Archive for the ‘Top Posts’ Category

By Jeff Parkinson

He was the hero in every Western, & I don’t mean those half assed Acid or Spaghetti Westerns, but real horse riding, varmint wrangling, ass kicking men. The kind of rare mix of the best characters portrayed by John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Gary Cooper rolled into one, but with far more style.

On October 6, 2012 Merlyn lost a valiant 12 year battle with cancer & we lost a friend, colleague, mentor, inspiration, & without question one of the most unique people our society has ever seen.

When a person dies there tends to be a lot of hyperbole about them because nobody wants to remember any flaws that their loved one may have had. In this case however you’ll find none of that because Merlyn Kinrade was a character that no writer in history could have dreamed up.

A socialite at heart, Merlyn loved to entertain, but he was never afraid to put the so called upper class in their place. Be it the mayor, the OPP commissioner, his local council, or a room full of negotiators, Merlyn always had the time and the fortitude to sit down and tell them why they’re wrong and he’s right. I don’t phrase that in the past tense because it remains true that they’re wrong & he’s right.

There are far too many stories of this occurrence to be told in one sitting, but one of my favorites is the night he walked in the back door of a closed meeting of federal negotiators at the Caledonia arena.

Not knowing he wasn’t supposed to be there, he made himself at home and spent hours taking everyone to task for failing his family and his community. They tried to feed him from their lavish tax payer funded buffet but he refused to touch it. They tried to calm him with platitudes but he refused to waver.

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December 6, 2011

By Jeff Parkinson

For those who have not yet heard, The Caledonia Eight is a group of people who on December 3, 2011 were arrested on Surrey Street in Caledonia because of the color of their skin. A trait over which they have no control.

The group consisting of Gary McHale, Merlyn Kinrade, Randy Fleming, Bonnie Stephens, Jack VanHalteren, Mark Vandermaas, Doug Fleming, & Jeff Parkinson had their freedom taken from them for walkilng down a public road owned by the Corporation of Haldimand County by order of the McGuinty government who does not own the road.

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Update: A few people have reported difficulty in viewing these video’s at 720p (HD) so I have changed the embedded video’s to play at a lower resolution.

By Jeff Parkinson

In my early days with CANACE in late 2006 and early 2007, I was on a very regular basis told stories that saddened and repulsed me. I sat and listened to each and every resident who was willing to share with me what they had endured and over the course of 4 years; I thought I had heard the worst of if not all of them.

One exceptionally disturbing story unfolded in the summer of 2009, and managed to fly under the radar of many including myself. Many of us heard that a smoke shack had gone up at the farm of Caledonia resident Ernie Palmer, but I didn’t know too much about it at the time. We had a particularly busy year, and by the time we slowed down to catch our breath, the shack was gone.

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Palmer on October 13 2010 and he generously allowed me to record that meeting. The only things I knew for sure when I arrived were that the facts were largely unclear to me, and that an interview with him would be interesting. The media reports that I had read in 2009 painted him as a collaborator, and the County had charged him with bylaw infractions for hosting the smoke shack.

I explained a bit about myself to Mr. Palmer and made clear to him that my objective was simple. I wanted to leave that day with the necessary information to tell his story in his words. I wound up spending a day with him, and the things I learned were absolutely shocking even to a 4 year veteran of the Caledonia crisis.

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2009 was a landmark year for CANACE to say the least. We have perhaps appeared relatively quiet to the general public as of late because the bulk of our work has been in the Ontario court system, but this should not be confused with a lack of action on our part as we’ve been furiously busy.

On January 12 we won a precedent setting legal ruling which began to reshape the way that prosecution by private citizens is handled by the courts and the crown. See the ruling here, and the Parkinson v R page for more details. This followed an equally important December 2008 Parkinson v. R ruling.

January 27 CANACE founders traveled south of the border to meet with US officials and provide them with evidence regarding attacks on ATF agents and border patrol guards in Caledonia. Being invited into another Country to provide evidence that our own government refused to hand over to the States was to say the least one of those days that you realize you’ve accomplished something.

