OPP slow to respond to ATTEMPTED MURDER in Caledonia

Oct 14, 2007

With all the OPP stationed in Caledonia you would think that when there is an Attempted Murder that occurs then the OPP would respond within a few minutes, but like everything else the OPP does in Caledonia it comes down to what is the politically correct thing to do.

In cases in Toronto when people willfully drive directly at people it is considered an Attempted Murder. In fact, in June of 2006 OPP issued arrest warrants after a Native Protester drove directly at an OPP officer.

Yesterday, Oct. 13, 2007, a Native Protester from Douglas Creek Estates (DCE) willfully drove directly at me (Gary McHale) which caused me to have to move out of the way. The driver was traveling south on Argyle St. (Hwy 6) at regular speed (80km) and suddenly turned towards me. He drove onto the shoulder of the highway and the tire marks reveal that I would have been hit if I had not moved out of the way. The vehicle drove on the shoulder for about 25 feet and then back onto the highway and continued south down Argyle St.

I then phoned the OPP and reported it. After about 25 minutes I attempted to flag down an OPP car but he refused to stop. I was in the middle of the south bound side of Argyle St. and the OPP car was North bound and he looked directly at me as I will flagging him to stop and he just passed by.

After waiting approx. 40 minutes after the first 911 call I phoned again to report the license plate and to tell them I was going to close down Argyle St. to protect the crime scene. I was informed that was illegal and I told the OPP they needed to get to the scene to review tire tracks.

Read the full story and see the pictures here

Finally, Ontario makes statement on HDI permits

Brantford ExpositorNow that the Ontario election is over, the Ontario government has finally made a definitive statement about the Haudenosaunee Development Institute’s (HDI) policy of setting permits and fees for developers within the Haldimand Tract of southern Ontario, through Murray Coolican principal representative for Ontario in land claims negotiations for Six Nations. I quote: “The HDI has no authority to stop development or charge development fees” and “consultation does not mean a veto over development.”

He further states that private property will not be part of a land claims settlement because “Ontario’s position is that private property owners have title to their properties.”

Statements by persons such as this must have approval from the political ladder’s top rung, which in Ontario is Premier Dalton McGuinty. Too bad the premier doesn’t have the wherewithal to step into the limelight and state it for himself. However, the step has been taken and a line has been drawn in the sand for the HDI. All private property owners in Ontario and especially within the Haldimand Tract should express their gratitude to the premier for this long-awaited statement. Even Brantford’s Mayor Mike Hancock welcomed Thursday’s provincial announcement.

The response to all of this from advocates of the HDI, who are clearly Confederacy controlled, was to occupy a construction development on Henry Street in Brantford; and for the Confederacy to declare that “Ontario has chosen … an attempt to incite violence.” (Edit: Break out the violins, and get ready to hear the extortionists talk about “genocide”)

Read the full story here

Six Nations seeks to shut down ‘lawless’ smoke shop operators

The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 23, 2007)

The Six Nations elected band council is seeking an injunction against two smoke shops that have recently set up on band land without permission.

Elected Chief Dave General says the parcels of land off Highway 6 at 5th Line belong to the Six Nations community but are being used for personal profit by the smoke shop owners whom he describes as “lawless.”

“This is business activity occurring on community-owned land without any benefit to the Six Nations community,” said General.

The plots of farmland along Highway 6 were bought by the Six Nations band council in the early 1990s. The council has applied to have the lands added to the Six Nations reserve. But while the process drags on, the lands remain under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Provincial Police and Haldimand County.

General said the community-owned lands are a small fraction of the wider reserve and that most of them are leased for agriculture. Money collected by the band council is then redistributed through programs and services in the community, he said.

Their presence has raised concerns among Caledonia residents as well.

Doug Fleming recently started selling cigarettes out of the back of his pickup truck to protest what he describes as police inaction around the shops. He fears that others will see the brisk business the two shops are doing and decide to set up along the high-traffic route as well.

OPP spokesperson Dave Rektor said police are still investigating Fleming’s “antics.” He added he is not aware of the injunction and would not speculate on what the OPP would do if it is granted.

Jeff Henhawk, who also goes by the name Jeff Hawk, set up his shop on the Highway 6 land last spring and says he does not recognize the authority of the band council which he sees as an agent of the federal government.

He said he would not be swayed by an injunction.

“It would be no different to me than the Henning brothers’ injunction,” said Henhawk, who was involved in the early occupation of the former Douglas Creek development.

Read the full story here

Mohawk faces 12 years in jail for CN protest

Sue Collis accused the Canadian government of criminalizing her husband, Mohawk activist Shawn Brant, for his involvement in CN Railway blockades, in a talk she gave at McGill Thursday.

After spending two months in pre-trial custody, Brant faces nine charges, including six “mischief” charges from two blockades outside the Tyendinaga community near Kingston, Ontario, the second of which took place on the aboriginal National Day of Action on June 29.

“They want to make an example of him,” Collis said. “Shawn acted as a spokesperson for the community of Tyendinaga, and not only did he give a voice to the suffering that exists [in native communities], but he compelled Canadians to look with a new clarity…at the legacy of the Canadian government.”

When the trial begins in January 2009, the Crown prosecution will seek a minimum sentence of 12 years. Until then, Brant’s bail conditions include curfew, a ban on travel outside Ontario, and a ban from attending any protest. Along with two members of Tyendinaga, Brant is also the subject of a CN Rail lawsuit for damages from the rail stoppage.

