The Regional News This Week February 14/07
COMMENT by Bill Jackson
Many think that Gary McHale is old news by now, but his name came up frequently last week at a public meeting in Caledonia.
People don't have a problem with county councillors not supporting Gary McHale. They have a problem with councillors who are against him and make him a target for public backlash. And it isn't necessarily just about Gary McHale, personally. It's about what he represents in the grand scheme of things. McHale has become a symbol of what's wrong in Caledonia, and perhaps more importantly, Haldimand.
It's obvious that throughout the native land dispute in Caledonia, local councillors have been between a rock and a hard place in most instances. The problems associated with the dispute really have nothing to do with them. They didn't cause them, nor are they able to fix them realy.
For argument's sake and in order to avoid getting too political, you could say that both the provincial and federal governments have failed to show leadership in these situations. What compensation has been doled out - and that is being contemplated, you could also argue, is there to band-aid failure - it's compensation, not "assistance."
The thing that should cause concern for everyone is where our public officials place the blame for the failure, both locally and in the big picture. Because a resolution to this "land claim" dispute and others will most likely manifest itself there.
It seems as if the majority of government and police spokespersons as well as county councillors condemn Gary McHale as they speak of this "assistance". It's as if McHale is at the root of Caledonia's problems and the natives are virtually non-existent now, just because they've been quiet lately in below freezing weather.
The question still remains - and no one has answered it yet to our satisfaction - how has McHale disrupted the peace? Simply, how?
We can think of many instances that would show natives causing disruptions over the past year, but how exactly has Gary McHale disturbed the peace?
The other question is not why do councillors not support Gary McHale, but rather why are they against him, specifically?
For the past 13 months we've watched natives disregard our laws and terrorize our neighbourhoods. Yet according to at least one town councillor at a town hall meeting last week, the federal government's "legal opinion" does not say that the Plank road land claim is invalid. Say what?
...."Only that in eyes of Canada a COURT would ALMOST CERTAINLY find favour with the Government..." according to Councillor Craig Grice.
Have we all lost our minds? Only?
Grice is even critical of the report and says that the paper does not explore the financial questions behind the sale of the land.
We'd ask why councillors are being skeptical of a definite, federal, legal position. Why leave a loophole for doubt any more than there already is? While councillors can't fix the problems, they could at least do their best for damage control by being affirmative and confident with the government's legal stance.
We also hear that "at least" the province has come through with "something". One councillor even felt it necessary to say the native poeople don't want to be killed anymore than the non-natives. We also hear that the land claim is no longer illegal because the province owns the land and that natives are taking the remants of homes onto the reserve.
And yet, Gary McHale is the bad seed in all this apparently.
That's what the public hears anyway. And councillors should take heed.
Using McHales's effect on business as an excuse to stiff arm him doesn't sound very rational either, and fails to look at the big picture. Not all constituents agree with keeping him out and attempting to do so is just another band-aid on the big problem - playing favourites.
How did Gary McHale disrupt the peace in Caledonia? We'd like to know.
We'd also suggest that some of our county councillors should start calling a spade a spade instead of pussyfooting around what the real problem is. The natives. Not all natives, but the portion of them who act like nothing but organized criminals.
Sometimes people just want to hear someone say it eloquently, not necessarily like Haldimand's mayor did last year, nor like her polar opposite in the press, David Peterson.
You don't need to say that all natives get cheques every month, or that all natives are divine angels, but simply acknowledge the fact that some natives are the ones that have the OPP standing on the front lines to begin with. Mayor Trainer has done this in her own special way; many of her councillor colleagues have not. Yet Trainer has also tried to stop McHale from coming to town.
In our opinion, when we start attacking McHale, we start attacking the wrong side of this dispute. Do we all-of-a-sudden forget the months prior to his arrival?
That's the real cause for concern. But all residents hear is how great the province is and how a federal legal opinion isn't worth the paper it's written on.
Arbitrarily deciding not to support a simple Canadian flag-raising incident pales in comparison to arbitrarily attacking the credibility of one without cause, before it even happens. No one asked county councillors to do that. So why did they?
We'd suggest that the councillors would be better off judging the root causes rather than wasting time criticizing people for coming into the community and taking a stand. People they can't even control anyway. Maybe McHale is coming to town to be close by, but miles away?
The province's ability to keep the peace and the flouting of Canadian laws are the chief concerns. They're also why people get frustrated and feel they're not being heard, or listened to.
Before Haldimand attacks the crediblity of an outsider, perhaps local representatives should think of why it needs so many marketing programs to bring people into town.
That's where they should start attacking. And they should make it more public.