Report From The Press Conference To Condemn The Seaton House Beating

(Right) Brian DuBourdieu speaking about the beating he received at Seaton House.

Seaton House refused to release Brian DuBourdieu's incident report.

Join us:
11am
Monday, July 20th
Seaton House
339 George Street
(east of Jarvis Street, south of Gerrard Street)

We will go back to Seaton House on the 20th and demand Brian get his incident report. We will continue to demand that charges be laid against the managers that assaulted Brian, that his missing property be returned and that an apology and restitution are given.

About 50 people, including Seaton House residents, CUPE picketers and supporters gathered to condemn city management who attacked Brian DuBourdieu. Towards the end of the press conference, Brian and OCAP member Gaetan Heroux went into Seaton House to get his incident report, a form that he has a right to have for a number of reasons, including to appeal his bar from the shelter.

City management, who are staffing the shelter because of the CUPE strike, refused to give Brian the report. They told him to file a freedom of information request, something the city doesn't even have to reply to for six weeks. The refusal of an incident report was unheard of by the people attending the press conference, including social services workers with years of experience with the shelter system.

Brian asked for something to eat and was told all that they had was a peanut butter sandwich (to which Brian has a serious allergy). The city manager then threw the sandwich at Brian. Upset, Brian threw the sandwich back and kicked a door (causing no damage). Five city managers then tackled him to the ground and three of them held him down while the other two kicked his legs repeatedly.

Two weeks after the beating, Brian's doctors could not tell him if he needs surgery because his leg is still too swollen to properly assess it.

For the original press release, click here.

For more photos, click here