December 10, 2010

Have you read Christie Blatchford’s book on Caledonia?

By MPP Toby Barrett

The only inquiry into the mayhem that occurred in Caledonia has not come from government. It has come from journalist Christie Blatchford’s investigative piece: HELPLESS, Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us.

Christie Blatchford is real - she’s tough - and as anyone who reads her newspaper columns knows, she’s a no-nonsense and tell-it-like-it-is gal.

The publisher’s note in ‘HELPLESS’ describes her, “uncompromising sense of right and wrong, Christie Blatchford covered the recent years of the occupation as it moved to the courts, interviewed those who were there throughout, and poured over dozens and dozens of boxes of documents. The result is a book that will shock Canadians who think they know their country.”

About a month ago, protestors prevented Blatchford from speaking at the University of Waterloo. They referred to her as racist as they carried a swastika across the stage.

There is nothing racist about Blatchford or her book about the on-going land occupation in Caledonia. As she says, “What HELPLESS is about is the failure of government to govern and to protect all its citizens equally.”

During Question Period this fall, I asked Premier McGuinty, “What more evidence will it take for you to understand the impact that your failure of leadership has for Ontario families?”

“Don't take it from me; Christie Blatchford's new book charges that you abandoned the rule of law in Caledonia by favouring some citizens over others. While you said you don't interfere with the police, she cites examples of political meddling by your office that has hamstrung police and put abstract ideology ahead of protecting victims from intimidation, home invasion and assault. Caledonia families detail four years of suffering that you condone, with no end in sight.”

Mr. McGuinty passed the ball to Attorney General Chris Bentley who responded, “I'm looking forward to working with the new mayors and councils and Six Nations to find a very important resolution”

Well Haldimand County has a new mayor. He’s the one who launched a petition – with 5,000 signatures – calling for a “Caledonia Public Inquiry into the actions and decisions made by the Commissioner of the OPP Julian Fantino and made by the OPP”. I presented this petition before the Ontario Legislature.

As well, we in Ontario's Opposition have three times called for a public inquiry. First after the OPP raid. Second, with my Truth about Caledonia Act; and then with Attorney General Critic Ted Chudleigh's Public Inquiry into Caledonia Act.

We’ve also made it clear, there is no room for consideration to hand over the Douglas Creek Estates to militants – a notion debated recently in the Regional News. As Fred Morison’s letter to the editor noted, “the solution is not as easy as ‘give it back’”, while Donald Goodbrand questioned the sense of “forced expropriation and expulsion of non-natives along the Haldimand tract.

Opposition Leader Tim Hudak was quick to respond to similar rumours of land transfer in February, “The Hamilton Spectator is reporting today the McGuinty government plans to hand over the Douglas Creek Estates to the Six Nations. The Ontario PC caucus opposes this move. We believe it is the wrong thing to do.”

Read the book – thanks to Christie Blatchford the rest of the country is now discovering what’s going on down here.