David Brown, before a Superior Court Judge report the horrors that occured to him and his family in Caledonia, Ontario as they were kicked from their home, harrassed, vandalized and scared for their lives as Mokawk Natives took over their property in the ongoing Caledonia crisis. Now Brown is filing a $7 million lawsuit against the Province of Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for failing to respond to the crisis. This is just one of many examples of the ongoing dispute between governments and Natives, more specifically the lack of response to the illegal cirgarette trades, armed take-overs of lands and blockade of bridges and pipelines through various locations throughout the province. A 2006 census, showed that 61 % of Aboriginals found illegal tactives effective, and predicted more of them in the future.
Now if one can take anything away from this ongoing crisis in Caledonia, it is that something more needs to be done before these manouvers by Aborginals increases the tension to a boiling point for Ontarians. The blame can be laid against the Aboriginals all day long, but the reality is that the failure to act by the Ontario government and OPP is ultimately what lead this to reach the point it has. I can agreatly sympathize with the Aborginal anger over how they have been treated by the Canadian and Ontario governments. It has been well documented that Aboriginal reserves enjoy a much lower standard of living, with water source being found unsuitable to drink, lower socio-economic conditions across the board and lack of effective response to high levels of violence on reserve the Aborginal peoples in Canada have much to be upset about. We can point to the free education and tax exemptions all day long as way of downplaying Aborginal claims of abuse, pointing to all that we've "done" for them. But the record shows that we just don't care enough about the Aborginals to really attack the problem at its root, which would be a much more extensive task than tax exemptions and pieces of land here and there.
On the other side of the issue, while i sympathize with the frustration of Aborginals the Ontario government and police cannot simply allow things like armed take-overs in Caledonia to occur. Allowing natives to threaten residences, pointing guns at them, vandalizing their homes, transporting weapons and illegal contraband from reserve to reserve is condoning the acts all together. We may be terrified to take action against the Aborginals, perhaps its guilt, or the knowledge of the consequences that would result. However if nothing is done, this feud will reach a point of no return and Ontario risks the possibity of war within its borders. If this happens the question will then be, whose really the bad guys?
We need to introduce a piece of legislation that will automatically kick in when protest takes place such as the protest in Caledonia. Might I once again suggest that you take such legislation to parliament asking that the provincial government in conjunction with the Federal government introduce an addendum to the Ipperwash report, (bringing it up to date ,so to speak). Such legislation should layout a automatic community compensation package, both for residents and businesses. I say automatic in that certain protest qualifying standards are necessary for such legislation to kick in. My sense is that Caledonia would more than meet any protest qualifications determined. Clearly, based on how the provinical and Federal governments are acting out this current stalemate, aboriginal protest will continue to take place for decades to come. Having said that we need to pursue community compensation, otherwise there will be more bloodshed. My sense is that both levels of government have taken a "let them bring it to court attitude" before they will pay out. Well let me tell you, should these court cases be decided in favour of the plaintiffs then my sense is the province is going to be inundated with lawsuits. We all know that the OPP "laissez faire" attitude regarding the protest is politically rooted. Having said that, I believe both the class action lawsuit and the Brown-Chartwell suit wil uncover the facts and ofcourse invariably will result in (hopefully) substantial compensation. If that is the case then the voting base will understand that to get any real meaningful government assistance, one must sue. Should this prove to be the case I predict much more litiigation will ensue as many have painfully suffered.
ReplyDeleteCaledonia, Business owner
I think we have to look at the fundamental problem regarding why First Nations feel they need to use illegal and violent tactics to 'mediate' their issues. They must feel that the current socio-politico structure isn't sufficient enough to address their needs.
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