In a way it's like those appalling moments when people hear the screams of someone in distress, but are too fearful of their own safety to intervene. Except in this case the abuse went on and on, plenty long enough for people to know what was happening, consider the situation at length, and still not come to the rescue. And it's not that they were afraid to help, or didn't want to, but that they couldn't, because someone somewhere had reached the pervserse conclusion that abandoning the Browns to their fate was justifiable if it furthered the policy aims of the government.
Read this, and then try to explain how it can in any way be justified, no matter how important or desirable it is to find a way to deal with native land disputes. It's Thursday's testimony by Ms. Chatwell, which follows similar testimony by her husband, who similarly broke down at the frustration and embarrassment at being unable to defend himself and his wife, or deal with the inability to do so.
Chatwell, Brown and their son Dax are suing the Ontario government and the OPP for $7 million in punitive and aggravated damages. The Crown has argued that the couple's claim "must be understood against the backdrop of the unique character of aboriginal occupations and protests," and that police were handcuffed by the "policy implications" of negotiation and reconciliation with natives.
Hamilton • The tough facade of a Caledonia woman -- who had previously confronted masked native protesters outside her house in her pyjamas, wielding a baseball bat -- dissolved on the witness stand yesterday, as she buried her head in her hands sobbing.
"I'm done," said Dana Chatwell, 45, who is suing the Ontario Provincial Police and the government for failing to protect her, her family and property during the native occupation of a planned housing development that almost surrounds her house.
"I'm tired of fighting with the government; I'm tired of fighting with the police; I'm tired of fighting with the natives; I'm tired of fighting with Caledonia; I'm tired of fighting with Caledonia people who say just keep quiet.
"I'm angry. I'm bitter. I'm sick of everyone thinking we're racists when we're not... I've had enough," she said, sweeping her arm out and knocking a large binder of court documents onto the floor.
Ms. Chatwell's emotional testimony -- she clutched tissues in each hand -- and the sharp thud of the binder were all that could be heard in a courtroom filled with rapt spectators, many shedding tears of their own.
Ms. Chatwell broke down when talking about her house, her marriage, her business and her family being torn apart by the fiery occupation that started in 2006 and remains unresolved.
Court has previously heard that OPP officers generally refused to intervene with natives breaking the law at or near the site out of fear that it would inflame the already volatile situation. Court heard that even 911 calls went ignored.
Ms. Chatwell recounted several frightening confrontations, including running outside alone at night to warn off truckloads of masked native men who had driven up into her driveway, waving a baseball bat at them as she stood on the street in her neon green Mickey Mouse pyjamas.
On another occasion, in September 2008, she got a warning call from a friend that the barricades were again being erected around the site -- which would have again trapped Ms. Chatwell's house, alone, on the native side of the blockade.
"I always had suitcases packed at the door, so I just left," she said.
"I could see them getting things piled up, ready to drag them into the highway," she said. As she drove away, however, she and her son came across masked native men pulling a long metal guardrail across the road.
She got out of the car to ask them to let her pass.
"This big guy, native guy, he had a big 2x4 in his hands," she said. He started toward her, swinging the piece of wood, and shouting: "No way, you're not driving into Caledonia. I own Caledonia," court was told he said. "He's yelling at me that he owns all of Caledonia. He was crazy. It was like out of a movie," she said.
She could see three OPP cars nearby, apparently watching, she said, so "I wasn't scared." But then, to her horror, the police cars all turned around and drove away.
"They left me," she said. "I knew I was in way over my head." She ran back into her truck and fled.
She said she later learned the man who threatened her was Kenneth "Sleeper" Greene, who had some notoriety at the site for his aggressive stance.
OPP later arrested Mr. Greene, one of the rare occasions when officers set foot on the property since they were pushed off it by protesters.
Court continued to hear of incidents of intimidation, harassment and attacks endured by Ms. Chatwell and her family since members of the nearby Six Nations reserve seized the 70-acre construction site, where a residential subdivision was being built, as part of a larger land claims grievance.
There was a snake put in their mailbox, mail went missing, a letter was dropped off saying the writer wished she would get cancer, fireworks were shot at her house, nails strewn along the length of their driveway and natives repeatedly threatened the family, including threats that her son would be hurt at school.
They were kept awake many nights by loud noises, drumming and spotlights shining in their windows; Canadian flags were stolen from their property and Mohawk Warrior flags hung in their place; none of it was stopped by police, court heard.
"We would be here to the year 2025 if I wrote down everything that went on," she said. "It was constant."
Court watched a video of an angry confrontation when a dozen natives stood on the edge of the occupied site -- just off of Ms. Chatwell's wooden deck that had previously been the focus of the couple's social life, an oasis they once called "Puerto Backyarda" -- yelling obscenities and threats.
It has all robbed her of any enjoyment of their dream home, where Ms. Chatwell grew up with her half-native stepsisters.
"I look at my house right now and it's bare ... physically and mentally bare," Ms. Chatwell said.
Once the first in town to decorate for Christmas, she said she has not celebrated the holiday since the occupation began.
"I can't even be bothered -- for Christmas," she said, sobbing. "I can't stand even being there.... I swore I'd get through this and that house would be a home, but it's not. I'm beaten."
Ms. Chatwell, her husband, David Brown, 42, and son, Dax, 18, are seeking $7-million in damages.
The provincial government has since bought the land from the developer and has allowed the occupation to continued.
The trial, before Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Bielby, is scheduled to continue today when the government's lawyer will cross-examine Ms. Chatwell on her testimony.