Adrian Humphreys , National Post
November 26, 2009
HAMILTON -- Recent videos of two flag-waving marches along the main street in Caledonia, passing a site that has been occupied by native protesters since 2006, were shown in court on Thursday, starkly highlighting the different reactions of police to aboriginal marchers and Caledonia residents.
The videos make it appear as though the Canadian flag has been outlawed in the area by the Ontario Provincial Police.
The first video (the fourth video on this external website) shows Caledonia resident Randy Fleming walking down the side of Argyll Street South last Victoria Day -- May 24, 2009 -- with a Canadian flag tied to a stick slung over his left shoulder. He saunters on to the edge of the occupied site, at which point he is grabbed by a black-clad OPP officer, escorted a few metres off the site, and is then pounced on by several other officers.
An officer is seen taking the flag from Mr. Fleming, quickly rolling it up and handing it to another officer, who rushes away with it.
In the second video (the first video on this external website), taped on July 15, 2009, native protesters carrying Warrior Society flags and Six Nations flags walked down the middle of the street, followed by a number of pickup trucks, some draped with Warriors flags and signs.
The native march had an OPP escort -- with a cruiser, its lights flashing, slowly driving behind the marchers. As the last of the marchers enters the occupied site, an officer is seen talking with them and gives a wave as he gets into his cruiser to leave.
"They even waved at them, isn't that special," a female voice is heard saying on the video. Other voices can be heard pointedly noting the discrepancy in the approaches police took to the two flag-carrying incidents.
The videos were both taken by David Brown, who is suing the province of Ontario and the OPP for failing to protect him and his family and for not enforcing the laws against protesters who occupy a 70-acre site that borders his property on two sides.
They were shown to Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Bielby by the Crown as part of its defence of the $7-million lawsuit filed by Mr. Brown, 42, his wife, Dana Chatwell, 45, and their son, Dax Chatwell, 18.
The court has heard much over the past week about flag wars going on around the occupied site since the 2006 occupation of land that was being developed into a residential subdivision.
Court heard how the occupation grew violent after the OPP tried to eject protesters on April 20, 2006, only to be pushed back by a growing throng of natives.
After retaking the site, native protesters erected roadblocks on Argyll Street, the thoroughfare leading to it, trapping the house of Mr. Brown as the only one on the native side of the barricade. Court heard earlier that OPP officers would not cross the natives' barricade, even when witnessing criminal acts.
The barricades were removed on May 23, 2006, but the occupation continues.
Since then numerous flag incidents have occurred, court heard.
Mr. Brown said the atmosphere surrounding them was extremely hostile. "This hatred, you could cut with a knife," Mr. Brown said. "You can see how people get with these flag raisings."
One day, native protesters stole a Canadian flag off his property and stood on the site waving it at the OPP, teasing them, daring them to come on to the site to get it, Mr. Brown said. The OPP did nothing, he said.
"I told them [the OPP] I wanted my flag back.... They said, ‘Not at this time.' "
Mr. Brown admitted to later flying a Warriors flag on his property with an "X" painted through it. "I believe I was going a little crazy at the time.... I was tired of looking at ... the Canadian flag upside down, with the leaf cut out of it."
Court heard of a Caledonia resident, a war veteran, who was set upon by OPP officers for trying to walk along the street in front of the occupied site with a Canadian flag.
Court also heard OPP reports of calls from the community to police complaining of native marches being allowed with Warriors flags and Six Nations flags, but Canadian flags being banned by the OPP in the same area.
Mr. Brown said all he has seen over almost four years living at the edge of the occupied site leads him to conclude that the native protesters are in control of the area, not the OPP.
"They [natives] come and go and do whatever they want, whenever they feel like it, without discipline or without arrests," he testified. "Obviously, the natives are in charge."
Late in the afternoon, Ms. Chatwell took the stand as the second witness to be sworn in to give evidence. She compared living next to the occupation as being like her past abusive marriage, during which she twice had her former husband charged with assault.
"This whole situation is like my spousal abuse," she said.
Her examination is scheduled to continue on Monday.
The case will not be heard today to allow participants to attend the funeral of Justice David Marshall, a renowned local judge who was involved in the Caledonia dispute, issuing the injunction that ordered native protesters to leave the site.