huge protest over land rights in ontario, caledonia

Yes DeusEx. Young reservist. Hostage for a bit by his account. Most unseemly and there will be trouble, true or not. They may have kicked a hornet's nest... CF18 Hornet's nest? Listen, I don't care jack for McGuinty or Harper (I'm a Libertarian-Socialist - don't ask) and judging by their performance so far I'm glad I don't like these folks... both their citizens are at risk. Fix it. Fix it now. That's what you "leaders" are paid to do and if you can't say so. Posers. Not one comment from either of these individuals... who'll blink first? and will it be too late?

[edit on 22-5-2006 by V Kaminski]

Well MPP Toby Barret(spell?) has just stated that the Army will not be called in and that the OPP seem to have no direction as to what they are supposed to do and MGuinty and 5MPs of his government were invited there on the weekend and not one of them showed their face.

They also have not responded to this situation as it stands now. This is truly pathetic, so we have police who can't police, and an army that we can't use, and politicians who don't give a @#%&.

Gee, I guess the weekends over, and it's back to the usual.

Yeah alpha' pathos... Latin. GD Greek tragedy IMHO... CKRZ is promising updates through the night... you hear anything?

CBC is quoting 200 Riot Police on radio... I can't see this stand off going all night. Something's got to give. Any word on whether the townspeople are still massed? It's after midnight local time. Spooky.

Like I said you can protest but if you don't like something you can always leave.

A female spokeperson from the reclamation site says, "things are calmer" - good. She did say there were still "residents" across the line at 12:44AM local time. Maybe a little surprise at about 5:30AM? Right before sunrise? If not it could be a long day tomorrow! I'm concerned how this will play in other communities - some more than others. Time will tell.

the power is supposed to be off for the next couple of days, which will only escalate the anger and tensions. Without power there will be no schools open and probably most local businesses will be closed. If the townspeople lose more money because of this power outage and I think we all have reason to believe it was perpetrated by the natives, this will get real ugly real fast.

I think more people will join if more than half the town has no power for a couple of days, some because they feel the need to be heard, some will come out of curiosity, and some will come out of boredom.

Something I heard earlier about the townspeopl offering bread and cheese as this is apparently an old Victoria day tradition. The offering was left by the baracade, the natives response was to throw the bread and cheese at the townspeople.

Nice, I wonder if they teach their kids these fine manners, something for us all to look forward to.

6:00 AM Local time... overnight reports are "calm". Beauty. Sun's up, this ought to be another interesting day, 18C, clear and sunny. No craziness overnight, that's been reported, so far. Coffee, choclate... hit the news sites. I'm amazed that nothing worse has happened in the last 5 hours or so...

[edit on 23-5-2006 by V Kaminski]

Well, McGuinty (not Ontario's next Premier; according to Harper) has released a wriiten statement calling for calm www.newswire.ca... wonderful sentiment Mr. Premier... platitudes of the academia cognoscente? Not "Street" enough.

A little less benzo-diazapin, and a little more assertiveness would go a long way. The media office at DND is closed so I can't even get data on any potential invlovement... military choppers were reported from "inside the wire". Still no Harper... has Buckler got him on a short-leash or the other way around? Or 43?

The Right Honourable David R. Peterson, P.C., Q.C., C. St. J., d'H., D.U., L.L.D. is as useful as a "negotiator" as all those expensive and empty letters after his name. I'm not sure there is any one person both sides could "get behind" as negotiator... Hmm. Graham Green (Edgar Montrose), Shania, Stephen Lewis, Louise Arbour, Mike Smith (who is an active Libertarian), Mercer, Strombo? Who could have the confidence of all involved. I'd recommend against the G.G. - for historical reasons as opposed to cultural.

BTW. I find it very strange not to have heard from any other "official" 1st Nations "voices" so far, Phil Fontaine and Matthew Coon-Come are no where to be seen... they already have their deals? Could be hot today. Power is still out... and the rhetoric will be starting to make the mid-day news cycle. One other thing, my missus doesn't sense "tribe" or "clan" or the clan mothers behind any of this, it is her opinion that this is a "warrior" issue (their show) - council is not there. I can't disagree, this sort of has an "organized crime" feel... I hope I'm wrong.

Anyword on the cross-border reserves? Blockades of rail and road?

[edit on 23-5-2006 by V Kaminski]

Haldimand County is under a declared state of emergency. CKRZ reports "from inside the wire" say things are calm and there are less residents in the Canadian Tire parking lot near the barricades. Still no hydro (they had to go get a part)... could be a couple of three days, school's been cancelled (not cool). Lots and lots of cops, most likely all of 'em. Lotsa OT.

Where is Rev. Jesse Jackson (the elder) when you need him? Apparently MP Tina Keeper is being "talked about" as a negotiation facilitator or is being consulted or some such... Alberta and Saskatchewan will be waking up soon... I expect at least some protests in other places - from all sides.

CKRZ is reporting that "one" barracade is coming down... they're supposed to have fresh photos on their website. A side note: I was listening to the radio feed and they had a Mohawk languge lesson - words like "bend over", "temper", "helicopter", and "truck"... I kid you not? Codetalkers?