On April 20, Tyendinaga community members blockaded the CN railway for 30 hours, after which Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Julian Fantino ordered Shawn Brant’s arrest. He was released, but then arrested again after the blockade of the CN railway and highway 401 on June 29.

Railing for justice

For the mischief charges, Brant’s lawyer Peter Rosenthal said they would use a recognized defence known as the “colour of right.”

Read the full story here

Caledonia man peddles from truck

The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 22, 2007)

A Caledonia resident is selling contraband cigarettes from the back of his truck to protest the recent opening of two native smoke shops on Highway 6 that he describes as illegal.

On Saturday morning Doug Fleming set up his own makeshift smoke shop on a lot next to the former Douglas Creek development occupied by Six Nations protesters last year. He then drove his pickup down Argyle Street to the Caledonia OPP office and set up shop in their parking lot. Fleming said that after a couple of hours he was asked to leave by an OPP officer who told him the plaza owner had complained he was trespassing.

He was not charged.

“I’m challenging the OPP to deal with me but they won’t because if they deal with me, they’ll have to deal with the Indians,” said the 45-year-old swimming pool installer. “I’m openly breaking the law.”

Fleming said that when the two shops recently sprung up on Highway 6 around 5th Line he went to officials at Haldimand County to complain.

He said they are on land that belongs to the Six Nations Band Council. But he added that since it is not reserve land it is under Haldimand County’s jurisdiction and should be subject to the county’s rules. He was told by officials the land was “in limbo.”

He wants the shops shut down so others are not encouraged to set up on the high-traffic route. He also wants to see local laws enforced.

Fleming first set up his rolling protest the weekend before and is considering making it a weekly event.

“I think I’m going to set up shop every Saturday until they enforce the law and close down the shops,” he said. “We’ve been living with laws being broken and police not enforcing them for long enough.”

Read the full story here

Natives protest Brantford site; ‘Development must stop on our land’

Members of Six Nations staged a 12-hour protest Friday at Henry Street and Wayne Gretzky Parkway, halting construction of a $40-million commercial development.

The peaceful protest was in reaction to a provincial statement made Thursday that a new Six Nations development institute has no right to charge fees or demand permits for construction on lands within the Haldimand Tract, the six miles on either side of the Grand River at one time granted to Six Nations.

“The provincial government has made statements that constitute a direct assault on our people,” said Six Nations spokeswoman Ruby Montour. “The statements made (by the province) go right to the core of our existence, our land.

“To be very clear, development must stop on our land. We will not go away and we will not be silenced.”

First Gulf Development Corp., based in Mississauga, is planning a 267,000-square-foot commercial centre on the 24-acre site. The protesters say the land belongs to Six Nations.

About a dozen natives arrived at 6:30 a.m., blocking the site entrance to stop workers from driving in. They erected Six Nations flags and signs that read “Six Nations Land” and “Your Lease is Up.” City police monitored the site during the protest, which ended at about 6 p.m.

Read the full story here

Ontario Algonquins suspend uranium site occupation

Two First Nations communities have temporarily left a prospective uranium mining site in eastern Ontario they have occupied since June after reaching an agreement with the Ontario government to begin mediation talks.

“We’ve removed much of our camp from inside the private property,” Robert Lovelace, retired chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, said Friday on behalf of the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations. “The reason we’ve done that is in good faith because we really do count on a good outcome from the mediation process.”

The Algonquins were trying to block a mining exploration company, Frontenac Ventures, from doing test drilling for uranium at the site near Sharbot Lake, about 60 kilometres north of Kingston.

Ontario has agreed to 12 weeks of mediation, although Lovelace did not know when negotiations were set to begin. But he said the Algonquins are eager to get going. They hope the province will consider making changes to the Mining Act to leave less power to prospectors and more to property owners, he said.

Read the full story here

Land rights letter riles up council

A Haldimand County councillor denounced a letter from the Six Nations land rights department as ridiculous at this week’s council meeting.“I think we are falling into the trap – to be quite frank,” said Coun. Buck Sloat. “We’re debating a letter that’s been sent to us that implies that we should follow an illegal course. Why are we even talking about it?”

Council was in the midst of discussing a letter sent to Mayor Marie Trainer to put the county on notice about outstanding land rights including 999 year mortgages, 21-year term leases and life leases with individuals with promised reversion back to Six Nations upon death.

If necessary, Six Nations will interfere with permit issuance, the author wrote.Sloat was visibly upset with the letter’s contents.

“It’s ridiculous – absolutely asinine. We should have thrown it in the garbage,” he continued. “It’s not our issue…It (the letter) comes from nowhere.”

Read the full story here

Natives halt another project in Brantford

From the Brantford Expositor online edition

Six Nations protesters stopped construction on a commercial development at Henry Street and Wayne Gretzky Parkway Friday morning.

About a dozen natives arrived at about 6:30 a.m. and stopped workers from entering. The protesters said their action would continue until 6 p.m.

First Gulf Development Corporation, based in Mississauga, is planning a 267,000-square-foot commercial centre on the 24-acre site.

Six Nations spokesperson Ruby Montour said First Gulf needs to consult with the native community.

“They have to come to us… and talk to us about what they plan to do here,” Montour said. “There’s been a lack of communication for a while now.”

The First Gulf development was also the scene of a Six Nations protest in March, when natives asked the company to delay preparing the site until it met with the Six Nations Confederacy.

Cost of Native Occupations

CANACE presents our first report: The Cost of Native Occupations.