Coalition joins march to raise awareness

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On Sept. 6 about 50 members of the Aboriginal community marched in the annual Labour Day parade through the streets of downtown Toronto to raise awareness about the ongoing issues surrounding the Sept. 6, 1995 shooting of protester Dudley George. While he was demonstrating at Ipperwash Provincial Park, George was shot by Acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane, a member of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

The marchers handed out pamphlets that read "Four Years. No Inquest. No Inquiry. Not Even A Meeting!" Demonstrators joined the city's local union representatives to show their colors and send out their message.

"The unions are here to raise their voices for fairness and equality in the workplace. We are here to raise our voices for fair and equitable treatment in the Dudley George case," said one participant.

The Coalition for a Public Inquiry into the Death of Dudley George is currently seeking support through a letter writing campaign to secure meetings with Jim Flaherty, the new attorney general for Ontario, and Robert Nault, the new federal minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. Letters to the office of Ontario Premier Mike Harris have resulted in a refusal to meet with coalition representatives and referrals to Flaherty's office. The office bases the refusals on the ongoing court cases involving the Ipperwash shooting, including a civil suit for wrongful death initiated by the George family. The officials named in the suit include Premier Mike Harris, Solicitor General Bob Runciman and the former attorney general, Charles Harnick.

George family lawyer Murray Klippenstein told Windspeaker that the first of those three men did not show when called to be questioned by family lawyers.

"The interesting and fascinating and astonishing position we're in right now is that Minister Runciman was under a summons to appear Sept. 8 for examinations and defied them and didn't appear," the lawyer said. "So we have the amazing situation of a government minister defying the rules of court, presumably because he's so anxious to avoid having to answer questions under oath. What this does is force the George family to spend the time and money to go to court to enforce the court's own rules against the government minister who's defying them."

Charles Harnick, the former attorney general who chose not to run in the recent Ontario election which saw the Harris government re-elected, is scheduled to appear in October. The premier is expected in December.

Klippenstein doesn't expect either to show.

"We can only speculate, but I feel that Mr. Harnick will also defy the summons. These people have a lot to hide. We're continually amazed at the steps they will go to hide it," he said.

Aboriginal people, including Elders and children, occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park to protest the government's appropriation of the land, which includes traditional burial grounds. On the second night of the protest, the unarmed George was fatally shot and a second protester, Bernard George, severely beaten. One OPP officer was found guilty of criminal negligence in the death and has been sentenced to 180 hours of community service, while retaining his job at full pay. He has since filed an appeal that was heard in an Ontario court from Sept. 15 to 17.

Klippenstein was an interested observer of Deane's appeal.

"The whole point of the appeal of Sgt. Deane was that there was evidence of Native guns which the defense lawyer should have brought into court at the trial and didn't, and, in fact, that the lawyer was incompetent because he didn't bring this evidence forward and that's a reason to overturn the decision. It's ironic because the defense lawyer at the trial headed the legal team for General Boyle at the Somalia Inquiry and has written a legal textbook on the use of evidence, and they're now saying he was incompetent. We think he might have been quite smart in not introducing this evidence because it was unworthy and not credible. But this issue of arms isa useful diversion that people who have bigger agendas can keep bringing up," he said. "Mr. Harris and the government want this issue to disappear or get side-tracked in any way possible and ambiguous references to firearms are a useful way to side-track the issue. It's ironic that it's the family who has been, for years, strenuously arguing that all the facts should come out, including whatever facts there are about firearms, and that on the other side the government, who keeps throwing spurious references to firearms, refuses to call an inquiry which would actually deal with the issue accurately. The party that makes the references to firearms is the party that's refusing to let the truth about firearms come out."

The Coalition for a Public Inquiry quoted Article 50 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in their literature, making responsible the federal government for initiating an inquest into the death of Dudley George. Article 50 states that any federal government must ensure civil, political, Aboriginal, and all other human rights are upheld throughout the country, regardless of federal-provincial jurisdiction.

The parade wound through the downtown core of Toronto ending at the Canadian National Exhibition. Protesters were accompanied by the Turtle Island Drum Circle and included members of the Friends of the Lubicon environment group.

With a small but vocal group numbering about 50, one member of the Aboriginal Rights Movement said, "I'm a little disappointed with the turnout from the brothers and sisters."

The Coalition will be holding events in December and March to continue to raise awareness and push for a meeting with officials. They are also carrying on with their letter writing campaign.