A police officer took one of the protesters down an alley to a waiting police car, and June was worried the youth would get beaten up...June followed the young man and the officer. The officer ordered her to leave, insisting that it wasn't her business. June retorted, "Yes it is. I'm responsible for him and you're responsible to me and we're both responsible to each other."     
     She was promptly arrested, put in a police wagon, and taken off to Toronto's Don Jail. As the police wagon pulled away, a crowd of about 450 people jeered and pelted it with soft-drink cans and garbage. June was later charged with obstructing police.
     This was a minor charge, but June was devastated. Here she was, a well-known writer, the wife of a prominent journalist, and the mother of four, thrown into a dark and smelly jail cell. The walls, bench, and toilet had been smeared with shit. She felt humiliated and angry. She was worried that no one would ever talk to her or hire her again. She did a lot of crying in the jail cell that night. She later said, "In my generation, you didn't get arrested unless you were an awful person."