Monte Sonnenberg
Tuesday October 17, 2006
McHale organized the march in Caledonia Sunday to protest the ongoing occupation of the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision.
Attempts have been made to portray McHale as a troublemaker poking his nose into other people’s business. But far from stirring the pot, McHale succeeded in highlighting the fact that the illegal Caledonia occupation is a serious issue that affects all Canadians.
McHale and his fellow marchers came together because they object to the legal double standard the McGuinty Liberals have imposed on Ontario. The most basic responsibility our politicians have is to uphold the rule of law. Without the rule of law, society descends into anarchy. But for nearly nine months, this government has tolerated lawlessness in Caledonia. In doing so, it has encouraged similar behaviour elsewhere in Ontario and potentially the rest of the country.
Aboriginal Canadians are allowed to flout repeated court orders to vacate the land at issue. But McHale and company were repeatedly exhorted to abandon their protest, or at least take it somewhere where it could be conveniently ignored.
Aboriginal Canadians are allowed to harass and intimidate residents of Caledonia and get away with repeated crimes, yet the OPP looks the other way. But another native Canadian - this one white - steps on to the disputed provincial land and is promptly arrested. This demonstrates yet again that Ontario has embraced an apartheid enforcement policy, which is yet another disaster visited on this province by the McGuinty government’s weak-kneed response to Caledonia.
And while the OPP has handled the lawbreakers with kid gloves these past eight months, they suddenly have an opinion when a concerned Ontarian shows up to express concern about what is happening in Caledonia. An OPP spokesperson blamed McHale for letting the march get out of control.
“He’s gone and we’re left with this mess,” the sergeant said. “It’s sad when somebody has a personal agenda and no regard for anyone else.”
News flash: the situation in Caledonia was a mess long before McHale and crew turned up. That’s why they gave up a Sunday to confront the situation. And matters aren’t getting any better.
The province and its agencies have stood idly by while a group with unsubstantiated and improvable claims have waltzed in to a community and terrorized it. Parents are expected to send their children to a school that has a giant fence around the back, with surveillance cameras, to keep them safe from a gang of full-time troublemakers - many of whom aren’t even from this province. No one knows when access and egress in Caledonia will be disrupted again. Businesses are suffering. No one knows when more vital infrastructure is going to be sabotaged, perhaps again plunging communities far field into darkness now that the cold weather has arrived. Every man and woman in the McGuinty caucus should be ashamed to cash their pay cheques.