Native protesters push back when police move in
A standoff between native protesters and police in southwestern Ontario escalated early Thursday after a pre-dawn raid intended to evict them from a housing project.The police, who had retreated after the early morning raid when protesters brought in reinforcements, later returned to the site and kept watch overhead in helicopters.
Meanwhile, defiant aboriginal protesters evicted by the Ontario Provincial Police in the earlier raid near Caledonia, Ont., about 25 kilometres south of Hamilton, blocked a road but said they are committed to a peaceful protest.
”We've never done anything to disrupt the peace,” one protester told reporters from the scene. ”The threat comes from the OPP and always has.”
The protesters urged residents of the surrounding community to lobby government officials to return to the negotiating table to try to end the confrontation between police and Six Nations members occupying the construction site.
They argue that the site was part of a large land grant back in 1784, but the provincial and federal governments say the land was surrendered in 1841 to help build a major highway. They have been occupying the site of what is known as the Douglas Creek Estates housing project for 52 days. The move by the OPP in the early hours of Thursday morning was supposed to end that occupation.
A judge had granted an injunction in March to remove the occupiers, and police had been negotiating to have the natives leave the land peacefully throughout the dispute. Tensions mounted earlier this week when talks broke down.
A spokeswoman for the protesters, Janie Jamieson told CBC Newsworld in an interview that some women were pepper-sprayed in the course of the raid, which began about 4:45 a.m. EDT, and that other people were ”dragged from their tents.”
”They swarmed every which way, I couldn't even hazard a guess how many cops,” said another man, Clyde Powless. Occupiers have been unarmed since the situation began, he added.
”We didn't have no weapons,” he said. ”We're still hoping the politicians can do something, I'm not sure if they can, we hope they can.”
Ms. Jamieson said nine people were detained Thursday morning, although that information has not been confirmed by police. Since She said eight of the nine have since been released.
Ontario police Sergeant Dave Rektor refused to confirm any arrests and said there would be no official comment until a news media briefing Thursday afternoon.
Ms. Jamieson said the protesters have held nothing but a peaceful occupation of the site for the past 52 days.
”The OPP has made [the] decision to break that peace, and that's what's happened.”
At least four different tire fires were set around the road by protesters, sending black clouds of smoke in the air. Some demonstrators were on foot and others were driving all-terrain vehicles.
As well, police helicopters roared overhead as defiant protesters climbed atop buildings. The angry protesters used a large dump truck and the fires to block a road leading to the housing project they say sits on native land.
David General, the chief elected council of Six Nations, told CTV Newsnet in an interview that at any time, there were only a ”couple dozen people” on the site of the occupation.
He said that what is really needed is to sit down and talk about the issue and work out the problem.
He said, however, that there must be political will.
”We can talk all we want, but there is no political resolve to this right now.”
The fallout from the confrontation was immediate for the provincial government. At the Ontario legislature Thursday morning, Gilles Bisson, the New Democratic native affairs critic, questioned whether Premier Dalton McGuinty was part of the decision to order in the police.
”I have a hard time believing they took action on their own,” Mr. Bisson told reporters. ”I have to think that the government had to know what was going on.”
Mr. Bisson also said Mr. McGuinty must tell the public whether he had advance warning of the raid when he said during Wednesday's Question Period that the government was taking the necessary steps for a peaceful resolution.
”We will proceed in a responsible fashion, we will be mindful of the public-safety issues and we'll be mindful of the fact that no harm ever comes from sitting down and talking and working together with a determination to resolve it peacefully,” Mr. McGuinty said in response to a question from Progressive Conservative MPP Toby Barrett.
Mr. Bisson said that ”something has gone awry” between what Mr. McGuinty said then and what happened Thursday morning.
He said the incident shows that no one has learned lessons from the Ipperwash tragedy in 1995, when a standoff between police and aboriginals resulted in the death of protester Dudley George. Police action against aboriginals is an especially sensitive issue in Ontario since the death of Mr. George.
”Clearly, we still have a problem,” Mr. Bisson said.
Mr. McGuinty's office has yet to make a comment on the situation on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has said the occupation is a provincial matter.
With reports from Karen Howlett and Allison Dunfield
Just before 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on Thursday, Ontario Provincial Police officers armed with guns, tasers, tear gas, and pepper spray stormed the area that dozens of Six Nations protesters have occupied for the past 52 days.

"People were pepper sprayed...another man was shot in the back with a Taser and we were told more police officers would be coming back," said protester Hazel Hill.

"The police just completely swarmed the territory," said protester Mike Desroches, adding that the officers entered with guns drawn.  No shots were fired.

"They swarmed every which way, I couldn't even hazard a guess how many cops," said another man, Clyde Powless. The protesters have been unarmed since the beginning of the occupation, although a police statement said some officers needed medical attention for injuries sustained "while confronted by the protesters with … axes, crowbars, rocks and a various assortment of make-shift batons".

OPP Deputy Commissioner Maurice Pilon confirmed that 16 people were arrested before protesters called in reinforcements that caused police to retreat.  A spokeswoman for the protesters, Janie Jamieson, made it clear that the confrontation was not over.  "We're prepared ... for however long it takes," she said.

Protesters started a huge tire fire to block the road in an attempt to prevent a further incursion by the police. A dump truck was also stopped astride the road and roadblocks set up to prevent the passage of traffic.

Protesters expect more natives to support them in the near future.