Why?

Page 5

From Sept. 5 to Sept. 7, 1995, there were almost 200 photographs and 35 videotapes taken at Ipperwash Provincial Park by police observers, and the public has yet to see them.

Those photos and videotapes were suppressed for eight long years, including all the way through two criminal trials where they may have provided crucial evidence: First in the case against Warren George, who was sentenced to six months in jail for his part in the confrontation that September at Ipperwash; and second in the case against Kenneth Deane, who saw his police career flushed into a sewer pipe for killing Dudley George in the park on Sept. 6, 1995.

Why?

We haven't seen those photos and videotapes despite the fact they might identify the people-Warren George accused members of the police-who took part in the beating of Cecil George at Ipperwash, so that those people could be brought to justice.

Why?

We haven't seen those photos and videotapes despite the fact that they could shed light on a claim by police that the protesters at Ipperwash Provincial Park were armed with guns.

Why?

Why haven't the people who took the photos talked about their relevance?

Why don't we know who ordered those photos taken? Why haven't they talked about their existence?

Why haven't the people responsible for monitoring what was on those photos said anything? Why haven't we heard from those people who filed them, catalogued them, knew where they were kept?

Who else in the police service and in government knew about them and why haven't they said anything about them?

Who came up with the idea of claiming the photos and videotapes were sealed by a court warrant? Who authorized that story to be told to the information commissioner and a court? Who made the call to finally admit there was no warrant? Why was that call made? Why was it made at the time it was made? By whom?

We want names.

If those tapes verify what Warren George claimed-that several police officers criminally assaulted band councillor Cecil George-then every one of those people who haven't talked about those photos and tapes are complicit in a cover-up and should lose their jobs and their pensions.

We urge the privacy commissioner in Ontario to get to the bottom of this matter. Ask the tough questions. Demand thorough answers.

We've called for a public inquiry into the death of Dudley George for almost a decade now, but this fiasco with the photos would seem to require an inquiry all its own.

We need to know who failed the Ontario public because the confidence in its government and police service is sorely in need of repair.

The federal government talks about accountability for First Nations. It's hypocrisy. Don't lecture us about good governance when you choose to ignore the stench of a rotting system in your own backyard.

Don't lecture us until one of you has the courage and integrity to stand up and admit that the public governments in Canada are plagued by the exact corruption you accuse First Nations' governments of practicing.

Don't lecture us until one of you is prepared to entertain the idea of a non-First Nations governance act. Or is that too much to ask?

Why?