Uh, Mohawks are reputedly amongst the fiercest of warriors... Is this a veiled threat? Anyway check out the photos at the CKRZ.com... they also have a forum for comments and an email link for a guy "behind the wire" from CKRZ named Al Sault... reminds one of Mar 1999 or so and Yugo listening to the FM92 on the net and then... silence.

At least there's no shootin' so far... lots of civvies around.

[edit on 23-5-2006 by V Kaminski]

CKRZ is reporting "people from others reserves have stopped the disassembly of the barricade" on Argyle? St. and that "another meeting was to be held" and "The process of negotiation would start over from square one." Two steps forward, three steps back.

I just returned from my cottage at Kettle Point, Ontario -- an Indian reserve adjacent to Ipperwash. I was there for the Victoria Day weekend (May 2/4).

I haven't watched television or, for that matter, listened to a radio for the past five days so I was unaware that anything had been happening at Caledonia. I did note, however, that my neighbor -- a prominent elder -- was not to be seen. For that matter, I noticed that quite a few people I have come to know at the reserve were not to be seen. I can only conclude that they had left Kettle Point to go offer support in Caledonia. Of course I could be wrong and the absences that I noted were purely coincidental. Nevertheless, I surmise that the Chippewa's of Kettle and Stoney Points have a particularly keen insight and strong opinions about native land claims. Especially since their own land claim in Ipperwash, Ontario ended with the tragic killing (murder) of Dudley George by the Ontario Provincial Police.

I will be posting additional comments on the native land claim protests in Caledonia as soon as I have been brought up to date on the matter. Additionally, I might commit myself to researching what I believe to be a "murder conspiracy" in the Dudley George killing involving the former Premier of Ontario and the "convenient and timely" accidental death of the O.P.P. officer who actually pulled the trigger that killed Dudley George.

V.Kaminski, haven't posted all day been trying to find info about the treaty of Haldimand.

Interesting read but I am not a lawyer(Bartender) so I hope you can make heads or tails of this. It would seem this tract of land was given to the six nations but there is a clause that deferrs to them still being subjects of the Crown.

collections.ic.gc.ca...

I have only had time to read it once. Would like your dedicated opinion to this matter if you have time . Thanks Alpha.

Apparently, everyone backed down. Good news, I think, but there's still a huge hole in the road. But the barriers are down. let's see how long this lasts.

DE

Benevolent Tyrant, saw your post about Iperwash, thought you might find this of interest, I'mt not completely up to date on the investigation and there are alot of questions that need to be answered.

This article states that the tract of land was sold back to the government by the Indian official who was representing the six nations.

It would seem the money was never found. This does not change the fact that the land was sold back to the government. If there was a misapropiation of funds it is the responsibility of the six nations to go to court and try and get their money back.

The protest in the park was ILLEGAL.

www.lfpress.com...

And sorry but I do not believe for one second that Dudley George was murdered, and especially at the hands and say so of one Mike Harris.

Well it would seem the natives are restless once again, why can't they just exercise some patience and wait until the talks between the government and six nations is finished.

I certainly hope after this, anymore protesting will be considered illegal and that they are thrown in jail.

With these actions they don't deserve the respect, that once again they are demanding.
cnews.canoe.ca...

Attacking border security guards in their car and traumatizing elderly people.


As for the OPP not helping the camera crew that was assaulted, well this is beyond ridiculous but no doubt that they were afraid of any backlash refering to them as racists if they intervened.

Good for the people of Caledonia for standing up for the guys from CH news.

Well, more native aggression. I wouldn't say it's anything but expected, but hey. I had hope.

Part of the OPP issue is one of jurisdiction. They can't go onto the reservation to affect the arrests they should have done right at the moment. The troublemakers realize this, and realize they can just hop back and forth between the protest zone and Caledonia with impunity, as what happened here. What a mess.

DE

Well, now we can understand why the OPP doesn't want to intervene, it would seem they're afraid of the situation escalating and also for their own saftey as they are being ill-equipped so to speak from their superiors for political reasons- no surprise there.

At least one resident understands and sympathizes with them:

www.hamiltonspectator.com.../Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=1014656316146&c=Article&cid=114980341 1365

The cops sure seem to be defending the natives more than the residents, arresting one guy for a disturbance, (resident) and turning blind eyes to the actions of the native protestors which are deemed to be on a very serious note.

One of the charges from the previous article against the natives is attempted murder, this is pretty damm serious if you ask me, isn't it about time the Ontario government threw 'political correctness' out the window and deal with this situtation with the rule of law.

I agree. The OPP is simply not equipped to handle this sort of situation. Compounded with the fact that their leaders are incapable of doing their jobs -whether due to incompetence, or politiking- at the first sign of trouble the OPP are going to be more worried about keeping their hides in one piece than anything else.

Like I've been insisting before, send in the Van Doos. If nothign else, bulk up the police force and give them some teeth. A CH cameraman has staples in his head because the OPP is under orders not to deal with natives, especially with cameras around. Their greatest fear is losing the PR war- because if the police are seen as the bad guys, more protesters will show up. Other barricades might be set up.

Should have ended this quickly and efficiently- sent in the tac teams or soldiers at the beginning instead of crippling a town and letting natives incur millions in damages and lost wages.

DE