While church leaders have expressed sympathy with the Occupy movement, today they officially withdrew support for the actual camp out. The move comes hours after a judge rejected Occupy Toronto’s request for an injunction against the city’s eviction order, ruling that they have no right to take over public space at the expense of other citizens.
Taylor Chelsea, a protest organizer who had been in talks with the church to broker a compromise, said she felt betrayed the cathedral's leaders.
“The Occupy movement is an issue of justice, it’s an issue of vulnerable populations. And these guys are weaseling out of their god-given duties apparently,” she fumed. “They can’t say they want to do good work when they’re not doing the good work right now.”
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“The courts have spoken. And as we indicated last week, we would respect and follow the decision of the court,” said Dean Douglas Stoute. “We expect that the occupiers that have gone to the courts will also respect that decision.”
“I want to reiterate that the church supports the message of economic justice that has been raised by the Occupy movement around the globe,” he continued. "But the Occupy movement is not a movement of St. James Cathedral.”
The church's eviction notice said that in accordance with city bylaws, no one is allowed in the park between the hours of midnight and 5:30 am. The judge’s ruling earlier today means that the eviction orders are enforceable immediately.
