…theft of a motor vehicle, intimidation and assault causing bodily harm, attempted murder, dangerous driving, assaulting a police officer, forcible confinement, robbery, intimidation
The Ontario Provincial Police have laid or will be laying various combinations of those charges against at least 7 native protesters who have manned a barrier in the town of Caledonia for over 100 days in a land dispute.
There have been several incidents and people have accused the OPP of just standing by.
Three of the people roughed up by protesters on the weekend were US border patrol agents, and I wonder if they were there to do more than observe.
I wonder if the three observers were willing bait, for while many of the natives manning the barrier are sincere, it is no secret hard core agitators have been brought in. As much as the hard core agitators may hate the OPP, how much would you like to bet they hate the US Border Patrol even more?
I am sorry people are getting roughed up, and I think the members of the US BP deserve our thanks.
I also think the media getting roughed up has been helpful. While Caledonians have been incredibly inconvenienced, had their lives and livelihoods disrupted, and people had to work hard to keep calm and remain calm on both sides of the dispute, I don’t think the OPP have been as lax as people assume.
I wonder if some calculated risks have been taken while a great deal of intelligence has been gathered for future disputes.
I have covered enough stand offs, strikes or protests, seen way too many people lose their temper, and I have no patience with anyone being hurt on either side of a barrier.
Now the Six Nations Confederacy and police will have to step forward - they have condemned the violence, but they will have to do more. Reasoning by native leaders that those charged have been removed from the area is going to ring rather hollow.
I think the OPP protocol not to ‘enter’ a reserve puts the responsibility back on Six Nations leaders to deal in good faith - and again I don’t see that decision as lax on the part of the OPP either.
Waiting events and people out is not always a bad decision, nor is always a sign the powers that be are ‘not doing enough.’
The Ontario Premier had something to say to Six Nations leaders today, and to everyone at the protest site.
“We have just about exhausted our goodwill and our patience,” Dalton McGuinty said Monday as police continued to search for seven men in connection with recent skirmishes at Caledonia, Ont., southwest of Hamilton.
“We’re asking the leadership of the First Nations community involved to please remove those barricades as evidence of goodwill on their part.”
Asked what he’ll do if the barricade doesn’t come down soon, McGuinty simply answered: “We’ll see.”
Warrants were issued after an elderly couple’s car was swarmed and two news cameramen from a Hamilton television station were assaulted.
“I’m very pleased that warrants have been issued . . . I was angered and deeply disappointed that these particular individuals did what they did,” McGuinty said.
I doubt any leader can claim after over 100 days of negotiations these statements are threats. A Premier has to deal with public safety, and so do leaders of the Six Nations Confederacy.