dates!!) in the next 3 months trying to fight back these tickets one by one.
I have a great team of friends backing me up and a passionate and dedicated articling student and lawyer working pro bono to represent me and hopefully knock these tickets off one by one before the civil suit is heard.
However, even their pro bono representation has costs, because such is the state of the “justice system” in the 21st century. There are motions to be filed, documentation to be printed, experts to be consulted, and more, all of which is being paid out of pocket by myself and my legal team. These fees are becoming quite heavy, as I at the same time pay for my schooling.
As we see the beginnings of the Printemps 2015 anti-austerity movement, the police repression in response has been even more intense and violent than that at the beginning of the 2012 strike. The police have been swift with both baton and ticket-pad and they must not be empowered.
Help us send a clear message that their repression will not work! If the police are able to be validated in their repression by getting guilty verdicts against me because of lack of resources, it will only empower them to continue on their path. If we can hit them over and over again with not guilty verdicts, if we can get judges to grant sanctions against them for their violent behaviour, and if we can take a stand that our rights will not be quashed due to a simple lack of financial resources, it will help the whole movement against repression.
So please donate what you can to my legal defense cause. All funds raised will be used for all fees associated to my legal proceedings. Any extra funds in the end will be turned over to Independent Solidarity Action Fund, a commission dedicted to defending activists suffering legal repression.
Student suing police to establish legal precedent