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UPDATE January 8 2010: A justice of the peace has officially signed the charge against Julian Fantino this afternoon and he will be summoned to Cayuga Court to face the criminal charge of influencing a municipal official which carries a maximum of 5 years in prison.

January 6, 2010

Remember when Michael Bryant killed a man in 2008 how the media and public were quite convinced that as the former Attorney General he would receive preferential treatment and would not be able to receive a trial that was in the best interest of justice?

Although Julian Fantino has never held any office with the prestige of Attorney General, he is every bit the public figure that Bryant was, and the same concerns should be on the minds of all of us now that he stands charged. Add to that the fact that our government has already taken numerous steps to cover up for Fantino and it’s very difficult to believe that the crown will be capable of treating Mr. Fantino in a way that’s in the best interest of the public.

Steps could certainly be taken to ensure that justice prevails in this case, but there would need to exist a will within the Ontario government to stop covering for their appointed enforcer of race based policing. They could simply stop interfering with the justice system, but that seems somewhat doubtful at this point. There is a very simple solution that not only ensures Fantino won’t receive special treatment, but takes that decision out of the hands of the McGuinty government in the eyes of the public.

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May 18, 2009

During the testimony that Julian Fantino gave a Hamilton Court last month about his involvement in the witch hunt to charge Gary McHale with “Counselling mischief not committed”, Julian was forced to reveal on the stand that he sent an email on December 3, 2007 to deputy commission Chris Lewis in which he stated “I feel like doing what LA Police Chief Darrel Gates go out and arrest the goof myself”.

Just who is this Darrel Gates that Julian idolizes? McHale’s efforts to clarify were quickly interrupted by Mitch Hoffman in order to prevent Fantino from being held accountable for his words. So since we’re not allowed to hear it from the horse’s mouth, I decided to have a look for myself (and all of you) at who Gates is and why Julian so admires him and it quickly became obvious that there are similarities.

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An Ontario judge has accused Julian Fantino’s legal team of political interference and intimidation, and refused to step down from a police disciplinary case, in a surprising development that will likely delay the OPP commissioner’s testimony for months.

As the police disciplinary hearing for two officers resumed Monday in Orillia, provincial Judge Leonard Montgomery responded to accusations of bias brought against him by the OPP commissioner’s legal counsel last week.

Supt. Ken MacDonald and Insp. Allison Jevons are accused of neglect of duty and deceit in a case that has pitted Fantino against the the two former officers assigned to internal OPP investigations.

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The following statement today by health minister George Smitherman raises some interesting questions.

Our focus is maintaining peace, his focus is stirring the pot,” Deputy Premier George Smitherman said in a statement released as Tory met with residents in the town, not far from the Douglas Creek Estates, the development occupied by protesters upset over a land-claims dispute in February 2006.”

I have a few questions for the Liberals now that they have appointed this new expert to speak to the media about Caledonia.

Why is George Smitherman, the health Minster of Ontario talking about Caledonia and Native land claims?

Wouldn’t it be prudent for him to reserve any Caledonia related comments to health care issues such as the health of Sam Gualtieri who was hospitalized by McGuinty’s ability to keep the peace?

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 August 8th, 2007

Each and every resident of Haldimand County who cares about Democracy is needed in Council Chambers this coming Monday night August 13th @ 6pm as Council continues to try to force through a resolution to deny the public the right to privacy in their correspondence with Mayor Marie Trainer. Council was forced today to defer this issue until Monday by a request from the Ministry to investigate whether they are even legally allowed to pass such an absurd resolution and the issue will be spoken to on Monday night at 6pm.

I have just returned from spending 2 days in Cayuga at Haldimand County Council meetings and have witnessed with my own eyes Haldimand Council fighting desperately against democracy and the citizens who elected them.

As those who read the previous post by Mark Vandermaas are aware, Council set forth a resolution that they should each be copied every email and every piece of letter mail coming and going from the office of Mayor Marie Trainer. This is being done out of sheer contempt for the fact that Mayor Trainer refuses to join them in becoming puppets for the McGuinty Liberals. Many residents do not wish to speak to their Council member because they will not receive a response or would prefer to receive an honest one so they go to the only person they know still speaks for and represents them, Mayor Trainer.

