And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 08:14:28 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: ernie yacub <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Ipperwash: Toronto Star...cover up of OPP assault (fwd) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 08:18:46 -0400 To: C4LD Democ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: C4LDEMOC-L: Toronto Star: We still need truth on Ipperwash September 6, 1999 We still need truth on Ipperwash Ian Urquhart, Toronto Star FOUR YEARS AGO today, Dudley George, an unarmed native protester, was shot and killed by the Ontario Provincial Police riot squad at Ipperwash Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Huron. George and about 30 other First Nations protesters had occupied the park, which they said was on the site of an ancient burial ground, just two days before the shooting. An OPP officer was subsequently charged and convicted of criminal negligence causing death. But thanks to a concerted cover-up by the government of Premier Mike Harris, serious and disturbing questions remain unanswered in the case, viz: Why did the riot squad advance on the park instead of just waiting out the protesters, as the OPP had in previous occupations? After all, the tourism season had already ended by the time First Nations protesters had moved in. Were the police pressured by the Tory government to take action? If so, by whom in the government? Why? Were the Tories, fresh in office in September, 1995, thirsting for a fight to demonstrate their tough, no-nonsense approach? Harris, his aides and his ministers say they have nothing to hide, but their actions speak much more loudly than their words. They have repeatedly refused to call a public inquiry into the George shooting on the widely discredited ground that it would be sub judice because the OPP officer is appealing his conviction. His appeal is due to be heard this fall. ``Other options will not be considered until all these court proceedings are completed,'' said then attorney-general Charles Harnick during debate in the Legislature on an opposition resolution calling for a inquiry. ``It would be premature to make a decision (on a public inquiry) or to comment further while these matters remain before the courts. The government is following the proper, traditional and appropriate steps in dealing with this situation.'' In fact, there is a substantial body of legal opinion to support the holding of a public inquiry even while parallel criminal cases are still before the courts. Federal inquiries into both the Westray mine disaster and the Somalia peacekeeping mission were held in these circumstances. Harnick is now retired from politics and has been replaced as attorney-general by Jim Flaherty, but there has been no discernible impact on the government's stance on Ipperwash. ``The government's position has not changed,'' a terse Flaherty told me this week. Not only have Flaherty and Harris continued to refuse a public inquiry, but they have also rejected requests this summer by the George family for a meeting just to talk about the idea. They have also fought a ferocious legal battle against the George family's attempts to pursue a civil suit in the case. Using technicalities and arcane arguments, they have sought to prevent the suit ever coming to court, where Harris and Harnick and others might be called to testify. So far, the government has lost every argument in court, but it is pretty clear what the strategy is: Drag the civil case on beyond the spring election (done) and beyond the capacity of the George family to sustain (not done, thanks to pro bono work by the family lawyers). ``It is a deliberate use of technical, legalistic manoeuvres to slow down the process,'' says Murray Klippenstein, one of the lawyers working for the family. ``It is shameful.'' Flaherty said it would be ``inappropriate'' for him to make any comment on this charge. Despite such stonewalling, some evidence has been tickled out of the government by the opposition parties, notably Liberal native affairs critic Gerry Phillips and NDP Leader Howard Hampton, and by the media, notably Peter Edwards and Harold Levy of The Star. As a result, we know that Deb Hutton, one of the Premier's most trusted aides, went to an inter-ministerial meeting the morning of the shooting and expressed the view that native protesters be ousted from the park; that local Tory MPP, Marcel Beaubien, was on the scene and sending urgent messages to the Premier's office describing the Ipperwash occupants as ``thugs;'' and that then solicitor-general Bob Runciman was in contact with the OPP commissioner. These are only fragments, enough to arouse suspicion but not to draw conclusions. It will take a public inquiry to get the full story, which the government clearly does not want to come out. Only public pressure will force its hand. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
