note: this article is based on public reports
and brief interviews of some of the people involved.
It describes our team's activities and reports the
positions of the main parties in the conflict on some
of the key issues. Clarifications and news of
developments since then are welcome! - Alan
...
Shooting Death of Native Man In Confrontation With Police
On Monday Sep 4, a group of native people (the "People of
Aazhoodena") occupied Ipperwash provincial park near Sarnia,
Ontario. On Wednesday, Sep 6, one of the occupiers, Anthony
"Dudley" George was killed and two others injured when shot at by
the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). This precipitated a major
stand-off that occupied the national media's attention over the
following week. On Wednesday, Sep 13 a meeting between Federal
politicians and native leaders achieved a memorandum of
understanding that dealt with some of the issues involved, and
the situation appears to be returning to "normal" (i.e. out of
the public eye). Still under dispute is the circumstances of
George's death, and still unresolved is the legal situation of
the "People of Aazhoodena" (the people occupying the park, also
called the Stoney Point people, or Stoney Pointers).
PBI Team Activities
On Sep 7, PBI-NAP contacted the Kettle Point Band Council and
were encouraged to come as observers. PBI had not had contact
with any of the involved parties before. On the morning of
Monday, Sept 11, a team with three Canadians and one Swiss member
arrived at the Kettle Point reserve.
During our two days in the area, we met with many of the people
and groups involved in the dispute, learning about the situation
and presenting our organization. We met with the Chief of the
Kettle Point reserve, two OPP officers, the Stoney Point people
(briefly), and others. We gave a brief interview to the press
about our organization and intentions.
We also met with representatives of another group pursuing a
similar role, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), to share
information and discuss how to coordinate our activities. We
agreed to support their efforts at establishing an
observer project.
The Death of Dudley George
We learned that there are very different perceptions of the
circumstances surrounding Dudley George's shooting death. It is
clear that he was shot by an OPP officer, while involved in a
confrontation between the native people occupying the park and
the OPP.
According to the OPP, they were investigating complaints of
disturbance by local residents, and were set upon by the native
people. The OPP press release of Sep 7, reported "as the Crowd
Management Unit was leaving the area a school bus and a full
sized vehicle drove through the Provincial Park fence striking a
dumpster, then pushing the dumpster and the vehicles into the
Crowd Management Team. Occupants of those two vehicles fired upon
Police officers and subsequently Police officers returned fire.
There is one First Nations person fatally injured and two First
Nations persons seriously injured."
A statement by Glenn George of the People of Aazhoodena has this
description of events:
"Anthony "Dudley" George, 38, murder was premeditated. Dudley was
murdered by an OPP sniper with a shot to the heart, they said
that he would be the first in two small confrontations with the
OPP. Family members drove him to Strathroy, Ontario, hospital and
upon arriving at the hospital OPP proceed to assault and arrest
the three (one was a 14 year old who was at the murder scene)
rather than attend to the dying Anthony "Dudley" George. Nick
Cottrelle, 16 years old was shot twice in the back also by OPP
officers, taken to the hospital and released into OPP custody and
interrogated for approximately 6 hours. Nick was later released
through negotiations. He is now recovering at home with his
family. An observer, Bernard George, a councillor of the Kettle
and Stoney Point was savagely beaten by police while in custody,
taken to hospital and later thrown into solitary confinement.
After being charged with attempted murder, was released. The OPP
announced that numerous charges of attempted murder were being
laid on unarmed First Nations Peoples that they presumed were in
attendance. At no time were local cottagers asked to leave the
area by the Aazhoodena People, the OPP removed these potential
witnesses."
These two descriptions of events were indicative of a wide gulf
of trust we noted between the two sides. An OPP media officer we
spoke with said that because the SIU (Special Investigations Unit
- a special unit assigned to investigate police shootings) was
not being given access to the site of the shooting, they could
not collect any evidence and that perhaps the story would never
be resolved.
The OPP press releases, emphasizing the various criminal charges
they laid and the complaints reported by locals, gave a picture
of the occupiers as a lawless group of people, playing up the
"wild Indian" stereotype. Fred Thomas, mayor of the local
community of Bosanquet, was more explicit, saying "This reign of
terror must stop", and "Our residents are terrified. There have
been sexual and physical assaults on the beach, shots fired at
our workers and building burned to the ground." [The Parkhill
Gazette, Sept 13, 1995]. Our brief experience, along with reports
from others, show that the occupiers are a well organized group,
and very conscious of law and the injustices that they have lived
with for many years.
On Monday, Sept 11, Anthony George was buried in a site on the
land that had been Camp Ipperwash. An estimated 1000 to 1500
people from across the province and from further away came to
attend and support the George family. A time of 10 days of
mourning was announced.
The Agreement of Sept 13
In a statement signed on Sept 13 by Ron Irwin, Federal Minister
of Indian Affairs, John Adams, assistant deputy minister of
national defence, Ovide Mercredi, national chief of the Assembly
of First Nations, and Chief Thomas Bressette, Chippewas of Kettle
and Stony Point, the federal government and the Chippewas of
Kettle Point and Stony Point agreed on a seven point memorandum
of understanding. These points include: the appointment of a
federal negotiator, transferring the Camp Ipperwash lands "to the
First Nation people as reserve land," environmental cleanup of
the property at the cost of the federal government and with First
Nations people's involvement, identification and protection of
burial sites in the (provincial) park, and federal funds to
"developing a healing process in the community."
Although this agreement was hailed as a resolution of the
situation, and the issue has dropped out of the media, neither of
the parties involved in the shooting death (the OPP and the
Stoney Point people) are signatories, nor are their main issues
addressed. A consistent confusion has been the question of
representation of the Stoney Point people. In the past few years,
the people occupying the camp have tried to gain recognition as a
separate band from Kettle Point, with good historical reasons to
support this, as well as good political reasons. Chief Bressette
did not support the occupation of the Camp, and cannot be said to
represent the interests or desires of them, although he has many
contacts with the occupiers (some are members of the Kettle Point
Band - a result of the dispossession of the reserve in 1942).
The Current Situation
The situation appears to be at a stage of high-level negotiation.
It is clear that Camp Ipperwash will soon be officially
recognized (again) as a First Nation reserve, but unclear whether
it will be a separate band from Kettle Point, and also unclear
whether it will include part or all of Ipperwash Provincial Park.
If these issues are not resolved to the satisfaction of the
Stoney Point people occupying the land, and if the shooting death
is not adequately clarified, there is a lot of potential for
further confrontations.