UPDATED: Caledonia Victims Project, June 20/11: Caledonia Milestone: DCE occupiers & OPP respsect rights of non-natives during Truth & Reconciliation Rally
UPDATED April 03/11: Video of attack on Reconciliation/Apology monument
Our recent Truth and Reconciliation rally held on Sunday, March 27/11 proves that the OPP still – after five years – will not protect the rights or property of non-natives in Caledonia.
OPP officers watched as the Douglas Creek Estates occupiers swarmed and assaulted us, destroyed and stole our Truth & Reconciliation/Apology monument, and then burnt it along with our Canadian flag. The clearly visible side, partially obscured by the flag, says ‘ONTARIO APOLOGY.’ The side barely visible in the flames, says, ‘EQUALITY FOR ALL.’ The other two sides facing away from the camera say, ‘6N (SIX NATIONS) APOLOGY’ and, ‘OPP APOLOGY.’
This picture shows occupiers walking away with the top of our monument to burn it with our flag, moments after swarming us and destroying the base:
Four OPP officers watch natives destroy our Truth & Reconciliation/Apology monument and then insert Six Nations flags into the side:
Video of monument destruction
Jeff Parkinson captured most of the ugly scene on film, including video of a plainclothes OPP officer pulling our monument off the road shortly before it was destroyed and burned by the occupiers. Some of the occupiers try to block Parkinson from filming the desecration of the monument as others smash holes in the side to insert Six Nations flags – before burning it and our Canadian flag:
- CANACE video, March 27/11: Natives destroy Reconciliation monument [3:29]
Our Truth & Reconciliaton/Apology monument…before the attack
BACKGROUND: OPP force another relocation to private property
We were, once again (as on Feb 27/11), forced to relocate our rally to private property after the OPP, once again, refused to provide security to separate us from those trying to disrupt our rally at the Lions Hall.
The owner of the property, in the presence of OPP officers, signed a document allowing us on his property which also gave us the right to remove trespassers – including OPP officers. I handed out copies of the ‘Reconciliation: the CANACE Path’ diagram we provided to Brantford Council in 2008 showing our path of Truth, Justice and Apologies versus the Appeasement path of the OPP and Ontario government in order to help residents understand that there are NO alternatives to insisting on apologies from those responsible for Caledonia: the OPP, the Ontario government and Six Nations. Otherwise, how can we ever know when the attack is truly over? Only when apologies are sincerely made can meaningful healing begin.
Once there, the OPP asked us to wait while they tried to convince the occupiers to ‘allow’ us to place our Apology monument on the public road allowance in front of DCE. We don’t negotiate our rights with anyone, but we wanted to show our willingness to work with the OPP, so we waited. I even went for a ride in an OPP car to scout out 2 suggested spots where we might place it. I agreed that a spot on the public road allowance just south of the DCE entrance (in front of the burnt-out semi-trailer) which was well away from the occupiers gathered at the entrance would be acceptable even though we had originally wanted to place it closer to the entrance.
OPP watch natives attack us – again
Finally, the word came back – the occupiers would not cooperate with the OPP. I was asked to wait a few extra minutes for the OPP to get officers in place, but when we arrived they did nothing more than watch – as you can see from the pictures. We were then forced to put up our Apology monument without police providing a separation security line to protect us from the occupiers who ran to swarm us. No protection or arrests as our property was destroyed. No arrest when our cameraman Jeff Parkinson was assaulted. Nothing. (Jeff Parkinson has filed a complaint of assault against the very same man who assaulted me on Feb 27th. whom the OPP have so far refused to charge.)
Within seconds of placing our monument we were swarmed, and a woman ran up and pushed the monument over, sending the top and the Canadian flag to the ground as the pieces separated. She was in a fury of rage and kicked the monument repeatedly and pushed it into the middle of the southbound lane of traffic. Other occupiers grabbed the top of the monument and walked away with it where it was set on fire – with our Canadian flag on top.
Reporters from Moose FM and the Regional News were on scene.
