Next we drew connections between the very clean record of Canada, when compared to other countries, of our practice of providing people with "due process" if and when they are charged with a crime and our practice of allowing peaceful protests to occur. Then we watched a short clip on the case of the police killing of an unarmed protester, Dudley George, in the Ipperwash / Stony Point First Nation standoff in 1995.
Here's what happened:
Setting the Stage for Ipperwash
1942 – The federal government expropriated land belonging to the Stony Point First Nation under the War Measures Act in order to build a military camp. After the war, the Department of National Defence said it would return most of the land as long as it could lease back what it still needed. The offer was later withdrawn.
1972 – Jean Chretien, then Minister of Indian Affairs, suggested that the band should be offered another piece of land as compensation, but nothing was resolved.
1993 – Frustration motivated Stony Point band members to begin moving back onto the land. A group of about 30 protesters, including Dudley George, built barricades at nearby Ipperwash Provincial Park to reinforce their land claim and to protest the destruction of a burial ground.
1995 – The OPP moved in on the protesters. In a night-time raid, Dudley George was killed. OPP Sgt. Ken Deane was convicted of criminal negligence causing death after a court ruled that he did not have a “reasonable belief” that George was armed. Neither the criminal court nor the Ipperwash Inquiry ever found any evidence that the protesters were armed.
2005 – Soon after the Inquiry was commissioned by the McGuinty Liberal government, allegations of police racism surfaced. The Ipperwash Inquiry found fault in the OPP, the government of former Ontario premier Mike Harris, and the federal government.We had a discussion about the incident following these ideas:
Synopsis of the Video: The video examines the findings of the Ipperwash Inquiry. The Inquiry’s mandate was to investigate the 1995 shooting death of Dudley George during a protest by First Nations peoples at Ipperwash Provincial Park.
Discussions Ideas:
1. Suicide Levels among first Nations people are twice the national average.
2. Most of these suicides occur among youth.
3. More First Nations people are in jail than in college or university.
4. 10% of First Nations children (22,000) are in the care of child welfare authorities.
5. Fewer than one percent of lawyers are First Nations.
Discussion Questions:
1. Is protesting a good way to achieve group goals?
2. What is peaceful civil disobedience?
3. Do you think police treat all citizens equally?
4. What should First Nations peoples do to resolve land claims?
5. Should the police answer to the government or should they be independent to achieve fairness?
While Viewing:
1. What motivated the McGuinty Liberal government to create an inquiry 8 years later?
2. What do you think motivated Charles Harnick to go public?
3. Did Ken Deane take the fall for the OPP or were his actions independent of the police response that night?
After Viewing:
1. How confident are you that the work of the Inquiry will change how Aboriginal people are policed and how protests are handled?
2. The Inquiry cost $13.3 million; the George family received $100k in a settlement. What do you think of these two amounts?
3. Do you think that the historic treatment of First Nations peoples resulted in Ipperwash? How?
We didn't get to it today, but for Monday we'll continue our look at this - see the handout - and you'll be completing the thinking chart attached too.
Ipperwash and the killing of Dudley George.
This is a test.
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