Justice system to be tested

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Family members of Dudley George find it interesting that every press account of the guilty verdict in the Deane case found it necessary to mention- but not examine- the reaction of the courtroom audience when Judge Hugh Fraser revealed his decision.

"A packed courtroom burst into cheering and applause as a provincial police officer was convicted Monday in the shooting death of an aboriginal protester," the key first sentence of the Canadian Press wire copy read.

"A packed courtroom erupted in sobs and cheers yesterday as an OPP officer was found guilty of criminal negligence in the 1995 shooting of Indian activist Anthony (Dudley) George," Toronto Star reporter Peter Edwards wrote in his lead sentence.

Other media reports also dwelled on the highly-charged burst of emotion when the George family and their supporters realized that they had received justice in a Canadian court, recording the reaction without stopping to examine its roots. Veronica George, sister-in-law of the slain man, says an examination of the family's reaction is worth a few important news stories of its own. Family lawyer Delia Opekokew agrees.

"The reaction was reported as cheering but it wasn't cheering," she said. "It was more like keening - a sorrowful scream - and when I heard it my hair stood on end."

Opekokew and another family lawyer, Andrew Orkin, believe the response was an involuntary response from Aboriginal people who have learned from history to expect the worst in a Canadian courtroom. It was a mixture of shock, relief, vindication and grief that was released when the judge announced his decision, they said.

Orkin said the mainstream press missed a chance to look into a under-reported part of Canadian society - the great emotional harm done to a people by racial discrimination.

"This is Canada's Rodney King story rolled up with Kent State rolled up with Wounded Knee," the South Africa-born lawyer told Windspeaker. "It's a terrible indictment of Canadian society that in the U.S. each of those events transformed. . . no, I won't say transformed because not that much has changed. . . each of those events transfixed that society. Each of those events took its place in the history of that nation. It's a terrible criticism of Canada that Canadians don't have the imagination and the mainstream media doesn't have the perception to pursue this story."

Aboriginal observers are now waiting to see what kind of penalty the court imposes on Deane. The sentence could fall anywhere in a range between a suspended sentence and life in prison.

National Chief Ovide Mercredi, Ontario Regional Chief Gord Peters and George family members have been invited to submit victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing that is expected to last four or five days beginning May 27.