Native ringleader watches Truth & Reconciliation/Apology monument and Canadian flag burn
One of those watching our monument and flag burn was none other than Ruby Montour – ringleader of various illegal occupations in Brantford and Haldimand County. She is named in several court actions, and once faced – along with her husband Floyd – charges of Extortion, Intimidation and Mischief…until the Crown dropped the charges, whereupon she moved on to help those terrorizing the City of Brantford:
- ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT – see Caledonia Victims Project: 1536412 Ontario Ltd. v. HCCC, HDI, Ruby & Floyd Montour, Hazel Hill (Cayuga occupation, May-June 2008)
- SUPERIOR COURT OF ONTARIO, Nov 18/10: Reasons for Decision – Brantford v. Mountour, Haudenosaunee Development Institute [PDF] (judge orders end to lawlessness, demands for illegal development fees)
- ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE, July 08/08: McHale v. Ruby Montour & Floyd Montour [PDF]
Would you believe?
On Feb 23/11, just prior to our Feb 27/11 Truth and Reconciliation rally, OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis met with the Confederacy Chiefs (leaders of the lawlessness in Caledonia) and, according to the March 02/11 issue of the Tekawennake News, Lewis told people at the ‘meet and greet’:
A. He hadn’t read Helpless;
B. He understood “the dynamics” of why natives burnt down the bridge and cut down hydro towers, but didn’t understand the point non-native activists were trying to make;
C. Everything that’s happened in Caledonia since 2007 was the fault of outsider, non-native activists, and not the occupiers;
D. Caledonia’s wounds are “relatively healed”;
E. The OPP would protect “women and children” – from non-native outsider activists!
Lewis’s outrageous comments shed much light on why the OPP seem so determined not to provide security to protect us from his occupier friends, and why the OPP arrested Gary McHale instead of the guy who trespassed onto the private property we were forced to relocate to on Feb 27th., and then invited his radical, anarchist associates to help him disrupt our event. Chris Lewis is one of the two officers who was charged with Obstructing Justice by carrying out Julian Fantino’s orders to target Gary McHale for a criminal charge.
- VoiceofCanada, July 07/10: McGuinty appoints cop charged with Obstructing Justice as head of OPP
- VoiceofCanada, July 07/10: Copy of ‘Obstructing Justice’ charge order vs. now-Commissioner Chris Lewis
- Caledonia Victims Project: R. v. Gary McHale (Counselling Mischief Not Committed) [LINK]
I recently confirmed with a Sixth Line resident that Commissioner Lewis – as with Fantino before him – had NOT met with them, even though they had suffered some of the worst trauma of the occupation. As with Fantino, the current OPP commissioner doesn’t care a whit about non-native victims either — he only cares about maintaining good relations with those who terrorized them.
- Dunnville Chronicle, Oct 21/09: Fantino says no [PDF]
(Journalists/researchers can contact me at info@voiceofcanada.ca for a PDF copy of the Tekawennake article.)
Can you imagine…
The violence and hatred shown by the occupiers to a symbolic request for apologies for what they did to Caledonia was bad enough, and should be an absolute embarrassment to the good people of Six Nations, but the refusal of the OPP once again to protect non-natives should be a clarion call to the people of Caledonia that their police force is as corrupt as it ever was, and they should be very wary of any assertions by their politicians or the OPP leadership about so-called ‘healing’ or ‘positive negotiations.’ There is no negotiating with the occupiers, nor should there be. What is needed is a directive that OPP officers are to protect law abiding people from their criminality.
Someone who attended our first Truth & Reconciliation rally on Feb 27/11 – their first event ever in Caldonia – told a friend recently:
“I witnessed with my own eyes the depravity of the police as they allowed thugs and bullies to intimidate people who had peacefully gathered to hold an event. These assholes bussed in professional protesters from Montreal, Toronto, New York and Guelph and the OPP did nothing to stop them from disrupting the event. I asked some OPP officers several times if they were going to do anything about it so we could proceed with the event, and all they kept saying was “we’re just here to keep the peace.” Apparently, keeping the peace means shielding the criminal thugs and helping them silence the law abiding citizens.”
