Land Claim Cited After Bullet Hits Army Helicopter
Natives occupying say flights are acts of harassment
By Charlotte Parsons
The Globe and Mall
An elder of a native band whose members are occupying part of a
Canadian Forces training camp in Southwestern Ontario yesterday
cited 'harassment' by the army as a possible reason for the shot
fired at a military helicopter Monday night.
"People can only stand so much," said Clifford George, a
member of the Stoney Point First Nation. "We should have charged
the heads [of the military] with harassment."
But a military spokesman said last night that flights by
military aircraft over the native-occupied area of Camp Ipperwash
were being conducted for the safety of the band. In particular,
Major Brian Hay said helicopters have been checking for possible
fires, and for band members who may be wandering onto potentially
hazardous areas of the camp.
The helicopter was passed over the grounds of Camp
Ipperwash on Monday night when it was pinned by a spotlight on the
ground and hit by a single bullet, said Sergeant Doug Babitt of the
Ontario Provincial Police.
The craft, with five military personnel aboard, returned
safely to London, Ont., where provincial police discovered a bullet
lodged in the fuselage, Sgt. Babitt said.
But he added that the incident could easily have ended in
tragedy, and that police are treating it as an attempted murder.
"Had the bullet struck any of a number of parts of the helicopter,
it could easily have brought it to the ground," he said.
Camp Ipperwash was sealed at 2 a.m. yesterday.
Police obtained a search warrant and sent a team to search
the area where the shot had been heard by two police officers
parked on the highway nearby.
The shooting may have been the product of frustration with
the army's 'close monitoring' of the Stoney Point First Nation
people, Mr. George said.
The Department of National Defence used the War Measures
Act to expropriate the land from the Stoney Point Indians more than
50 years ago.
Band members have been occupying part of the camp since
May in an effort to reclaim the land. They have been growing
increasingly frustrated by the helicopters hovering low over the
camp at night, Mr. George said.
"They are scaring the children, scaring the old people,
scaring even the animals," he said. "There are children that run
screaming, 'They're going to kill us, they're going to kill us.'"
He said residents sometimes turn spotlights onto aircraft
to record their serial numbers.
Mr. George said he believes the night flights are prompted
by suspicions among the military that the band has a secret
weapons arsenal. Such suspicions are totally unfounded, he said,
adding that the band has performed a three-hour ceremony burying
the hatchet.
"We are peaceful," Mr. George said. "We have no arms."
Mr. George is not the only band member to comment on
apparent military scrutiny.
"There's a lot of talk about low flying helicopters," said
Liz Thunder, who works in the administrative office of the nearby
Kettle Point Reserve. "People have been talking about it all summer
long."
Others in the small community said the military intrusion
has not been restricted to helicopter surveilance.
"A few times the boys chased down soldiers hiding in the
bushes," said former resident Debra Bressette. "We figured they
were just spying on the camp trying to see if there were any
illegal doings."
But Major Hay, the military's spokesman for Ontario, said
last night the surveillance was being conducted for the band's
protection.
Equipped with infrared radar, the helicopters have been
passing over the community for the past seven to eight weeks to
check for evidence of fire, Major Hay said.
He added that the spotlights used by the residents
endangered the crew and passengers.
The Stoney Creek band received compensation of $51,000
(Canadian?) in 1942, the year the land was expropriated. In 1980,
the federal government paid the Stoney and Kettle Point Indians
$2.5-million (Canadian?) in compensation.
Police are refusing to allow non-military personnel entry
to the camp, about 25 kilometres northeast of Sarnia, Ont., and all
vehicles are being searched.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Without permission from The Globe And Mail, Aug.25, 1993
Background / Stoney Point Reserve
Chippewa Land Taken in 1942
The Department of National Defence expropriated the Stoney Point
Reserve in 1942 for an army base, promising to return it to the
Chippewa as soon as it was no longer needed.
Fifty-one years later, the government still holds onto the land,
although the base is used only as a six-week summer camp for army
cadets and costs $4.5 million a year to maintain.
The native protesters who have occupied part of Camp Ipperwash
on Lake Huron near Sarnia, Ont., since May say they are taking back
what was taken from them and their families. Yesterday, police
sealed off the base after a military helicopter was shot at as
it flew over the section the natives have taken over.
The land on which the base now sits was home to the Stoney Point
band until 1942, when the federal government used the War Measures
Act to acquire the property after the band rejected its offer to
buy it.
Those living on the land were moved to a swampy area of the
nearby Kettle Point Reserve, their houses placed on boulders. Some
buildings that could not be moved were bulldozed.
Although some Indians made their new home on the Kettle Point
Reserve, many others ended up dispersed in cities or towns
throughout Ontario. The Stoney Point band, as a separate entity,
officially vanished in government records, its members incorporated
into the Kettle Point band.
Four years after the Second World War, the Chippewas began
their fight to reclaim the 907 hectares the government took over.
In 1980, the federal government paid the Stoney and Kettle Point
Indians $2.4 million in compensation.
Early last year, the parliamentary standing committee on
aboriginal affairs recommended to the federal government that the
land be returned to its aboriginal inhabitants and their
descendants to rectify "a serious injustice done to the Stoney
point First Nations almost 50 years ago."
The government has yet to act on the recommendation.
In March, 1992, about 20 Chippewas camped outside the base as
part of their demand that the military decamp. A month later, the
group served the army with a 90-day eviction notice, but the army
refused to leave the base.
Mayard George, a spokesman for the protesters and a councillor
for the Stoney and Kettle Point band, said at the time that there
would be more protests if the government failed to return the land.
But the question of returning the land has been complicated by a
split among the Indians. Some descendants of the Stoney Point band
demand that Ottawa recognize the original band and their descendants
as a separate band and return the property to them.
But the Stoney and Kettle Point Council says that Stoney Point
was never a separate band, and that the land should be given to the
council.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michele Lord + If you have come here to help me,
+ you are wasting your time.....
+ But if you have come because
+ your liberation is bound up with mine,
milo@scicom.alphacdc.com + then let us work together.
Aboriginal Woman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~