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[OPIRG-EVENTS] Fwd: FW: Ken Deane Appeal to Supreme Court Jan 26th Ottawa
This is an opportunity for people in Ottawa and area to stand up for Dudley
george and his family - see below,
-----Original Message-----
From: Communications Coordinator [mailto:TISGCanada@yahoo.com]
Sent: January 18, 2001 6:43 PM
Subject: Ken Deane Appeal to Supreme Court Jan 26th Ottawa
( - please forward to appropriate lists - )
NOTICE TO SUPPORTERS IN OTTAWA REGION
On January 26, 2001 at 9:30 am the Supreme Court of Canada will begin
hearing the final appeal of OPP Sergeant Kenneth Deane who was convicted in
Dudley George's death.
PLEASE MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO ATTEND.
GEORGE FAMILY MEMBERS & REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE COALITION FOR A PUBLIC
INQUIRY INTO IPPERWASH WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE.
Case Information:
2001-01-26
Kenneth Deane v. Her Majesty the Queen (Ont.) (Criminal) (As of Right)
(27776)
Confirmed
Hearing Information:
9:30 am (arrive by 9:15 to assure seating)
Supreme Court of Canada, 301 Wellington Street (west of the Parliament
Buildings)
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0J1
Phone: (613) 995-4330 Fax : (613) 996-3063 E-mail: reception@scc-csc.gc.ca
Background Information and Analysis:
Deane was convicted in 1997 of criminal negligence in the fatal shooting of
unarmed Aboriginal Rights protestor, Dudley George (from the Stoney Point
or Aazhoodena territory), at Ipperwash Park on September 6, 1995. He was
sentenced to serve 180 hours of voluntary community service, and received
no loss of pay or position for the crime of killing an unarmed man who was
asserting his recognized Aboriginal rights in a public park that had closed
for the season. Deane has appealed both the conviction and his sentence,
and all appeals to lower courts by Deane have been rejected.
Deane deserves no release or reprise from his conviction. Not only did he
admit shooting Dudley George, but he tried to lie about it and say he was
shot at first. (The trial judge condemned Deane's lies, saying they were
invented after the fact, in his decision.) These falsehoods were a terrible
display of disrespect to those engaged in just, honourable and peaceable
political actions at Ipperwash Park beginning on September 4, 1995.
Clearly, Deane is both guilty and unremorseful for his crime.
Yet more is called for than simply upholding Deane's conviction. And, this
further action must come from the Ontario Provincial, or failing that the
Federal, government. Family members and indigenous and other human rights
activists across Canada want political accountability.
Less than thirty Aboriginal men, women, children and elders began occupying
the Park on September 4, 1995 - as it was closing for the season - in order
to assert their Aboriginal land, treaty and cultural rights. (In fact,
members of Dudley George's home community of Stoney Point, adjacent to
Ipperwash Park, continue to demand a satisfactory resolution of the
underlying issues, which remain unsettled - seventy-four years after the
problems began and more than five years after George's death.)
The police assault on the night of September 6, 1995, which involved 250 or
more highly-trained, elite squad riot police, was an unprecedented and
totally unexpected departure from the Ontario policing strategies of recent
decades. Furthermore, confidential documents leaked to, and printed in, the
media as well as material released under freedom-to-information legislation
reveal that Ontario Premier Mike Harris and fellow Conservative Cabinet
members played a role in orchestrating the aggressive nature and level of
police response.
Countless individuals and hundreds of organizations across Canada, as well
as two United Nations Committees, Amnesty International and the
Ontario Ombudsman, have called for a Public Inquiry into Ipperwash. Such
an Inquiry would uncover the truth about how these events occurred. It
would set out recommendations designed to prevent a re-occurrence of this
tragedy, as Aboriginal Inherent Rights continue to be hotly contested in
many parts of Canada.
Premier Harris has continually maintained that he could not call such an
Inquiry because it might prejudice existing cases before the courts.
The conclusion of Deane's appeal will represent an important turning point
in the history of this long-protracted effort to get a Public Inquiry into
Dudley George's death and other related human rights violations. Regardless
of its conclusion, when the Deane SCC hearing concludes, Premier Harris
will lose his last excuse for calling a Public Inquiry. The only remaining
matter before the courts will be the Civil Suit for the Wrongful Death of
Dudley George, in which Harris and fellow Cabinet Ministers, among others,
are named as defendants.
Will the Premier be able to say that he won't call an Inquiry because it
would prejudice the Civil Court Case against himself?
Would he not have a monumental conflict of interest in so saying?
Could he continue to talk about the money issue, asserting that inquiries
are too expensive and cumbersome, after how the Ontario government has
drawn out and dragged down the entire process of the Civil Case through the
courts, and has now hired one of the nation's most expensive litigators to
represent the Premier?
In these circumstances, with the Deane appeal complete, will the Premier be
able to explain why White Canadians in Walkerton (on the water issue) or in
Toronto (police violence at the OPSEU protest in 1996) get Inquiries but
Aboriginal Peoples (injured, killed and terrorized during a peaceful
political protest) do not get an Inquiry?
In Alberta, where he enjoys so much public support, Stockwell Day is being
made to answer for using public office as a shield to avoid accountability
for his abuse of power and violation of the basic rights of another human
being. The huge network of the Coalition for a Public Inquiry and all other
people who have pressed for justice on Ipperwash have so far come up
empty-handed in getting Harris and his colleagues to account for the baises
or faulty judgement they brought to the decisions that were made about
Ipperwash.
Some argue that Harris' powerful supporters, who help design his political
strategy and legal tactics, want this precedent of taking a "no nonsense"
(fatal) approach to indigenous people to stand as an example to other
Aboriginal Rights activists. It is known that the Harris government's
supporters include all the multinational-global corporations who want
unrestricted access to timber, minerals and other resources that are often
inconveniently located in or on First People's territories.
Regardless of how the SCC deals with the Deane appeal, it is time for
Premie Harris to finally give in and call an Inquiry into Ipperwash...
before he costs us any more deaths.
If Ontario continues to stonewall, Prime Minister Chretien must do the
right thing and call a federal Public Inquiry. This is an issue of concern
to people, Peoples and groups across Canada and around the world. With
tensions and racist backlash rising across the country, it is all too
likely that leaving Ipperwash un-addressed creates a sense of impunity for
officials responding to similar incidents elsewhere in Canada. With the
Deane appeal settled it is time to act.
**********************************************************************
Launched into Cyberspace by: Turtle Island Support Group
<TISGCanada@yahoo.com>
on behalf of the Coalition for a Public Inquiry into Ipperwash
<Coalition4anInquiry@yahoo.com>
PO Box 111, Station C, Toronto, Ontario Canada M6J 3M7
t: 416-537-3520 f: 416-538-2559
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