March Madness

By Susan Gamble, expositor staff
Brantford EXPOSITOR
Thursday, October 05, 2006 - 01:00

The city's decision to deny the use of a municipal building to those planning a big march in Caledonia has blossomed into a hot topic of debate.

Mayor Mike Hancock said his office has received a "fair bit of reaction" since a story on the issue was published Wednesday.

And the march's organizer, Gary McHale, spent the day being interviewed by radio and TV reporters.

“The controversy just increases my publicity,” said McHale.

“For every politician that interferes, it doubles my crowd because people support our right to free speech.”

Hancock said calls and e-mails from the community have been mainly positive, but those from outside the area -- including a phone call from B.C. -- have been angry.

The city reneged on a verbal rental agreement to rent Lions Park arena tonight to McHale, who has scheduled his march for Oct. 15 in Caledonia to protest against the ongoing native occupation of a housing development in that community. As part of the organization of the march, McHale had scheduled planning meetings this week in Brantford, Cayuga and Kitchener.

His rental of Lions Park was scuttled, however, when city officials decided they didn’t like McHale's message and that the meeting had the potential for making a volatile situation worse.

McHale said again Wednesday that he’s still coming to the Edge Street arena tonight at 7 o'clock. If police keep him from entering the building, he said he’ll speak on the street.

The controversy spilled onto the airwaves Wednesday. An hour-long radio talk show in Kitchener posed the question: “Was the mayor of Brantford wrong for cancelling a Caledonia protest meeting?”

Host Jeff Allan took a dozen calls and not one person supported Hancock’s decision.

“I don’t like the precedent it sets,” said one man.

“That mayor is like a dictator,” said another caller. “There’s no democracy in Brantford.”

A man named Rich said Hancock was a hypocrite for denying a municipal meeting place for McHale, while welcoming the natives who set up an information booth on the outskirts of the city.

McHale, a Richmond Hill resident, called Hancock's cancellation of his event “absolutely wrong.”

He said the event was canned because of harassment. Every time a meeting place, donor or speaker is made public for one of his events, people start phoning and making threats, McHale said.

Hancock confirmed that one caller had told a city worker “you better make sure you have lots of insurance.” But the mayor insists that he wasn’t harassed into his decision to disallow McHale’s meeting.

“If I have a role to play as the mayor it’s in protecting this community,” Hancock said. “There was the possibility of violence and of destroying relationships if this meeting went ahead.”

Hancock said he and senior staff made the decision after viewing McHale’s website, www.caledoniawakeupcall.com.

He said the issue is now in the hands of city police who will be at Lions Park tonight in case of trouble.

Meanwhile, McHale was off to a similar meeting Wednesday night in Cayuga. Although he said the operators of that venue had also received harassing calls, his rental was not cancelled.

While many people question McHale’s motives, agenda and financing, the software designer said he’s simply angry at the two-tiered justice system that he sees occurring in Caledonia.

“I’m that rare breed who believes law and order is so vital that nobody should sit back and allow what’s going on to continue. There have always been people like me who say enough is enough.”

McHale hopes his organizing efforts pay off: he wants 20,000 people to attend the Caledonia rally. But he said he’s being hampered by Haldimand County not giving him a permit to meet and march.

Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer said McHale hasn’t even asked for a permit.

“He’s been told he does need a permit and he’s had lots of time to ask for one,” said Trainer.

She’s concerned that McHale’s group will try to march on the contested Douglas Creek Estates housing development and will encounter resistance from the natives there.

The county would be hardpressed to offer McHale another venue, said Trainer. The fairgrounds which he also considered, isn’t large enough for 20,000 people and is privately owned. Edinburgh Square near the fairground is part of a native land claim and is too small.

“Regardless, he says he’s trying to get the attention of the province and the federal government so if his fight is not with the natives, stay away from the site,” she said.

Trainer added that she was pleased that Brantford had “stepped up to the plate” in a decision to deny a municipal venue to McHale for his meeting.