In Toronto, it is now legal to try and run people over with a snowplow
As long as they're protesting for Palestine, that is.
On November 18th, during a protest in opposite to the Gaza Strip takeover plan of Do Donald Trump outside the United States Consulate in Toronto, a violent incident occurred in which an individual performing work for the city government appears to have intentionally tried to ram into the crowd with a Kubota snowplow weighing several metric tonnes.
While thankfully all the pro-Palestine protestors escaped injury in this attempt, it is still an egregious act of attempted violence. The intentionality of the act was made clearly evident at the time through the snowplow driver giving the protestors the middle finger—for international readers, a derogatory gesture similar to a backwards V-sign, a fig sign, or slapping your bicep—as she carved a path through with her vehicle.
Remarkably, while Toronto Police did stop the snowplow driver, they allowed her to depart the area following brief questioning. Toronto Police proceeded to make a statement saying “no complaints have come forwards” with the incident, despite protestors literally videotaping interactions with the police attempting to file complaints, attempts the police refused.
So, with a few weeks having passed since the incident, what do we know now, and what has the city done? Let’s find out!
Shortly after the incident, social media users managed to identify the snowplow driver as Athena Niggenaber, an employee with A & F Di Carlo Construction, a private company the city contracts out snowplow operations to. Now, if you read her last name and think “that’s unfortunate”, hold that thought for one second.
Ms. Niggenaber has repeatedly posted vehemently racist content on her social media, including postings targeted specifically at Muslims, Arabs, and pro-Palestine protestors. The Star reports her commenting supportively on a tweet of a bumper sticker depicting an SUV ramming into people and saying “All Lives Splatter—Nobody cares about your protest, keep your ass out of the road.”
Furthermore, she is on video in a Toronto parking lot outside a Middle Eastern grocery store shouting the racial epithet “sand n****r”. So that last name? We’re downgrading it from “unfortunate” to “no, absolutely not”. And the idea that this snowplow ramming wasn’t intentional seems very unlikely on the balance of evidence here.
But as for consequences? There are very little for Ms. Niggenaber. She received a one-day paid suspension at A & F Di Carlo before returning to paid work, and while the City of Toronto will no longer allow her to perform contracts for them, she still has her job with A & F Di Carlo and can perform other contracts despite horribly abusing industrial equipment.
Curiously, Ms. Niggenaber posted an online fundraiser on GoFundMe claiming that she had been placed on leave without pay, despite A & F Di Carlo confirming to the Toronto Star that this is not the case, and requesting help paying bills.
While the Star reported her GoFundMe as having a goal of CAD$2,600, at the time of my writing this column, the goal has increased twice: once to CAD$3,000, and then a second time to CAD$3,500. Of that goal, 70 donations have currently provided $2,922. And while many of the donations are anonymous, some are willing to put their full legal name up and stand behind Ms. Niggenaber with two feet firmly planted.
Toronto Police have still not arrested Ms. Niggenaber or charged her with an offence. This is a blatant absurdity given reasonable analysis of the facts in front of us. Let a court decide if the evidence is enough to convict, but surely what we see is enough to determine that a Crown attorney would have merit in prosecuting this case!
Absent any charges, though? It appears to now be legal to try and run people over with a snowplow in the City of Toronto. God help us all.