Indeed, can you seriously imagine the OPP standing by and watching if non-natives had swarmed peaceful natives walking down the road to ask for an apology for Residential Schools, stole their property, assaulted them and then set their flags and property on fire? Of course you couldn’t because it would never be allowed to happen. That they allowed it to happen to us was more than outrageous, it was despicable. It was an embarrassment of complete and utter law enforcement abdication – again.
Note: For those who have not yet read our presentations or watched the videos from our ‘No More Nightmares’ presentation in Ottawa, I recommend them to you highly – especially Gary McHale’s segment on the ‘Smoking Gun of OPP Corruption.’
- HelplessByBlatchford feature: ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’
References
- VoiceofCanada, March 02/11: Truth & Reconciliation Rally, Caledonia – Feb 27/11 (UPDATE)
- Moose & Squirrel, Feb 28/11: Caledonia: The front line struggle against the anti-capitalist, anarchist, Marxist agenda
- Caledonia Victims Project, March 02/11: Haldimand Tract land claim myth should provide sober second thought re aboriginal sovereignty negotiations with anarchist proxies
- Caledonia Victims Project feature: Queen’s Park ‘Truth & Reconciliation’ news conference
- Globe & Mail, Christie Blatchford, Feb 28/11: For sheer abuse of state power nothing touches Caledonia [PDF]
- Moose & Squirrel, Feb 27/11: BREAKING: Ontario Liberal government’s private security force (OPP) to enforce race-based policing at today’s Truth & Reconciliation Rally in Caledonia! (reprint of update from Mark Vandermaas, w/photos of Apology monument)
Mark Vandermaas, Editor
VoiceofCanada
info@voiceofcanada.ca
www.VoiceofCanada.ca 
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Apparently both of you, Gary and Mark, are desperately wrong about charter rights and the charter itself. You naively believe that CCoR provides protection of the individual rights of the Canadians. It did provide declaration of rights, but in the very next sentence it undid that declaration. The rights in the charter are guaranteed as long as there is no law which would violate them.
Same with universal declaration of human rights by the UN, to which Canada is a signatory. UN declaration ‘guarantees’ that the rights can be exercised under the applicable laws.
Neither UDHR nor CCoR guarantee absolute rights.
Now let’s look at Ontario, where police services act has no provision mandating that police uphold the law – there is always officer’s discretion allowed, just as discretion of crown attorney to withdraw or proceed with the charges.
That room for discretion basically explains why Canadian people can’t rely on the CCoR as guarantee of their right for equal treatment under the law: there are no clearly defined criteria and each individual government official has opportunity to proceed as they see fit.
Roots of that lie in government model of Canada – half a monarchy, half democracy. Each of those halves is weak, imperfect, corrupt and gutless. Only if Canada drops monarchy and becomes a wholesome state with clear and logical laws, the situation would change. So I am not holding my breath – this is not a defeatist position, this is perception of reality based on many decades of experience gathered around the globe.
VoC REPLY: Hi Aaron: (I couldn’t approve any comments by anyone because my computer was in the shop). The Charter has its flaws, including the lack of provision for enforcement – unlike our American cousins. But I can tell you that the Charter had a profound effect on Gary’s ability to gather evidence through disclosure when he was charged with Counselling Mischief Not Committed.
The problem is that many conservatives have failed to embrace the Charter. They like to complain about it instead of use its provisions, almost as if they think it’s going away somehow. Heck the U.S. had to ammend its Constitution more than a few times before they got it right. What makes us think we’re different?
The (easy and convenient) alternative to doing so is to sit back and complain how it’s no use to even try to enforce one’s rights so why bother? We’re not doing that. We’re using every tool – including the Charter – at our disposal to tell the police and government that we’re not going away, that they will respect our rights.
The other problem that people have is they think one protest, one letter, one lawsuit will end ingrained racism within society. It won’t, it takes time, and persistent effort. It took us 5 years to get Caledonia’s victims stories told by someone like Blatchford. Some people thought that was impossible. It took us nearly 3 years to raise a Canadian flag. Some people thought it was impossible. It took us 2 years to get Fantino charged with a criminal offence. Some people said that was impossible. I could go on, but you get the idea.
