Ipperwash Crisis
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The Ipperwash Crisis was an Indigenous land dispute that occurred in Ipperwash Provincial Park, Ontario in 1995. Several members of the Stoney Point Ojibway band occupied the park in order to assert their claim to the land. This led to a violent confrontation between protestors and the Ontario Provincial Police, who killed protestor Dudley George. The ensuing controversy was a major event in Canadian politics, and a provincial inquiry, under former Ontario Chief Justice Sidney Linden, investigating the events was completed in the fall of 2006.
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[edit] Background
In 1936, the Province of Ontario created Ipperwash Provincial Park.
In 1942, during World War II, the Government of Canada wanted reserve land from the Stoney Point Band and offered to buy it for $15 per acre, and a promise to return the land after the war ended. The Natives rejected the offer, and in response, the federal government appropriated the Stoney Point Reserve under the War Measures Act. The First Nations claim that the grounds contain a burial site.<ref>Peter Edwards, One Dead Indian. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd., 2001. pp.248-249. Although a 1972 Ministry of Natural Resources memo claimed that there was no evidence of a burial ground, a later memo by the same government agency cautioned that the 1972 methodology "does not agree with current archaeological survey standards" (p. 249). Further, there are many government letters from the 1930s mentioning finding graves in the site, and the park superintendent's wife found bones by the part in 1950 (p.59)</ref>
[edit] Occupation of the park
On Labour Day Monday, September 4, 1995, a group of natives started a protest in Ipperwash Provincial Park to draw attention to the decades-old land claims. The park had closed at 6:00 p.m., and by 7:30, protestors had cut back a fence and moved vehicles into the Park. About thirty-five protestors occupied the park. The occupation came as no surprise to local police, as they had been threatening to occupy the park since the previous May. The original OPP strategy was to co-occupy the Park peacefully with the First Nations occupiers. However, the event came to a crisis when a Native from the group smashed the window of a police cruiser. The OPP decided not to engage the Natives and pulled back from the Park.
In anticipation of the move on the Park by the Stoney Point First Nations, the OPP had prepared a contingency plan named Project Maple. The plan stressed "a peaceful resolution", and called for a team of two negotiators to be on call around the clock.
Ontario PC M.P. Marcel Beaubien was in contact with the police the following day<ref>Ipperwash Inquiry transcript for January 19th, 2006. Beaubien says that although he couldn't confirm that he'd spoken to Staff Sergeant Lacroix on the morning of the 5th, he had a good relationship with Lacroix and spoke to him frequently. Also, Beaubien's constituency day planner, entered as an inquiry exhibit, confirms the meeting.</ref>, and Beaubien also contacted the office of the Premier, Mike Harris<ref>ibid. Beaubien's fax to Bill King in the Premier's office was also entered as an exhibit</ref> in an attempt to put pressure on the government to intervene<ref>ibid. Beaubien testified that "Well, basically I'm giving him a heads up that here's a press release that's going to go out. And, you know, when you -- you give somewhat of a quote/unquote, I guess, 'ultimatum', to somebody in the Premier's office, they may not like it. But I felt that, hey, I got to get some attention here"</ref>. On Tuesday, September 5, 1995 several government officials were involved in a meeting in Toronto to discuss the Ipperwash protest. The meeting notes conclude that "The province will take steps to remove the occupiers as soon as possible."
[edit] Death of Dudley George
On Wednesday, the OPP became concerned about a group of Native occupiers who had wandered outside of the Park and into the Sandy Park lot area adjacent to the cottages. The group was carrying bats and sticks in their hands. There is some debate as to the number of the group, though police reports indicate a group of up to 8. There was also misinformation about damage that had been done to a Band Councillor's car by this group of occupiers. The damage to the Councillor's car was by a rock thrown by one of the occupiers who took exception to an article the Councillor had written disapproving of the occupation. This was reported as the occupiers smashing up the vehicle of a female driver with baseball bats. At the same time there was reported vehicle activity inside the Park.
Out of public safety concerns, the OPP decided to deploy the Crowd Management Unit (CMU) to force the Native occupiers back into the Park. The CMU was essentially a riot squad armed with ASP batons, shields and helmets. The CMU was backed up by a Tactical Response Unit, which is a Canadian SWAT team. The plan was that this show of force would convince the Native occupiers to return inside the Park.
