Two items relevant to the situation in northern BC with the RCMP and Wet’suwet’en.
Sent to CBC radio, The Current, in response to the Feb 20th programme.
- Correspondence with the RCMP when their anti-terrorist squad was deployed to Dawson Creek:
2. Canadians forget their history too quickly.
I have heard NO MENTION of the IPPERWASH blockade – – the DUDLEY GEORGE affair and the LINDEN INQUIRY into it (“was also asked to make recommendations that would avoid violence in similar circumstances in the future.”).
Who outside Ipperwash remembers the lesson from Dudley George? 50 years from today will Canadians still be paying for failure to respect rightful claim (sovereignty) over territory?
I skimmed the wikipedia account of Ipperwash. I don’t see it said that the Stony Plain people had been trying to get their land returned (sovereignty) FOR FIFTY YEARS. The blockade at Ipperwash was after 50 years of lawyers and mediators and Government officials getting big salaries and perks to resolve the problem. With ZERO accomplishment. An unarmed Dudley George was shot dead by police, with provocation from Ontario Premier Mike Harris. (Judge Linden believed the racist quote attributed to Harris had been uttered by Harris.)
Linden did not take long to determine that “Ipperwash” belonged to the Chippewa. Something that all those lawyers and politicians and “officials” and mediators could not accomplish in 50 years. It took a dead man.
/Sandra Finley