Facing sentencing, G20 activist says she’d ‘do it again in a second’

According to agreed statements of fact read in court in November, protest organizers admitted to creating a list of targets for demonstrations and discussing ways to “de-arrest” people by grabbing them away from police.

Under the terms of the plea deal, Ms. Hiscocks expects to be sentenced to 16 months and Mr. Hundert expects to face 13½ months.

A long-time activist, Ms. Hiscocks is based in Guelph, Ont., where she works at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Public Interest Research Group as a volunteer and programming co-ordinator. The non-profit is allowing her to take a leave of absence while she is in jail, she said.

Ms. Hiscocks was living in a house with other activists when she met Constable Brenda Carey, then working undercover as “Brenda Dougherty”.

The officer told activists that she had recently fled an abusive relationship and had moved to the city for a fresh start. She spent months building trust in the community, mainly by cooking and serving food on the street with a local anti-poverty group.

“My opinion of her was that she was just like a person who was getting kind of a second lease on life, doing all these things she wanted to do but hadn’t done yet,” Ms. Hiscocks later said.

Eventually, Constable Carey joined the “action committee” of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, along with Ms. Hiscocks and Mr. Hundert. She also moved into Ms. Hiscocks’ home after another roommate left.

A second officer, Constable Bindo Showan, was spying on a group of activists in Kitchener, Ont., during the same time period.

Speaking to a reporter before her sentencing, Ms. Hiscocks said she’s disappointed the officers were able to infiltrate activist groups successfully, but she doesn’t regret any of the actions she took that led to her arrest.

“I would do it again in a second,” she said. “I think I would just do it better next time.”