Chinta Puxley
Canadian Press
"It is impossible to attribute Mr. George's death to a single person, factor, decision or institution," Commissioner Sydney Linden said following the release of his four-volume report on the police shooting in September 1995.
"On the contrary, it was the combination of these that made a violent result more likely, particularly when they all came together in the space of a few short days and hours in the context of a highly-charged confrontation. Individuals and institutions need to be held accountable for the consequences of their decisions and actions, whether those consequences were intended or not."
"The federal government, the provincial government, and the OPP must all assume some responsibility for decisions or failures that increased the risk of violence and make a tragic confrontation more likely."
While the federal government has allowed aboriginal land claims "to fester for decades," Linden faulted then-premier Mike Harris for giving police 24 hours to remove aboriginal protesters from Ipperwash Provincial Park, just days after they occupied it claiming it was the site of a sacred burial ground.
Harris uttered a racial slur at a meeting hours before George was shot by a police sniper,
"After carefully assessing the evidence, it is my view that Michael Harris made the statement 'I want the f**king Indians out of the park',"
The government's "imperative for speed" and its reluctance to examine the legitimacy of the aboriginal claim made it virtually impossible for either side to negotiate an end to the dispute,
"The provincial government could have appointed a mediator or negotiator at any time, but did not,"
David Ramsay, the
But the lawyer representing aboriginals at the inquiry said Harris himself owes an apology to the people of
"They misled the people of
Harris's lawyer Peter Downard said the most important finding from Thursday's report is that Harris did not interfere in the police response at Ipperwash.
"It's easy to try to stretch things, to make it look as bad as possible for (Harris)," said Downard. "But there is no evidence to suggest that the premier had any responsibility for Mr. George's death."
But the brother of Dudley George said he holds Harris partially responsible for what happened, and he hopes the former premier will apologize to his family.
Sam George added that his brother should be remembered as a man of conviction.
"My brother's legacy is that he stood up for what he believed in, he stood up for himself, he stood up for his community and he stood up for his land," said George.
"I believe he did right, but for that he paid the ultimate price."
George said his brother was vindicated by the findings of
The report also found that provincial police made negotiation unlikely because of their "cultural insensitivity," poor communication and unwillingness to involve aboriginal mediators.
"Cultural insensitivity and racism on the part of some of the OPP officers involved were evident both before and after Dudley George's death and created a barrier to establishing effective communication and to developing a level of trust with the occupiers which in turn, made a timely, peaceful resolution of the occupation more difficult," Linden said following the release of his report.
"There is no place for racial taunts or slurs of any type by police officers."
But the lawyer for the provincial police says his force was put in a very difficult position during the occupation.
Mark Sandler said that since police can't resolve land claims, they have very little control over Aboriginal protests that result from them.
Noting aboriginal protesters are "different than a soccer crowd,"
"Unfortunately, the issues that were at the heart of the Ipperwash occupation remain to this day,"
"The Aboriginal occupation at
The province should establish a Treaty Commission of Ontario which would help settle land claims in
While the provincial police have learned from Ipperwash,