Brantford takes a stand for democracy in Canada against native threats!

UPDATED 1100 EST June 03/08

Brantford and democracy wins big! Yesterday, June 02/08, the judge granted the injunction to the City of Brantford, ordering that there be no more blockades, threats, intimidation, work stoppages. See, ‘Big win for Brantford and for Canada!‘
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Yesterday, the lawyer for Brantford responded forcefully to a threat against Canada and the rule of law from Ovide Mercredi, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, that was – unbelievably – actually read out loud in a Brantford courtroom on Friday:  

The man who was the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations for most of the 1990s had some dire words of warning for Brantford. Ovide Mercredi filed an affidavit from Winnipeg as part of the defence against Brantford’s request for an injunction against native protesters.

“If an injunction is issued in Brantford in these circumstances, I have grave doubts that the peace will hold. Moreover, I think it is important for the court to understand that organized groups, institutions and leaders with aboriginal nations will not … have the authority to control the actions of the individual members of their communities.

“An injunction employed to restrain the exercise and assertion of aboriginal rights not only threatens the public peace and safety but fundamentally undermines the rule of law.”

Brantford Expositor, May 31/08: Former First Nations chief issues warning to city [REPRINT] [PDF]

Fantino yuks it up with Clyde and Floyd, ignores victims of native violence

UPDATED 2317 EST May 31/08

This post began as a comment by WL McKenzie Redux in response to my reply to a reader in which I mentioned that Jeff and Gary were filing private prosecutions in a Cayuga court.
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Having to use self initiated court actions to force police to do their duty…my God! There is such a surreal Alice in blunderland surrealism about Onterrible these days..the mad hatter sits in Queen’s park, the march hare his minister…the mad tea party has lasted too long.

VoC REPLY (updated 2317 EST May 31/08): If you think citizens fighting the police to lay charges against criminals is ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ have a look at the picture of Fantino  [from Turtle Island News May 28/08] yucking it up with cop-assaulter Clyde Powless and Floyd Montour, one of the leaders of the builder-blockades on behalf of the HDI extortion program! 

‘End of the beginning’ for struggle against race-based policing

“The Germans have received back again that measure of fire and steel which they have so often meted out to others. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

— Winston Churchill, Lord Mayor’s Luncheon at Mansion House following the victory at El Alamein, North Africa, London, 10 November 1942 [from The Churchill Centre]

For those of us who have invested so much in resisting OPP race-based policing, it was good news indeed to discover that Fantino has been forced to tell Six Nations Confederacy chiefs in an emergency meeting that he will have to enforce court injunctions against native protesters who attempt to extort money from landowners via illegal occupations and blockades. 

Dramatic developments coincide with CANACE activities

UPDATE 1245 EST May 26/08: Fantino has emergency meeting with Six Nations Confederacy chiefs, tells them he will enforce court orders against native protesters. See ‘End of the beginning’ for struggle against race-based policing.’

While CANACE can’t take credit for all the dramatic developments that have taken place recently, they do seem to coincide with CANACE activism and education efforts.  

A quick refresher:

• On May 07/08 CANACE released our latest report, ‘Legalized MYTHS of Illegal Occupations‘ to a packed Cayuga Hall that included business people and developers. MPP Toby Barrett spoke to the crowd and provided an update about Deseronto.
• On May 08/08 CANACE directors met with two federal MPs at a resident’s home in Caledonia where we supplied them with copies of 4 CANACE reports. We have received confirmation that 20 copies of these reports were distributed ‘broadly’ in Ottawa and are ‘causing quite a stir.’
• On May 12/08 CANACE was authorized to gather evidence at a construction site in Cayuga for the purpose of laying criminal charges against native blockaders. Charges should be filed via ‘private informations’ by the end of next week. The OPP subsequently advised the builders that their Criminal division was ‘investigating.’

