Caledonia 23 May, pm

Perhaps due to John Tory's going to Caledonia, it seems some level of calm is being restored. The barricade has been moved to in front of the housing development.

John Tory is the Conservative running for Premier of Ontario against the incumbent Dalton McGuinty.

By now it is totally transparent the McGuinty and his Minister of Aboriginal Affairs are completely lacking in leadership. None of these to have erupted had they been "negotiating" in good faith from the beginning.

Today marked Tory's third visit to the scene where it appears he listened to both sides. His comments were sharp and incisive and they ran unedited on television stations.

It is shocking how no support has been given to the negotiators .. not David Peterson, the head negotiator or the negotiators for the aboriginals and the town's people. Tory pointed out on record, the Six Nations people are residents and citizens, too.

One station up here that does headline news and call ins, CP24 has covered the standoff all day. They had a phone in vote which showed that 1194 people believe that the Six Nations have a right to their land claim versus 525 against. This is very significant as the other media coverage has degenerated to not even mentioning what the problem actually is. Most people could see through the manipulation. The barricade remaining up in front of the housing development may help make the MAIN ISSUE clear again.

The OPP failed miserably to keep control. With the exception of one drunk, who was throwing beer bottles and inciting, I never saw them haul away even one other white person on the news. This is in sharp contrast to their raid on the protesters who were raided ....

Supporting actions from other reserves began today and spread into at least Saskatchewan and maybe other places. It would be impossible to know given the TV coverage and the latestness in which the newspaper stories come out.

While McGuinty and cronies celebrated Victoria Day without a concern for anyone in Ontario, let alone Canada .. all hell broke loose. Today he is forced to talk and says "we have to take MORE time to resolve these issues" basically. You'd think since 1834 there has been plenty of talk.

There was total breakdown in the rule of law.

The four white agitators should have been arrested.

Those who interfered with native's cars and the busloads of people coming in should have been arrested.

The white people provoking the negotiator should have been arrested.

The OPP is "gun shy" of looking too ferocious since Ipperwash and failed in their nerve, making "sure" that all orders were being clear and logged. They don't want to make "mistakes", but turned the whole incident into a state of emergency. They are just lucky some fool didn't come out shooting yesterday.

Why the province didn't anticipate sabotage to the electricity transformer is beyond me. Where are the emergency contingency plans for Ontario? What investigation into the "hooligans" is going on ..?

The Ontario has displayed -- once again -- that they cannot be trusted or relied upon when it comes to dealing with native land claims issues. It happens time and time again despite the evidence the matter needs resolve. This happens throughout Canada, wherever ca$h can be made off "swarming" natives, mostly in the West.

The Federal government has been remiss in its duty to Canada to force Ontario to do what it needs to do in order to preserve Canada's image of living by the rule of law.

Indigenous people have been "used" by the media all these weeks. Despite all the efforts made by the protesters they are still portrayed as unreasonable, anti-people, *too* angry .. while it is their rights that are trampled. Not once this weekend did I see them interview a native person. I heard them on call in shows though being very articulate and well informed. They are expected to be "reasonable" when the OPP thinks it is "okay" for the natives to be stormed and arrested but white folks can commit any foul play they want. Yes, tempers are on edge .. but false accusations, bottle throwing, shoving and intimidation are CRIMES. The OPP Is not there to win a popularity contest in Caledonia.

I hope Dalton McGuinty and his cabinet enjoyed their weekend. They are going to have hangover/headaches for weeks now.