I've heard "rumors" that the OPP apologized for having made a mistake .. that they were "new" and didn't know the rules, but I can find no authenticated article saying this. Why are there "new" OPP people in control of the situation the day before the "case" was heard in the Ontario Parliament anyway ...? Jeez, just watching the "action" on the TV, told you there was a NO GO zone ...
Tempers flare between protesters and area residents in Caledonia, Ont.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=7e457ce3-4f8d-4099-af8c-0ae01dff40c2&k=22576
Canadian PressPublished: Monday, June 05, 2006
CALEDONIA, Ont. (CP) - Tensions flared Sunday night in Caledonia, Ont., the community that was the subject of a hostile standoff between area residents and aboriginal protesters last month.
Groups of aboriginal protesters and area residents tangled briefly on the main street of the town in southern Ontario late Sunday. While news reports originally said that a blockade had gone up across the main street, witnesses said it was more of standoff between area residents and Six Nations protesters.
"At this point, I know that the OPP have temporarily blocked Argyle Street just to solve a little bit of a dispute," said Provincial police Sgt. Dave Rektor late Sunday, refusing to release further details.
The skirmish was apparently sparked after a provincial police car drove into an area considered restricted by the protesters from Six Nations.
One witness reported that a car was torched, but police refused to confirm the report, with Rektor saying only, "there were a few incidents we're looking at."
Rektor said that by around 1 a.m., the situation had calmed considerably and the crowd was dispersing.
A contentious aboriginal blockade on the main street in Caledonia was taken down in late May after negotiations by a provincially appointed mediator, former Ontario premier David Peterson.
The blockade developed after the aboriginal demonstrators began an occupation of a housing development in the community in February.
While they had taken down their main blockade the protesters kept up barriers on a highway bypass and a railway line in the area.
The Six Nations protesters say the subdivision was being built on land stolen from them more than 200 years ago.
The aboriginals concede they agreed to lease the property for a road in 1835, but dispute arguments that it was later sold to the Crown.
The escalation in tensions Sunday night came just hours ahead of a debate in the Ontario legislature.
Opposition Leader John Tory has called for an inquiry into the Liberal government's handling of the aboriginal occupation in Caledonia.
Tory has said a commission should be asked to find ways to prevent "ugly confrontations" when dealing with future land claim disputes in the province.
The occupation has also sparked legal action on a number of fronts.
Ontario Superior Court Justice David Marshall issued an injunction in March ordering the aboriginals off the land, and last week called the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of the Attorney General to court to find out why the order wasn't being enforced.
He has also called on representatives of the federal attorney general and Indian affairs minister to appear before him.
© The Canadian Press 2006
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/06/05/1615764.html
Inquiry head won't force OPP to turn over Ipperwash souvenirsMon, June 5, 2006
Lawyers for native side wanted him to compel police to hand over memorabilia
By JOHN MINER, LONDON FREE PRESS REPORTER
A bid to force the Ontario Provincial Police force to require its officers to turn over all souvenirs created after the deadly 1995 standoff at Ipperwash Provincial Park was rejected Monday.
Justice Sidney Linden said he found the creation of souvenirs when someone had died “inappropriate.”
“Where the memorabilia is insulting and offensive to the community involved, it is even more troubling,” he said.
But Linden rejected a motion by native lawyers that would have required the head of the OPP to issue a formal order for officers to turn in all souvenirs.
The lawyers also wanted the OPP union to notify its members that they were obligated to hand over the material.
Linden said he will have enough evidence to write his report on the Ipperwash clash without the souvenirs.
He also rejected calls to order the full release of OPP disciplinary records involving Ipperwash. Disciplinary records have been provided to the inquiry with some names blacked out.
During the inquiry that started public hearings two years ago, witnesses testified about mugs and a T-shirt showing the OPP crest with an arrow through it, a feather on the ground and the words Team Ipperwash.
Last month it was revealed at the inquiry that another souvenir T-shirt had been produced, featuring winged hammers smashing an arrow.
"If this isn't fully explored, the racist incidents arising from Ipperwash, they will remain a festering sore. And in remaining a festering sore, there will not be healing," Julian Falconer, lawyer for Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, said in seeking the order.
While rejecting the motion, Linden said he agreed with much the natives lawyers had said.
He noted that the Commissioner of the OPP had said she was “shocked and appalled” by the existence of the second T-shirt and would take steps to ensure there is a complete investigation.
“Further, I would hope that the Commissioner of the OPP will do whatever she can to ensure that there are no other offensive T-shirts or other memorabilia in existence commemorating the events of September 6th, and if there are, she will use her best efforts to ensure they are destroyed and not displayed in any way,” he said.
Linden said he intends to deal with the allegations of racist souvenirs and what was done by the OPP in response to these souvenirs as well as to other memorabilia in his report.
For the latest local coverage, read The London Free Press on the web or in print.
Tempers flare again at Caledonia standoff
Last Updated Mon, 05 Jun 2006 12:12:56 EDT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/05/caledonia-standoff.html
Tensions continued to simmer on Monday at a native protest in Caledonia, Ont., after a brief altercation overnight.
A Six Nations native watches a blazing barn fire with others as a flare-up between Six Nations natives and town residents started up again, leading to the burning barn near the barricade in Caledonia, Ont. (Nathan Denette/CP)
The flare-up comes just hours before the start of a debate in the Ontario legislature over the long-running standoff.
The latest trouble reportedly started Sunday night when two Ontario Provincial Police officers who were new to the scene drove into an area that police had agreed not to enter.
Their cruiser was quickly surrounded as tempers flared between aboriginal protesters and area residents.
Police quickly moved in to separate the two sides.
At one point on Sunday evening the OPP said they had temporarily blocked one street in the area "just to solve a little bit of a dispute."
Crowd disperses
The situation had calmed considerably by about 1 a.m. local time and the crowd was dispersing.
*snip*
June 05, 2006
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