Motion Record: City of Brantford v. Ruby, Floyd, Hazel, Aaron, HDI and others

In a VoC post of May 15/08 called, ‘Brantford Council takes a stand while Haldimand dithers,’ I commended the leaders of Brantford for uniting to pass two by-laws directed at illegal work stoppages and extortion by native protesters on behalf of the Haudenosaunee Development Instituted (HDI).

Today, Brantford went even further by submitting a document to the Superior Court of Ontario seeking $110M in damages and asking the Court to notify the Attorney general that “the services of the Canadian Forces are required in aid of the civil power because a disturbance of the peace or riot is occurring or is likely to occur;” (p4, item (b)).

City of Brantford Motion Record
May 20/08, 135 pages – PDF

The Corporation of the City of Brantford – Plaintiff
- and -
Ruby Montour, Floyd Montour, Clive Garlow, Charlie Green, Mary Green, David Martin, Hazel Hill, Aaron Detlor, The Haudenosaunee Development Institute, Jane Doe, John Doe and persons unknown – Defendants

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Mark Vandermaas, Editor
VoiceofCanada
Director of Research
Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality  www.canace.ca 

Wheel-to-Walk Marathon has Caledonia connection

 

UPDATE: Wheel to Walk Canada blog now online! Read notes and thoughts from the team as they cross Canada on a fundraising campaign to support one of the most exciting advances in medicine in history – spinal cord regeneration.
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Since we have been involved in the struggle to end race-based policing in Ontario, there have been a number of people who have stood up with us, people who have been there for nearly every protest event. One of them is Jim Anderson, step-father of Caledonia music store owner Chris Syrie who has also stood up against political and policing malfeasance as he tried to build a new music school on land he owns beside the occupied Douglas Creek Estates. 

Jim has been there all along the way for us. Now, he has decided to give up his time to help a very worthwhile charity by providing technical support for a cross-Canada fundraising drive by four wheelchair athletes to raise money for some very promising spinal cord research being led by McMaster University. The medical team behind the research has made a very important breakthrough in regenerating spinal cord cells and expects to be able to help repair damaged cords in humans within 5 years!

VoC reader to Caledonia resident: ‘Thank you, sir’

This post began as a comment to ‘Caledonia resident: What do we tell our kids?‘ – a letter to the editor by Caledonia resident Mark Delio. I liked WL’s take on Mr. Delio’s letter so much I thought it deserved a post of its own.
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Mr. Delio has his optics unclouded and focused on the primary causes of civil strife:

1) A government prepared to breach the constitution and rule of law

2) A government that has adopted Marxist race based policies and identity group politics, abandoning the inherent legal equality of individuals under liberal democratic rule of law.

You can scold Fantino for his bumbling attempts at justifying race based policing.

Caledonia resident: What do we tell our kids?

The letter below was published by both The Regional and The Sachem. It was also sent to the Hamilton Spectator. None of the founders of CANACE had known or met the writer before receiving an advance copy of his letter.

What do we tell our kids?

by Mark Delio 

I’m always amused at all the posturing and name-calling that surrounds the controversy about land claims, native’s rights, blockades, and the like. While not everyone likes the methods he uses, Gary McHale, and the website he started, CaledoniaWakeUpCall.com, is still a very effective tool for exposing the government’s one-sided racially motivated handling of the situation.

CANACE letter to Hamilton Spectator Editor-in-Chief

Sent: Mon 5/5/2008 8:51 PM

From: Mark Vandermaas
To: David Estok [Editor-in-Chief], Joan Walters
Cc: Mary-Lou LaPratte
Subject: Re: ‘A Changed Perspective’ by Joan Walters [May 05/08]

“The Ipperwash inquiry, called by McGuinty just months after his election, included the first thorough examination of the origins and dynamics of Canadian native protest and its consequences.”

Dear Ms Walters:

Including this email, I have now contacted 3 different Spectator reporters and your Editor-in-Chief on several occasions to advise that we have evidence proving that the Ipperwash Inquiry deliberately suppressed all evidence of native crime against innocent residents in Ipperwash (which is why not a single one of its 100 recommendation has anything to do with preventing violence against residents.)

Fantino home protest video – we will not give up our rights!

