OPP set up McHale & supporters for violence, false criminal charges – again

Native protesters & supporters interfere with CANACE anti-racism rally for 2nd straight week trying to incite responses from residents & organizers. Crashers placed their own banner behind CANACE founder Merlyn Kinrade as he announced the cancellation of the event due to lack of police presence.

UPDATED 1115 March 30/10 — For the second week in a row native protesters and supporters forced the cancellation of CANACE’s Anti-Racism Rally in Caledonia after they confronted organizers and residents, surrounded them and heckled Gary McHale as he explained why he and Merlyn felt it necessary to again call off the event – all without a single OPP officer present to separate and control the two sides.

You can see some of the native protesters w/CUPE members coming to confront the CANACE protesters in the photo below with absolutely no police presence. Above, they made sure to hold their banners behind Merlyn as he spoke while others mingled with the residents who came out to hear speeches about racial policing and how it has caused terrible trauma to residents. 

UPDATE: Gary McHale informed me after publication that he saw a handful of officers standing “150 feet away.”

The speech native protesters and CUPE didn’t want you to hear

I was not able to give my speech – Healing in the Absence of Justice – for the second week in a row, so I have published it in this article on the Caledonia Victims Project site: 

• Caledonia Victims Project, March 30/10: The racist speech native protesters, CUPE and OPP did not want Caledonia to hear

Zero OPP presence

Although police have lined up numerous time to stop non-natives from walking down a street near the occupation site, and four people (Randy Fleming, photo R), including both McHale and me, have been arrested to prevent a ‘breach of the peace’ because we dared try to raise a Canadian flag, there was not a single officer present to keep native protesters and their supporters apart to prevent them from disrupting the CANACE event. The only police presence I observed was a single officer videotaping the event. That was it. Clearly the OPP were trying to do the very same thing as was done on Dec 01/07 – set up a situation where violence could break out and then blame it all on McHale:

• VoiceofCanada, March 25/10: Why Merlyn’s Anti-Racism rally is rescheduled for this coming Sunday

OPP knew of very real danger of false criminal allegations by native protesters

Not only do native protesters have a long history of violence in Caledonia, including the vicious assault on Gary McHale on Dec 01/07 which I discussed in ‘Why Merlyn’s Anti-Racism rally is rescheduled for this coming Sunday, some native protesters have fabricated false allegations against non-natives in order to incite violence, and then have others falsify ‘corroborating’ witness accounts. The worst of the violence on Dec 1st was actually incited by a false allegation of assault by Camille Powless against Gary McHale.

McHale hearing: ERT officer “alarmed” at lack of OPP resources for Dec 01/07 protest

UPDATED 1948 EST June 19/09: Regional News, June 10/09: Officer Hartless speaks out in Court

UPDATE 1640 EST April 26/09: In the initial version of this story I stated incorrectly that Dave Hartless was originally scheduled as a Crown witness. 
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In my last story I reported a number of items including Fantino’s testimony at the McHale preliminary hearing on Wed, April 22/09, and the fact that court adjourned early to give McHale time to study some startling new evidence that will be entered when Fantino retakes the stand next Tuesday April 28/09  at 0900 (changed from 1000).

• VoiceofCanada, April 22/09: McHale back in court and other important stories

Here are the highlights from Thursday and Friday, including some shocking testimony from an OPP officer regarding the lack of resources provided for the Dec 01/07 protest…

Thurs, April 23/09

1. Crown witness, DWAYNE ROLLINS, former Turtle Island News reporter

• Employed by Turtle Island News from March 2007 until Dec 23/08.
• Fired by TIN because “for several months” he was providing stories to the Caledonia Cafe discussion board in exchange for information on the activities of non-natives. Knew that people on the board were trying to paint McHale as a criminal and white supremacist who had committed numerous crimes. Was caught when he provided a story to the Cafe that was posted prior to publication in the TIN.  Owner/editor Lynda Powless killed the TIN story, but Rollins was exposed when it appeared on the Cafe. Couldn’t remember what screen name he used on the Cafe.
• He wanted to ‘provide balance’ to his stories.
• Lynda Powless is a ‘challenging individual.’
• Took video on Dec 1/07, including 5 second clip of McHale allegedly counselling Doug Fleming to get residents to help him block the road. 
• Video was not in chronological order; a segment from the beginning of event appearing at the end of the video after a blank screen.
• Handed video camera to TIN employee Jim Powless (son of Lynda Powless) at approx. 6pm after the protest.
• Video recording was placed on disk by TIN employee Clyde King.
• McHale was usually ‘calm and composed’ but on Dec 01/07 he was ‘agitated’ and ‘swore a couple of times.’ Under cross-examination however, he admitted that nowhere in his video does McHale swear, and the only time he was really agitated and upset was when he expressed his concern for wife Christine while being led away by police after being attacked by Clyde Powless.

VoC’s predictions for 2008

UPDATED 1907 EST Dec 04/07

Before we get to VoC’s predictions for the new year, let’s catch up on some notable developments that occurred during the Christmas holidays:

1. Correction: VoC reported that the charges against Doug Fleming (Mischief) arising from the events of Dec 01/07 had been dropped. In fact, the Crown did withdraw the original charge due to a technical error, but replaced it with a new one. VoC regrets the error. Doug is scheduled to appear in court on Jan 23/08.

2. In mid-December, VoC was accused of defaming Six Nations nurse Timothy Sywyk with a false allegation that he had sexually abused a patient. On Dec 28/07 VoC obtained evidence directly from the College of Nurses to support the allegations. See CNO confirms Six Nations RN disciplined for past patient abuse.

CNO confirms Six Nations RPN disciplined for past patient abuse

UPDATE 1126 Jan 14/07: VoC used the term ‘Registered Professional Nurse’ as being represented by the acronym ‘RPN.’ The correct term is ‘Registered Practical Nurse.’ This article has been updated accordingly. VoC regrets the error, and thanks ‘Don’ for pointing out the mistake. 

UPDATE 1315 EST Jan 04/07: Updates, addt’l content, incl. thank you to Jim Windle and Tekawennake news.
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VoiceofCanada has received confirmation from the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) that the Timothy Sywyk employed as a nurse at a Six Nations health centre is the same person who was disciplined by the CNO in 2007 for sexually abusing a patient.