Samantha Craggs
Friday, June 01, 2007
Belleville Intelligencer
An apology for the events leading to the death of Dudley George is a start, but there is a long way to go toward soothing relations between First Nations and the provincial government, says the chief of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ).
The apology from the province that accompanied Thursday's results of the Ipperwash inquiry is a step in the right direction, said Chief R. Donald Maracle. But the hurt still runs deep.
"Obviously it won't restore Dudley George's life, or the unjust loss of land," he said. "But I think the issue was investigated properly and hopefully now a healing process has begun."
The inquiry showed police and governments were responsible for the shooting death of George, who was protesting the expropriation of land from the Stony Point First Nation. The land was expropriated by Canada in 1942 to be used as a military base with the promise that it would be returned after the Second World War. The land was never returned.
Justice Sidney Linden urged the province to establish a commission to settle native land claims. In the 1,400-page report, he also urged better policing policies.
Maracle said Thursday the MBQ are still examining the 98 recommendations. The findings seem to be "pretty much what First Nations people had expected."
For communities that feel marginalized, whose land has experienced "serious federal mismanagement," there is a lot farther to go, Maracle said.
"There's just a lot of unsettled issues and there's a lot of work to be done to settle the relationship with provincial and federal governments," he said. "It's time to turn the page."
At a Deseronto-area quarry, where a group of Mohawk protesters have been living since March, the inquest results affirmed what they already believed, said Shawn Brant, who has served as a spokesman for the group.
The group is inhabiting the quarry to demand that its operating licence be revoked, as it is located on a 923.5-acre tract of land currently subject to land claim negotiations.
With a national day of protest planned for June 29, there are a lot of similarities between now and when George was killed, Brant said. "It's ironic that Dudley was killed in 1995 and it was during contentious times, and now it's re-emerging at a time when there's a crisis again," he said.