Send in the police

National Post

Published: Wednesday, August 09, 2006

An Ontario judge has ordered that the "lawlessness" of the Caledonia land dispute must end and that barricades must come down before negotiations continue. This should have been the non-negotiable position of authorities from the outset. Six Nations protesters should have been ordered to submit to the law in February or have been made subject to it. Instead, a gang of masked thugs have been allowed to run amuck for six months, sowing violence, encouraging aboriginal extremism and living out the most racist stereotypes that white Canadians have of aboriginals.

The question is whether even now the Ontario government will use the resources at its disposal to enforce Ontario Superior Court Justice David Marshall's order. Remember, Justice Marshall issued a previous order in March to have the protesters removed by police. There was an abortive raid, but that ruling was never fully enforced. Absent a voluntary withdrawal by the aboriginal occupiers, the only way for it to happen now would be for the Ontario government to develop some spine. On the strength of statements by Premier Dalton McGuinty yesterday, the prospects for that seem faint.

Asked whether the province would respect the latest order, Mr. McGuinty replied: "It's the kind of thing that we're going to want to take some time to carefully consider." If Ontario had a premier who took the rule of law seriously, that time would amount only to a calculation of how long it would take to muster the police resources needed to enforce the order and then to dispatch those officers to Caledonia.

There is no doubt of the potential for violence -- just as there has been violence already between the Six Nations occupiers and residents of Caledonia, whose own frustrations have given rise to some shameful conduct. This could be much more serious, however. An aboriginal protester named "Joe" told the Canadian Press yesterday that if the provincial police came, he'd be "ready ... The only way they're going to get me off this land is if they drag my dead body off."

There have already been substantive concessions made to the aboriginal claims that the occupied Douglas Creek Estates housing development involved land that had been given to the Six Nations in the 19th century. The Ontario government has acquired the land in question and has demonstrated a willingness to negotiate a settlement. Once the land is surrendered, those negotiations should continue. But first, the land must be cleared of protesters and the lawlessness brought to an end.

Or is that too much to ask, Mr. McGuinty?