On Wednesday evening, police riot marched down to the Sandy Parking Lot to confront the Natives. As the CMU advanced the Natives initially retreated back and the CMU responded by retreating back. A particular occupier, Cecil Bernard George approached the police (peacefully according to the protestors, violently according to police reports). Cecil Bernard was taken down and surrounded by police, beaten and arrested. Native occupiers attempted to rescue Cecil Bernard George from the assault from the police units. This resulted in a riot scene. A car and a school bus driven by Natives started coming out of the park to assist the Native occupiers. The OPP TRU teams opened fire on the vehicles resulting in the wounding of two Native protesters and the death of Dudley George.
According to police officers there was gunfire from the vehicles. This is denied by the First Nations occupiers who insisted there were no weapons in the Park that night.
Various police officers fired on vehicles. Among the police was Acting Sergeant Ken "Tex" Deane, who was a member of the TRU and carried a Heckler and Koch submachine gun, which has been common amongst SWAT Teams for years.
Near the park entrance, Deane fired three shots at Dudley George, who was about fifteen feet from the park entrance<ref>One Dead Indian p.10.</ref>, and was hit and badly injured. Deane later claimed he had mistaken the elongated dark coloured branch which George was carrying for a rifle.
George had been shot with a hollow point bullet, a type of bullet that had been commonly used by law-enforcement for decades. The design of hollow point bullets result in impacts that can cause severe internal injury, and in this case, they did.
Dudley George's sister and brother attempted to bring Dudley George to the local hospital for treatment but were delayed and arrested by the OPP for over an hour.
George was declared dead at 12:20 a.m. on September 7, 1995 at nearby Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital, in Strathroy, Ontario.
[edit] Consequences
Acting Sergeant Ken Deane was convicted of criminal negligence causing death. Deane's defence was that he had believed that Dudley George was carrying a rifle. The judge rejected Deane's claim, but sentenced Deane to a conditional sentence two years less a day to be served in the community (not in custody).
Despite Deane's conviction, larger questions about the role of the office of PC Premier Mike Harris remained. Some argued that Harris urged strong police action in Ipperwash because a similar incident – the Oka crisis in Quebec – had caused the public to view the Quebec government as weak, and that this view contributed to the government's defeat in the next election. Some also believe that as Harris' government had been newly elected, they were attempting to signal a departure from the policies of the previous NDP government of Bob Rae and may also have been inexperienced in dealing with crises.
[edit] Inquiry
The George family repeatedly called on the Ontario and federal governments to launch an inquiry into the events at Ipperwash. An investigation was launched on November 12, 2003, after the Ontario Conservatives lost power to the Ontario Liberal Party in the 2003 provincial election.
In Ontario, a public inquiry is funded by the Government of Ontario but conducted by a neutral third party. The mandate of the Ipperwash Inquiry is to investigate and report on the events leading to the death of Dudley George, and to make recommendations that would help prevent similar circumstances. The inquiry is neither a civil nor criminal trial.
During the inquiry, a 17-minute tape recording surfaced that cast new light on the events at Ipperwash. The tape records a conversation between OPP Inspector Ron Fox and Inspector John Carson, the OPP commander overseeing the standoff at Ipperwash, prior to Dudley George's death. In it, they discuss the Premier's view that the government has "tried to pacify and pander to these people far too long" and to use "swift affirmative action" to remove them from the park.
Other testimony has further put the Harris government in a bad light. In particular, former Harris aide, Deb Hutton repeatedly testified in November, 2005, that she couldn't remember any specific conversations, leading one cross-examiner to pointedly remark that she had used phrases such as "I don't recall" or "I don't specifically recall" on 134 separate occasions<ref>Ipperwash Inquiry transcript for November 23rd, 2005</ref>. Also former Ontario Provincial Attorney General Charles Harnick testified that Harris used profanity (shouting, "I want the fucking Indians out of the park.")<ref>Ipperwash Inquiry transcript for November 28, 2005</ref>, although later witnesses denied Harnick's evidence.
Former Premier Mike Harris appeared before the inquiry on February 14 2006. He testified that he had never said the statement attributed to him by Harnick. <ref>Harris denies using profanity over native protest, CBC News, February 14 2006</ref>
A tape recording made the day before Dudley George was killed heard then OPP Sgt. Stan Korosec, in charge of the OPP emergency response team at Ipperwash, say "We want to amass a fucking army. A real fucking army and do this. Do these fuckers big-time."
The evidentiary hearings of the inquiry ended on June 28, 2006. Justice Linden's final report and findings of the inquiry will be released in 2007.
[edit] See also
- Mike Harris - Then Premier of the Province of Ontario
- One Dead Indian
- Oka Crisis
- Burnt Church Crisis
- Gustafsen Lake Standoff
- Caledonia Land Dispute
[edit] References
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