This letter is in response to L.M. VanEvery's column that appeared in The Expositor on Oct. 30.
It is almost as if VanEvery is suggesting the Six Nations activists had an excuse for doing what they did. While I completely understand, the fact remains that Christie Blatchford's book is accurate and factual regarding the context in which it is written.
No one is disputing the events that transpired; they are disputing the justification for the violence. There is no justification for violent behaviour. It's wrong.
Get used to it being talked about.
Blatchford does provide background to the events. Her intention was not to address the Six Nations claims. Blatchford's intention was to discuss events of the Douglas Creek Estates "reclamation," the way Six Nations activists acted, to show the difference in the way the OPP treated natives and non natives and how the rule of law was twisted.
The book exposes the double standards which were put into immediate practice, forsaking an entire community and displacing the rule of law. Claims and frustrations do not justify committing violence against people who cannot resolve Six Nations claims.
VanEvery will find that regardless of the excuses or reason that some wish to provide in order to "justify" what is written within the pages of Helpless, there can be no excuse, and no justification for what was exacted upon Caledonia. Those actions will never be accepted.
So you go ahead and continue with your pooh-poohing of the book; the story is getting out anyway.
John Gill Brantford