Lots of blame to go around

Fri, June 1, 2007

Justice Sidney Linden cites the feds, province and the OPP for contributing to the tragedy.

By JOHN MINER AND JOE BELANGER, SUN MEDIA
London Free Press

FOREST -- The slaying of Dudley George during a native occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park was the tragic product of decades of federal government neglect and a botched OPP response, a judicial inquiry has ruled.

"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 made a tragic confrontation more likely," Justice Sidney Linden wrote in his long-awaited report.

And in a blunt recommendation, Linden called on the federal government to immediately return the former army camp to the peoples of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and guarantee it will assume complete responsibility for an appropriate environmental cleanup of the site.

"The federal government should issue a public apology with appropriate compensation to the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation for the failure of the federal government for more than 60 years to honour its promise to return the lands to the First Nation," Linden wrote.

Four years in the making, the 1,500-page report of the judicial inquiry into the shooting of George on Sept. 6, 1995, contains 98 recommendations, covering future police operations and federal and provincial government relations with natives.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty apologized to the George family soon after the report was released.

Linden also concluded former Ontario premier Mike Harris made a racist comment about natives, but never interfered with the police operation that ended in the fatal shooting of George by an OPP sniper.

In a ruling native lawyers characterized as "astounding" because it didn't accept the word of a premier, Linden rejected testimony of Harris that he never told a high-level Queen's Park meeting: "I want the f---ing Indians out of the park."

Linden, who had been urged by the police union to find Dudley George was armed with a gun when he was shot, found he didn't have a gun the night he was killed by acting OPP Sgt. Ken Deane.

"Ken Deane's assertion that Dudley threw his rifle on the ground is implausible," Linden wrote. "I accept the evidence of the aboriginal people that the occupiers did not have guns at the park during the confrontation with police."

Sam George, Dudley's brother, said after the report was released that his 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.

"I believe he did right and for that he paid the ultimate price."

Native leaders warned that if the report is ignored, Ontario and Canada risk more blockades and confrontations.

"There are a lot of our young people who have nothing to lose," said John Beaucage, Grand Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, which represents 42 First Nations across the province.

George was part of a native group that moved into Ipperwash Provincial Park after it was closed for the season, claiming it was the site of a native burial ground, an assertion later confirmed by the federal government.

Based on recorded conversations and radio transmissions, Linden found that the racism and cultural insensitivity among some members of the Ontario Provincial Police contributed to the lack of a timely, peaceful resolution to the occupation.

"There is no place for racial taunts or slurs of any type by police officers," Linden wrote.

Police who were ordered to the park were acting on mistaken and unverified information, Linden wrote.

"The OPP's assessment of the risk at the park was incorrect. This mistake had severe and tragic repercussions."

In the early part of the native occupation, the police commander and other officers spent an inordinate amount of time and effort on armoured vehicles, weapons and other equipment, valuable time taken away from important issues such as speaking to a negotiator, Linden wrote.

The report calls for the OPP to ensure the involvement of First Nation police services and mediators when it responds to future aboriginal occupations and protests.

Linden also calls for the OPP to issue a public apology to Cecil Bernard George for the blows to his head and face at the hands of one or more unidentified police officers when he was arrested in the sandy parking lot where Dudley George was shot.

A Kettle Point band councillor, Cecil Bernard George hadn't been part of the occupation, but was arrested during the clash between natives and police.

One of Linden's major recommendations calls for creation of a permanent, independent and impartial agency -- the Treaty Commission of Ontario -- to oversee the settling of native land claims in Ontario.

As for the future of Ipperwash park, which remains occupied by the natives, Linden said allowing the status quo to continue "is not in anybody's interest."

"It is a tribute to the patience and restraint of the occupiers and the local residents that there have been no serious, adverse incidents since 1995. But this unresolved status should not continue," the report said.

Asked at a news conference if the province would now re-open the park, David Ramsay, minister responsible for aboriginal affairs, said "that is not something I have been contemplating."