The past several years have seen a surge in mass civil disobedience throughout North America. Multijurisdictional demonstrations continue to occur on a regular basis, with concerns around politics, economics, and the environment becoming transnational in nature. In the Canadian landscape, police have seen an increasing number of events requiring crowd management approaches in relation to public unrest and dissatisfaction with a plethora of issues. In 2019–2020, a number of conflicts in Canada related to topics impacting the BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) community caused significant impacts from coast to coast. As issues continue to converge, there has been a significant increase in solidarity demonstrations.

Demonstrations and other moments of civil or criminal disobedience or disturbances continue to evolve, taking a more systematic nature through technological advancements, particularly those involving social media. The proliferation of social media has allowed entities to mobilize and manage participants prior to and during civil disturbances and demonstrations. This flexibility permits increasingly complex events that are quickly and efficiently executed, which has driven law enforcement agencies to adapt the tactics and techniques used to safely manage today’s demonstrations and civil disturbances.