Standoff strains OPP

Fantino: Force may need more cops for Caledonia

By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
Posted Toronto Sun
March 1, 2007

The OPP may have to hire more officers as the Caledonia standoff reaches one year with no clear end in sight, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino says.

"We just can't sustain this ongoing ... there's got to be a resolution," Fantino said. "When you think about some 5,000 police officers rotating through (Caledonia) over the last year; 480,000 hours of police officer work that should have gone elsewhere; and all that time there's this negotiation stuff that appears to me at least to be going nowhere."

Fantino said he has yet to be contacted by anyone in the federal government, although Ottawa is responsible for negotiating the Douglas Creek land claim with the Six Nations community.

"I've had no opportunities to provide briefings about some of the significant potential threats that we're facing with regards to how this is a very explosive situation, one that can erupt at any given time," Fantino said.

Ottawa has not inquired as to whether the OPP needs any assistance either, he said.

The OPP has had to draw in officers from all over the province and lean on other police forces to cope with the significant demands of the Caledonia situation, Fantino said.

It has been one year since members of the Six Nations community moved onto a new housing construction site in Caledonia, claiming the land as their own.

'KEEP THE PEACE'

Yesterday, Premier Dalton McGuinty called on the Harper government to pick up the pace to find a solution to this crisis.

"We will continue to assume our responsibility, keep the peace, do what we can to mitigate consequences, provide financial assistance from the people of Ontario to Caledonia where it makes sense for us to do so, but the only body that is in a position to bring the discussions to fruition is the federal government," he said.

Three dozen protesters held a demonstration at Queen's Park yesterday to note the one-year anniversary of the Caledonia standoff.

Doreen Silversmith, of the Cayuga Nation and Six Nations Confederacy, said the government has attempted to thwart their land reclamation efforts. "But damn it, we are still here in your face and we continue to survive in spite of you," she said.