This was designed to sneak through quietly by being on the Tuesday morning after a long weekend and buried in the agenda for the day with other business so nobody would notice. Donna Pitcher – Haldimands Unheard Voice made us aware of the situation and I attended yesterday August 7 along with Mark Vandermaas, and some citizens of Haldimand.

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By Gary McHalewww.CaledoniaWakeupCall.com 

A year ago we released the Liberal Plan for resolving Caledonia. It was clear that McGuinty was using the Alliance to influence the residents as McGuinty made secret deals with the Native Protesters during the low media period of August. 

 One of the problems McGuinty has had is the fact that Mayor Trainer speaks out – the only Haldimand Council member who does. McGuinty needed to have Mayor Trainer silenced and therefore the best way was to have her lose last Fall’s election. 

The Alliance, being lead by Ken Hewitt, was to help ensure Mayor Trainer didn’t win the election. The Alliance backed Lorraine Bergstrand to be the Mayor in the election. [Link to Leaked Liberal Plan]

 

 

Lorraine Bergstrand phoned me and told me she had no connections with the Ontario Liberal Party and she was not working with the Alliance to remove the Mayor. Here are some points to remember:

  1)      Prior to my posting of the Liberal Plan, McGuinty was proud that he, unlike Harris or the Federal Government, was handling Caledonia quite well and would have a quick resolution. 

 2)      After posting the Liberal Plan, McGuinty suddenly started saying that Caledonia was a Federal problem. 

 3)      Ken Hewitt who claimed to have no connections with the Liberals ran for nomination for the Federal Liberals. 

 4)      Lorraine Bergstrand, who claimed to have no connections with the Liberals, will be running against Toby Barrett in this Fall’s election. Which party is she running for… the McGuinty Liberals. 

 The Alliance Failed to fulfill McGuinty’s desire to replace Mayor Trainer.

After last year’s election, McGuinty needed another way to silence the Mayor and to regain control of Haldimand Council. In steps Fantino – the bully of residents and of the Council. Fantino was hand picked to ensure that by the time the provincial elections were to take place no residents nor the Mayor would be able to speak out against McGuinty.

This is why Fantino spent the months of Dec-March going on TV, Radio and doing newspaper interviews to slander residents and anyone who spoke out. If what Fantino was doing was okay for an OPP Commissioner then why has he been so quiet since April 7 after being exposed to the media for bullying the council?

Fantino threatened [Email] the elected council members. [FantinoGate] The Canadian Taxpayers Federation called for Fantino to be fired. [Link] Peter Kormos, NDP MPP, stated it was an attack against democracy and Fantino should be removed. [Radio Link] Any council member who spoke up was threatened with lawsuits.

 

McGuinty’s Control of Haldimand Council

What bugs McGuinty the most is that he cannot control Mayor Trainer. Fantino effectively has silenced Councilor Grice who is too spineless to stand up to Fantino’s threats. It was the council, including Grice, who voted against including McGuinty in the County’s Press Release a few weeks ago about who to blame for the on-going occupation.

Regardless of the following facts, Grice and the council put all the blame on the Harper Government. 

1)      Harper Government has claimed since day one that the DCE is not a legal claim in Caledonia

2)      McGuinty went to court to fight against the injunction to remove the Natives.

3)      McGuinty bought DCE and then went to court to overturn the criminal charges against Native Protesters.

4)      McGuinty publicly stated the Native Protesters could LIVE on DCE.

5)      McGuinty paid for the Hydro & Water so Native Protesters could LIVE for free on DCE.

6)      McGuinty made it illegal for any non-Native to enter DCE without the wishes of the Native Protesters. – Trespassing charges would be laid.

7)      McGuinty repeatedly claimed he was looking after DCE and was doing a better job than Harris did in Ipperwash.

8       McGuinty appointed Commissioner Fantino.

9)      McGuinty is happy with Fantino’s approach in Caledonia. But according to council McGuinty shares no blame for the on-going problems in Caledonia – only Harper does.

 

The Mayor is the sole source of problems for McGuinty.

Mayor Trainer is the only one willing to speak up and the only one willing to tell the truth about what is happening – when was the last time Councilor Grice informed the public about what was happening? 

