Ottawa Sun
Oct 17, 2006
One of these days, we fear, there’s going to be real trouble at the site of a long-simmering land dispute in the southern
That’s trouble with a capital “T.” Not the kind of minor disturbance we witnessed on the past weekend, when a few hundred protesters gathered at the site to try and stir the government into action.
The only real signs of disturbance on the weekend came when cops arrested a couple of protesters for crossing police lines and two others for intoxication. These would be the same police, presumably, who have stood quietly by while Native protesters dug up roads, took over homes under construction and engaged in all manner of violence over the past eight months.
We worry that all hell will break loose before this is resolved, and when it does, we wonder how Premier Dalton McGuinty and his buddies at Queen’s Park will be able to look in the mirror.
The simple fact that we’re now eight months into the standoff tells us all we need to know about the leadership abilities of the current provincial government. Instead of insisting that the law be applied equally and evenly to all
Police made one half-hearted attempt early in the occupation to oust the protesters, but backed off as soon as they dug in their heels.
Since then there has been plenty of hand-wringing, but the only real action from the provincial government has been to step in and pay a few million dollars to the developer whose land was seized in the uprising.
Henco Industries had planned to build 600 homes on the 40-hectare property. About 10 of those homes were under construction when protesters moved in Feb. 28. To this day, the houses sit half-finished — with red-and-yellow Native warrior flags fluttering on top of them, and the Natives vowing to stay for the winter.
Meanwhile, the tension between Native and non-Native residents hangs like a heavy mist in the air, while McGuinty mutters about his government and the feds being in the “process of negotiation” with the protesters, and getting “ongoing” advice from police.
That simply is not good enough. Laws are there for all Ontarians to obey. None of us gets to pick and choose. That’s a message the premier and his gang seem to have trouble understanding.