In 1942 the Stoney Point People were kicked off their land by the Canadian government. It was turned into a firing range to train Canadian soldiers during World War II. The land was supposed to be returned to the Stoney Point People after the war. Instead, the Ontario government turned it into a provincial park, known as ?Ipperwash?. Dudley and Pierre was part of a group of Stoney Point People who returned to their land on June 21, 1993. They planted a tree of peace. Guns were not to be used. Two years later, on September 6th 1995, Ontario Premier Mike Harris allegedly ordered the heavily armed Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to kick them off their land once more. It ended in a deadly attack. Dudley George was murdered. One officer, Acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane, was given a tap on the wrist for the killing. There has been a year long inquiry in Forest Ontario into the murderous attack and Dudley?s death. Hundreds of witnesses have been paraded into the arena – Nishnawbe, police and soon politicians. Hanging around this circus are dozens of lawyers getting paid $300 an hour by the government. They are there as atmosphere and sensationalism. The inquiry is supposed to pacify the public. They have to find some justification for the unlawful actions of the police. As Pierre said, ?It is to serve as a guide on how to successfully attack Indigenous people in the future. To learn all the mistakes the cops, politicians and lawyers made on this one?. Next time, either they won?t do it, or nobody comes out alive [to talk about it]! The Indigenous people visiting the inquiry shake their heads and laugh at the array of court jesters. The lawyers and politicians spout federal law. The police act on it. Then the lawyers clean up the dirt! It?s a show! Everybody evades the real question. The Ontario government had no right to send the police in. They say the police ?abused? their jurisdiction. Actually, the police ?exceeded? the jurisdiction they do not legally have. Their action is unconstitutional and they committed genocide. John Carson, the Deputy Commissioner of the OPP, testified that it was written in the police log that Chief Tom Bressette had said that the Stoney Point people are ?a bunch of criminals and they should be dealt with?. Dale Linton, a junior officer, brought in the deadly Emergency Response Team (ERT) that night. They also brought in the Tactical Rescue Team. ?The provincial Crown said they had clear title to the land. If so, all they needed was a trespassing charge on a piece of paper which they could have dropped from a helicopter?, said Pierre. Tom Bressette, chief of nearby sister community Kettle Point, gave the OPP the right to carry out that attack. ?He?s their accomplice before and after!? Tom also got Gary George to destroy their support network. Tom worked on both sides?. The relationship with the Stoney Point people is nation-to-nation until there is a legal surrender. Ontario has no power over these lands and its people. Section 109 of the British North America Act 1867 provides that ?All lands, mines, minerals and royalties are subject to any existing trusts?. Indigenous interests come first before that of Canada and its provinces. The land in question was never validly purchased from the Stoney Point People through a treaty. So they have no jurisdiction over them. ?In the 1829 treaty the Chippewa supposedly gave up sovereignty to 2.2 million acres of land to the British government for certain goods. Chief Wawanash, who signed the treaty, wasn?t even from the area. He took whisky to the chiefs and told them they were too old to be chiefs anymore. He got them drunk and had them sign their chieftainships over to him. Then he signed this fraudulent treaty?. How would Canadian people feel if someone claimed their sovereignty by getting Prime Minister Paul Martin drunk and having him sign the same sort of nonsense? The sit-around-the-inquiry lawyers like Murray Klippenstein, Andrew Orkin and Joanne Birenbaum are part of the whole industry of lawyers that leech on the Indigenous people. It?s a bigger business than General Motors! It?s gross! The government funds this charade to avoid being confronted about the violation of the constitutional jurisdictional and the resulting genocide. The OPP did not act in ?excess? of the Police Act. Pierre says, ?The Police Act does not apply to us because we never agreed to it. The police acted in excess of their jurisdiction?. The lawyers focus on condemning the abuse. They stay away from the theft of the constitutional jurisdiction of the original Indigenous people. ?Lawyers are our enemies. They?re always scheming against us?, said Pierre. Pierre likes to appear at the inquiry wearing his favorite T-shirt. He got it at a second-hand store, Value Village. It quotes Shakespeare, ?The first thing we do, let?s kill all the lawyers? (King Henry, Part IV, Act 5, Scene 2, Stratford Festival, Canada). ?These cops have zero jurisdiction over the Indigenous people they are abusing. Why, they?re not even supposed to look at us unless we give them permission. The government pays lawyers to make it look like they?re cleaning up their system. This is a scam, a fraud?. Everybody all over the world knows that we are mistreated. It?s the theft of Indigenous jurisdiction that is behind it all. That?s what happens when a government invades another?s constitutional territory and jurisdiction, like the Stoney Point People, the Kanienkehaka and all the others. The police are given orders to go out and enforce genocidally unconstitutional jurisdiction. Some cops do it with an iron fist. Some with an iron fist covered by a velvet glove. Some by talking your ear off. Some cops are pleasant. They don?t have to beat up someone to commit genocide. They take away our identity which is based on our tie to our land. The politicians and judges don?t appear to be disturbed over their role in carrying out the genocide. They sit there and talk about it all day long, day after day. From what Pierre sees, ?The lawyers are dishonest. They abuse the law. They lie to us. They think we?re stupid. Some day we?ll put them on trial for what they?ve done to us?. Kahentinetha Horn |
| poster: Thahoketoteh |
