And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes:

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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 21:07:01 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: UN Asks About Dudley George


http://www.canada.com/newscafe/getcp.asp?bk=3Dworld&sk=3D990326/w032635.htm= l


       UN committee wants to know about Dudley George inquiry

       UNITED NATIONS (CP) - The 1995 killing of Ontario native protester
Dudley George came up Friday when a United Nations committee asked Canada
how it's living up to the terms of an international covenant on political
and civil rights. The UN Human Rights Committee asked the Canadian
government whether an inquiry has been held "into the circumstances,
including the role and responsibility of public officials, of an incident
in which a police officer shot dead Mr. Dudley George ..." While the UN
committee is supposed to query all signatory countries on how well they are
observing the covenant, the question about George gave a boost to Canadian
petitioners seeking a public inquiry into his death.

       During a clash at Ipperwash Provincial Park Sept. 6, 1995, an
Ontario provincial police officer shot and killed George during a protest.
It was believed to be the first killing of an indigenous person this
century in Canada in a land-claims dispute. George was 30 or so native men,
women and children who protested the destruction of burial grounds in the
park on Lake Huron.

       The case was brought before the UN committee after 3 years of
fruitless legal battles by the Coalition for a Public Inquiry into the
Death of Dudley George, a non-governmental organization headed by Ann Pohl
of Toronto. Pohl said in an interview Friday the UN committee was "very
enthusiastic" in bringing the case to the attention of the Canadian
government.

       The query about George was one of more than two dozen written
questions the 18-member committee had for the Canadian government
delegation, headed by Rob Watts, assistant deputy minister on Indian
affairs. Some of the questions were read out one after another without
waiting for an immediate reply from the delegation while a few were
answered promptly at the closed session, witnesses said.

       "When they (the Canadian delegation) go home, they will receive
concluding observations from the committee in a couple of weeks," said
Pohl, who attended as a petitioner. "It had happened before that Canada had
been taken to task by the UN on aboriginal issues and had decided to act on
it. I believe they will in this issue." Pohl said her group provided
information to the UN committee and the reception has been "extremely
heartening." The coalition alleged in a brief filed to the UN committee
that Canada violated several provisions in the covenant, including the
right to life and treatment of protesters.

       The committee's other questions cover a wide range of topics - from
native rights to gender equality, from the right to privacy to the
treatment of detainees. It sought information on the outcome of an
investigation into the Canadian military's "use of lethal force" while on a
UN mission in Somalia in 1993. And it asked what measures have been taken
to prevent child prostitution in Canada.

   The Canadian Press, 1999

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[S.I.S.I.S. note: In Ontario, both opposition Liberal and NDP parties
support an inquiry into Dudley George's murder at Stoney Point (aka
Ipperwash) in 1995, an inquiry thus far refused by both the federal and
provincial governments. By contrast in BC, there is a coordinated and well
orchestrated coverup of the Gustafsen Lake standoff which occurred
simultaneously to that of the Stoney Pointers. Both groups pledged mutual
solidarity at the time and this solidarity continues between those who
actually made the stands, including members of the George family. The
deputy secretary general of the UN, Louise Frechette, was Canada's deputy
minister of Defence at the time of the Gustafsen siege, and facilitated
Canadian Forces involvment in that operation along with former Ambassador
to the United States, General Jean De Chastelaine, who wrote the "Standing
Orders" for "Op Wallaby" and CF involvment.]

More more information on the Stoney Point and Gustafsen Standoffs:
   http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/gustmain.html
   http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Ipperwash/arch01.html

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    S.I.S.I.S.   Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
        P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2

        EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
        WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html

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