Police beat charges in Ipperwash assault

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The 18-month re-investigation into the severe beating Cecil Bernard George suffered at the hands of police during his arrest did not result in any charges being laid against members of the Ontario Provincial Police.

George was one of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation protesters involved in the blockade at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995. George was beaten into unconsciousness and suffered 28 visible wounds to his body apparently inflicted by clubs and by repeatedly being kicked, said sources.

The Special Investigation Unit determined there were no reasonable grounds to support accusations that police used excessive force in their arrest of George. The SIU is a non-police agency that investigates instances regarding police and civilians where there has been injury or death that could warrant charges.

"If you defend your rights, we will beat you in the night and you can't do anything about it," said Murray Klippenstien about what the SIU decision means to him. Klippenstien is the lawyer who is acting for the Dudley George family. Dudley George was killed by an OPP officer in a land claim protest during the same blockade.

Klippenstien stated that if SIU concludes there is no way of finding out which officers inflicted 28 wounds to George with 30 or more police witnesses, then they are either incompetent or there is a cover-up of the evidence or both.

"It defies logic that eight or 10 people who are trained observers didn't see anything. That is a ridiculous result," said Klippenstien. He questioned the evidence police have available about the arrest of George.

"You have to wonder if the police keep no records. Maybe it's a matter of will rather than fact," said Klippenstien. The George lawyer speculated that it might be willful strategic blindness on the part of the police.

In a statement released Feb. 11, Peter Tinsely, the director of the Special Investigation Unit, reports there was no credible and reliable evidence to warrant criminal charges against the OPP. Tinsley reports to the Attorney General.

It is the second time the SIU has looked at the events surrounding the Ipperwash stand-off between the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation protesters and the OPP. In 1996, a former director of the SIU recommended a further investigation into the beating of George.

In a 1996 report, it was established George's injuries were a result of a violent confrontation where some officers "apparently" used excessive force. The investigation concluded that no charges could be laid because no one could identify the OPP officers who struck George.

"Firstly and consistent with the finding in the July 1996 SIU report, there is no evidence capable of establishing the identities of the officers alleged to have assaulted Mr. George with the use of excessive force. Secondly, I have determined that based upon the available evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to support the conclusion that the police used excessive force in all of the circumstances of this arrest," said Tinsley in the statement.

The lengthy SIU re-investigation heard statements from more than 50 police officers as witnesses and more than 20 civilians, including First Nation people involved in the confrontation at Ipperwash.

The SIU director noted that the evidence established George was struck by "some" OPP officers during his arrest, but stated officers were engaged in the execution of their lawful duties to control the aggressive crowd of protesters.

"The George family thinks it would be an outrage if the books are closed on the beating of Bernard," said Klippenstien.

Klippenstien has filed a $7 million civil lawsuit against the former OPP commissioner and the premier of the provincial government on behalf of the George family for the wrongful death of Dudley George. A great deal of documentation to come out in the civil trial that the George family is entitled to will shed light on the beating of Bernard George, he said.

The Ontairo government is efusing to call an public inquiry into the Ipperwash protest.

The lawyer has finally received hundreds of documents from the OPP on the Ipperwash incident and is now waiting for the courts to force the Ontario government to disclose documentation related to the shooting of Dudley George.

The Ontario government appeared in court on Jan. 26 filing a counter-attack motion to throw out the civil lawsuit. Klippenstien sees the motion as another stalling tactic that won't work against the lawsuit.

"The action is not in jeopardy. We will appeal if the decision is granted for the government. The government is using huge amounts of taxpayers' money to stall this case," said Klippenstien.