Therefore, McGuinty needs to control the means of communications that Mayor Trainer has.

In a modern world that means email. It should not surprise people that council suddenly wants to have access to all Email to/from Mayor Trainer one month before the Provincial Election campaign goes into full gear.

If they achieve this, what will be next, opening up paper mail before the Mayor gets it? Tapping her phone conversations? 

The Mayor is the only person exposing how the Council is kissing McGuinty’s ass and they don’t like it. Fantino silenced Grice and now Council wants to ensure control over the Mayor’s voice – this is a direct attack on Democracy itself. 

It is now up to the People to decide whether Democracy is Important.

 

By Christine McHale

August 2, 2007

 
 
 
 
The recent report by Ontario‘s Auditor General exposed wild spending of grant money by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. The minister in charge was Mike Colle, since being appointed to this ministry in 2005. Now he has resigned in disgrace. At least that was a step in the right direction.
 
Too bad that this McGuinty Liberal had his priorities all screwed up.

 

It is also painfully apparent that Mike Colle, one of McGuinty’s Liberals, has his spending priorities all screwed up. He did, after all, approve giving the Ontario Cricket Association $1 Million taxpayers’ dollars. That’s about 30 times more than what the long term care home received for that oh-so-important diagnostic medical equipment. And the funny part is, the Ontario Cricket Association only asked for $150,000. So this means the Ontario Cricket Association was more fiscally prudent than Mike Colle, one of McGuinty’s fine Liberals.

 

Perhaps cricket, and to be sure, cricket is a fine game, is more useful than health. It certainly is more fun than being poked and prodded by diagnostic medical equipment.

 

By Gary McHale – www.CaledoniaWakeupCall.com

It has now been a full year since I first got involved in Caledonia. A year ago the media was completely focused on Native Land Claims and Native Rights and paid little attention to the victims in Caledonia. 

Don’t get me wrong though, since I, like most Canadians, am more than willing to have our Government resolve Land Claims Issues and Governments should respect Native Rights. But those Land Claims and Rights do not include creating additional victims because some are frustrated with the Government.

A year has passed and once again the media doesn’t care about Caledonia or what happens to the residents there. What media takes any time to interview residents of Caledonia for their views? Who really cares whether a person with an AK47 is running around on DCE or whether there are fires on DCE and intimidation of residents?

Within six months I had the media talking daily about Two Tier Justice in Caledonia. The media across this country were printing stories about the problems faced by residents and by the end of 2006 few, if any, natives were being interviewed by any media. The topic had become Law & Order and the Rights of all people to be treated equally under the law.

The OPP & Ontario Government intimidated and pressured the County to take part in an endless attack upon me and anyone else who still was willing to speak out.Since the beginning of the year, the residents of Caledonia have demonstrated quite clearly that they do not want to have a voice. Their silence is deafening.

So where are we today? The media neither cares about the views of the residents nor any of the many events over the past two months – including the AK47 event.

A year ago I leaked the Liberal Plan that was to resolve Caledonia. This Plan included naming the various people in Caledonia who were working directly on behalf of McGuinty. I named two particular people who would work to ensure that McGuinty had it easier. They were to ensure that Mayor Trainer would not be re-elected and ensure that Caledonia had no voice. 

These two people were Ken Hewitt and Lorraine Bergstrand. Ken Hewitt went on CHTV with me and stated clearly that he had no connection with the Liberal Party – then he ran for the Federal Liberal nomination (surprise, surprise). He stated on TV the Alliance had received no funding from the Liberal Government but within a few days we exposed that two cheques went to the Alliance from the County from the fund provide by the Liberal Government.

Lorraine Bergstrand phoned me and told me that she wasn’t part of any Liberal plan to help McGuinty. She told me that she had no connection with the Alliance either. The same day I contacted her (conservation taped) and asked her whether she already had private meetings with the key members of the Alliance – she said ‘Yes’. This meeting was to get the key members of the Alliance to help fund her run against Mayor Trainer which she lost. 

Now she is running against Toby Barrett as a Provincial Liberal. She is now singing McGuinty’s praises, but a year ago she claimed no connection to the Liberal party. Isn’t it amazing how quickly she rose through the ranks of the Liberal party in less than a year?