CANACE’s Director of Multimedia Production Jeff Parkinson recently put together a short film about our visit to OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino’s home on March 02/08 that eloquently expresses the message we sent that day to the Commissioner. It shows first, Doug Fleming and then, Merlyn Kinrade putting up the flags on hydro poles across the street from Fantino’s home, signifying that Canadians will not be intimidated into abandoning their rights, and that even the most powerful police officer in Ontario couldn’t stop us from exercising those rights even at his own home.

Carie Walker & Sachem ‘get it right’

Due to some other pressing projects and some sick time I only recently came across a very special news report that resulted from our protest at Fantino’s home in Woodbridge on March 02/08. It is a remarkable bit of journalism written by Carie Walker, a reporter for the Grand River Sachem. ‘Remarkable’ in that Ms. Walker actually invested more than 2 hours with me over the phone after the protest in an effort to understand my motivations, my actions and the evidence we have to back up our position.

PCs pound Bryant over alleged interference in Caledonia policing

The Ontario PCs pounded Michael Bryant this week over alleged interference with the OPP in connection with the 4 day Six Nations highway blockade that began on April 25/08. The blockade was begun to force the OPP to stop arresting native protesters in Deseronto. During the blockade, natives threatened to ‘carve up’ OPP officers and kill their families.

• CANACE report: ‘Legalized MYTHS of Illegal Occupations‘ (see p. 19-20)
• CWUC feature: Photos of highway blockade in Caledonia   
• Hamilton Spectator, May 08/08: OPP seize Spectator photos  [REPRINT]

Cayuga builder authorizes CANACE to gather evidence against native occupiers

CANACE co-founders Gary McHale, Mark Vandermaas, Jeff Parkinson and Merlyn Kinrade were invited by a Cayuga builder to gather evidence for the purpose of laying criminal charges against native protesters who have demanded money and the signing over of their title deed to Six Nations in return for ending the blockade of their property.

Brantford Council takes a stand while Haldimand dithers

One of the saddest aspects of our struggle to restore the rule of law in Caledonia has been the consistent refusal of Haldimand Council as a group to take a stand on the side of justice.

• They allowed themselves to be manipulated by OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino into being part of a secret ‘mutual understanding’ intended to blame Gary McHale for tensions in Caledonia despite him having committed no crime. (see also, Legalized MYTHS of Illegal Occupations, Myth #3)
• They allowed Julian Fantino to speak to Council after he threatened them to remain quiet, but refused to allow McHale, Kinrade and I to appear as a delegation in order to clear our names. 
• On July 09/07 Council issued a silly press release blaming the federal government for the crisis in their community instead of holding McGuinty and the OPP for not enforcing the law - which is a provincial responsibility.
• They refused to stand with15 year-old Dancer and the brother of Sam Gualtieri to speak at the pre-election October 08/07 ‘Remember Us’ March.
• They refused to ratify Toby Barrett’s historic ‘Haldimand Proclamation for Peace, Order and Good Government.’
• They recently cancelled a scheduled meeting with CANACE directors because ‘they were too busy’ and because ‘Council has no appetite to go after Michael Bryant’ – even after CANACE helped Mayor Trainer expose how the Ontario government – and Bryant in particular – has knowingly allowed the OPP to lie to landowners regarding the ‘Colour of Right’ myth. (see also, Legalized MYTHS of Illegal Occupations, Myth #1, link below)
• Not one member of Haldimand Council showed up to see our May 07/08 presentation of ‘Legalized MYTHS of Illegal Occupations.’

MPP Toby Barrett speaks at CANACE presentation

Last night we released our latest CANACE report, Legalized MYTHS of Illegal Occupations, at our presentation to a packed house at the Lions Hall in Cayuga that included MPP Toby Barrett who talked about his trip to Deseronto, and thanked those who have done research and kept his office informed.

• Click here to read a post on CANACE.ca about the presentation and/or download the PowerPoint file and/or report. 
• Click here to download the report. [DIAL-UP]