Kind of a shame, really, that all those who think change is impossible won’t come and stand the watch with us, but that’s how people are. It’s easier to complain than to act, I guess.
The PSA also needs some strengthening – which is why we released our ‘Caledonia Act’ policy and legislative recommendations at our ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’ presentation in Ottawa. You can read them here:
Click to access 110322-program_handout.pdf
and see the rest of our presentations here:
http://helplessbyblatchford.wordpress.com/caledonia-no-more-nightmares/
Thanks for writing Aaron. Regards, Mark
Canada’s shame.. The OPP’s dereliction of duty. These are not police. There politicians with guns. Stop funding a group that long ago stopped serving the public for only themselves.
JMO
OMG, what’s the use of you charging Fantino with crimes, when the charges never stuck? Crown simply refuses to proceed with them. In another post you claimed to be result oriented. How is THIS result oriented? The Conservatives picked up Fantino from the ditch, blew the dust off and he is nice and shiny MP now, who could not care less if he was ever charged with political interference.
Same with you charging other traitor cops with offenses – crown drops charges and off they go, squeaky clean.
But what about the residents? How did charter assist them in any shape and form? They want to use section 41 of CCC to remove trespassers, but they can’t, because then police will arrest themselves and this time the Crown would throw a book at them – there would be no mercy. What or who can protect the rights of residents? Charter would not. It’s a piece of paper smeared with ink, which has no value.
“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”
The government is doing all its justifying as police protects them. How’s that ‘rights’ and ‘freedom’ is beyond me. People had more freedom in the USSR – at least it was guaranteed. Political interference and corruption actually violated the rights of Soviet citizens. In Canada everything is perfectly legal, including bizarre lawlessness in Caledonia, and that’s SCARY.
VoC: Hi Aaron. You’ve got so much in there that I could literally write a short book if I was to respond, and I’m just too exhausted after another trip to Caledonia, this time for a 4 hour interview with a journalist followed by a trip to Hamilton with the VP of the International Free Press Society to meet some Jewish people who want to know more about Caledonia, and who may possibly want to help us educate the public as we did in Ottawa.
I’m pooped so forgive me if I’m not as detailed or as patient as you might like:
1. Do you actually believe that we were too stupid to know that the Crown was going to drop the charges against the police, or against the politician and officers we’re working on charging right now?
It would have been great to have the Crown do the right thing, but we got the events recorded in a court of law, in the media, and ready for a future inquiry. And, we got it in Christie Blatchford’s book. I’m pretty happy with those results.
3. The Charter was indeed proven to be little more than a useless piece of paper in Caledonia, and more and more people are coming to understand that because of our work and those who help us.
4. Having said that, the Charter also forced the OPP to turn over disclosure to Gary McHale that led to the charges against OPP officers, and the ensuing national media coverage.
5. Since you’re not involved in the struggle on any basis (that I’m aware of) let alone on an intimate one you have no real way of knowing that the appointment of Fantino has had profound effect on some key CPC supporters who are absolutely outraged. I can’t say more than that. You may think that everything’s ducky and shiny, but it most assuredly is not.
7. Our work, at the very least, was largely responsible for getting the stories of the victims on the table via Helpless. BTW, have you even read the book?
8. The problem is that many residents don’t understand that ending systemic discrimination is a process, not an event. Other residents couldn’t even be bothered trying. Some, like Doug Fleming and a gutsy 14 year old girl on the Sixth Line living without policing took a stand.
9. So, what’s your solution? I’m not prepared to allow my country to throw away the rule of law and the concept that all citizens should be equal before the law, and I’m willing to risk my safety, my reputation, my freedom and my financial wellbeing to fight for justice.
What are you willing to do? Do you think we should just give up and get used to racial policing and the threat of violence and vandalism from thugs? It’s fine to criticize, but tell me what you would do differently?
Sorry, but that’s all I’ve got. Regards, Mark
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