The people of Caledonia made a choice. They chose to follow their fears and to believe the lies of McGuinty. Just how many residents believed McGuinty about all the great negotiations that were happening or believed McGuinty about protesters on DCE not staying there over the winter?

Now we have Councilor Grice and the County telling everyone that they can finally start helping the residents of Caledonia by replacing the OPP, but that will not be until the fall of 2008. Did you get that, the county which told you everything was going great a year ago is now saying that nothing can be done for another 14 months.

Under councilor Grice’s leadership the people of Caledonia have not been organized. McGuinty has been able to switch the Caledonia issue to be Nation Wide Land Claims which is Federal. For months Fantino ran around claiming that Caledonia cannot be resolved until the Federal Government resolves it. McGuinty is off the hook. Grice has been silent as he believes he is more than able to play the same political games that all politicians play. To Grice the solution to failed political games is more political games.

Grice has been out to every one of our marches including each Flag Raising Event. However, he openly lied to the people of Caledonia on TV after being threatened by Fantino’s email when he told everyone that he did not support the Flag Raising Events. Instead of Grice filing a complaint against Fantino’s threat he caved in and did what politicians do – he chose to lie to the public instead of taking a stand. 

Now Caledonia has no voice – what national media cares to interview a single resident? The reasons are simple – their political leaders and the major players in town will do everything to ensure no one speaks out. 

The town is silent – just like Ipperwash.

Congratulations Caledonia you are now Ipperwash Part Two or Ipperdonia.

Read the full story Here

By Gary McHale – www.CaledoniaWakeupCall.com

There are times in the history of a Country where true leadership is required to deal with issues that go beyond the normal issues facing Governments. No Government wishes to have these times thrust upon them and no citizen looks forward to such times either.

 In the Fall of 1970, Canada faced such a time. I was eight years old and had no interest in anything but playing games. I am sure few adults in Canada had any clue anything was escalating until events overtook the Country. 

At the time Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada and was faced with a small group within Quebec who felt they were justified to commit illegal acts because of their historical grievances. 

Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) was founded in the early 1960s – more info. This group had been responsible for more than 200 bombings and the deaths of at least five people, which culminated in 1970 with what is known as the October Crisis. Founded in the early 1960s, they supported the Quebec sovereignty movement. 

Pierre Elliot Trudeau was forced to decide whether to appease this terrorist group who had taken advantage of the heart felt views of many people in Quebec. Trudeau could have dealt with this situation by offering money, by releasing prisoners and by allowing FLQ members free access to the media for their Manifesto. 

On Oct. 13th, Tim Ralfe of the CBC had an impromptu interview with Trudeau, but Trudeau questioned the reporter by asking, “Is your position that you should give in to the seven demands of the FLQ?” The reporter raised the point that Canada doesn’t have a big enough military to protect everyone in the country. Trudeau then asked the reporter, “So, what do you suggest – that we protect nobody? 

The media had been calling the FLQ members who were in jail ‘political prisoners’ but Trudeau said to the reporter, “I said that you people should stop calling them political prisoners. They’re not political prisoners, they’re outlaws. They’re criminal prisoners, they’re not political prisoners, and they’re bandits. I think it is more important to get rid of those who are committing violence against the total society and those who are trying to run the government through a parallel power by establishing their authority by kidnapping and blackmail. And I think it is our duty as a government to protect government officials and important people in our society against being used as tools in this blackmail” stated Trudeau. 

History has recorded that Trudeau decided not to give in to blackmail. Trudeau stated, “there are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don’t like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it is more important to keep law and order in the society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don’t like the looks of…

Canada has had its share of homegrown terrorists with the FLQ and with the rise of the Warrior Society.

We have seen armed conflict with a small group of extreme radicals who have hi-jacked the native culture and are using the land claims issue as a means to gain power and money from the Government 

Our web site was the first to expose the YouTube training video that had been created to encourage the direct attack upon the Railway lines across Canada. We sent this video to both CSIS and CN Police before any media covered the story.

Canada’s Anti-Terrorism laws are quite clear, but the political will to arrest natives who have broken such laws currently does not exist. The current McGuinty Government and Harper Government are interested in one thing only… their re-election campaigns. 

What Harper and McGuinty has done is to buyout the very people who have committed the criminal acts in the first place. Instead of upholding the laws of Canada our leaders now pay people to stop committing crimes. This is bad enough if the future didn’t hold an even worse situation for Canadians. 

What message has the Government been sending to all the people who have protested in peace? What message do they send to all the Natives who work within the system to bring about change? All the people who stand peacefully without committing any crimes will see that violence, threats, and illegal acts are rewarded.

All Countries are faced with hard decisions. All Countries have to deal with both their past and their present. True leaders make decisions that look forward to the future when they act.

The billions of dollars announced by Harper & McGuinty to stop the June 29 Day of Action is nothing more than appeasement.

It sends the wrong message to the peaceful people who function within the system. It sends the wrong message to the criminals & terrorists that Governments will reward you for your crimes. Regardless of what happens on June 29, Canada has already lost.

The ‘Rule of Law’ is no longer enforced. Multiculturalism is now dead because all people are no longer equal under the law. Terrorists & Criminals now make their demands on National TV.

 

Read the Full Story Here

By Gary McHalewww.CaledoniaWakeupCall.com

As Canadians we all know that you cannot rely that politicians will do much to help the average person. In a modern society the only thing that politicians are interested in is winning the next election.

 

In the ‘big-bad’ USA, the President was attacked for failing to visit New Orleans within the first two weeks after the hurricane that hit the city. Meanwhile in Canada McGuinty & Harper have outright refused to visit Caledonia anytime in the past 16 months. Canadian politicians do not feel they are accountable to the people and believe that Canadians will never take a stand to hold them to account.

 

I believe that Democracy demands each and every one of us to stand against the endless lies of our leaders and the outright abuses of Governments and the police forces. I believe that in the end Justice WINS.

 

McGuinty and the OPP have believed they are above the law. They believe they can disobey the courts, disobey the criminal code, and disobey their duties & responsibilities in a democratic society.

 

In the end it is the “Rule of Law” that holds McGuinty & Fantino to account for their actions or lack of action. Fantino believed he could spend months slandering us and believed he could even threaten and intimidate elected officials. Democracy demands that no police force, just like no military force, has the right to interfere with the political process.

 

Fantino’s direct attack upon democracy is so serious that I doubt there has been a greater threat to democracy in Ontario in the past 100 years.

 

On April 17, 2007 we had the Press Room at Queen’s Park to release information regarding Fantino’s threatening Email to Haldimand County. At the time we filed three Police Service Complaints against Fantino for his actions related to Caledonia. 

 

Minister Monty Kwinter told the people of Ontario on TV that he would decide within days regarding the complaints against Fantino.

 

As of this day, two months later, Monty Kwinter has not even decided whether to investigate Fantino. Monty Kwinter appointed a lawyer to advise him on this case. Rod McLeod is the lawyer assigned and we have had three meetings with Mr. McLeod.

 

With the approaching election do you think the Government is going to start any investigation into Fantino, or will they instead try to find ways to delay?

 

Back in April Mark Vandermaas contacted the Ombudsman’s office regarding the Two Tier Justice in Caledonia and Ipperwash. We have provided the Ombudsman with evidence regarding the various problems in Caledonia.

 

Now we see the Ombudsman say exactly what most people believe is really happening within the McGuinty Government, “by hiring outsiders to investigate public complaints because it wants to maintain control over the investigations”.

 

McGuinty, Kwinter and Fantino may think they can play games but in the end the “Rule of Law” will hold them to account.

Our Marches and Flag Raising Events are the public side of us, but the paperwork we do is what will bring down the most powerful in Government – ‘ the prime minister to the poorest of our people is equally subject to and must obey the law.’

 

Read the full editorial here

Governments will pay/do anything to appease Natives because of the Terrorist Threat announced for June 29th.

Today’s Headlines are proof that Ottawa is willing to start slicing up Canada and giving it to Terrorists like cake to appease their demands. With over 800 land claims, what will be left of our Country when our “Leaders” are done?

Stay tuned to www.caledoniawakeupcall.com for all the latest breaking news.