TorSun founder Worthington hammers ‘journalistic negligence’ & ‘defacto’ suspension of Charter, Police Services Act protection for Caledonia victims

The good news re Caledonia keeps coming. I received a call from a Caledonia resident yesterday who excitedly informed me that Peter Worthington had written a column that mentioned the Caledonia Victims Project, and which included several quotes from my writings (links & emphasis added):

[...] Mark Vandermaas, founder of the Caledonia Victims Project, credits lawyer John Findlay for winning the $20 million settlement. [...]

Vandermaas, protesting the protestors, was arrested for the provocative act of raising the Canadian flag across the street from protestors.

Vandermaas says neither he nor others who agitated for justice (often to media disinterest) don’t share in the award – and “rightly so,” he says. Taking a stand of the basis of principle nearly bankrupt[ed] him. [...]

Were it not for journalist Christie Blatchford’s book about political lawlessness during the Caledonia siege, little of the democratic abomination would have been publicized. The media was largely silent. Christie’s book, Helpless…How the Law Failed All of Us has become something of a classic, and an indictment of the government, the OPP and journalistic negligence that failed to adequately report the standoff.

While Caledonia is now relatively quiet, the $20 million award confirms the view of Vandermaas and others that the McGuinty government “made a decision to allow the Ontario Provincial Police to suspend — defacto — the Charter of Rights and Police Services Act protections of an entire class of citizen in order to appease a small, violent, racial constituency.” [from: LINK]

Thank you note to Senator Bob Runciman: FIRST to denounce Ipperwash Inquiry ‘peacekeeping’ recommendations

SENT VIA EMAIL (some links have been added to body text)…

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July 13, 2011

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Office of The Honourable Senator Bob Runciman

351 East Block

Ottawa, ON K1A 0A4

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Dear Senator Runciman:

.

As a former UN peacekeeper and Caledonia activist who has devoted countless hours to denouncing the OPP/McGuinty government’s substitution of ‘peacekeeping’ in lieu of the Charter and Ontario Police Services Act protections the people of Caledonia were entitled to, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for ‘Inquiry needed into Caledonia occupation‘ [PDF] (Toronto Sun, July 12/11).

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You may recall we had a brief conversation during the 2007 Caledonia Convoy event at Queen’s Park where you mentioned you had been reading our Ipperwash Papers project of which I was the team leader. I am, therefore, profoundly pleased that it was you who now has the honour of being remembered as the first politician in Canada to open the desperately-needed public debate that will allow us to remove the Ipperwash millstone from around our province’s neck once and forever. Bravo!

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I am optimistic that your words will help us end the shameful, illegal peacekeeping mission on Canadian soil and allow us to move forward via a meaningful and longlasting healing and reconciliation prcess based on truth, justice and apologies, rather than the artifical, short term non-solution of appeasement.

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Caledonia: what went wrong? Where do we go from here?

No one should assume that Caledonia is all wrapped up with a nice bow because the Caledonia Class Action suit has been settled. Even though the government was forced to write a cheque it can ill afford (politically and financially) the Caledonia story is far from turning its final page.

Even when the last lawsuit has been settled, what do we as a province, as a country, say to a family like the Gualtieris, or the Dudychs on the Sixth Line who, with others, lived without policing for nearly four years? What can we do to make up to them for what was done to them by their government while the vast majority of their fellow citizens were content to let them suffer the agony of abandonment?

Below are excerpts from my presentations at both the 2010 New Directions in Aboriginal Policy forum at Mount Royal University, and the Caledonia: No More Nightmares event held at the National Library and Archives building in Ottawa on March 22/11 which was sponsored by the International Free Press Society and the Free Thinking Film Society.

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taken from…

‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares‘
Part 1: Caledonia’s Victims
Mark Vandermaas
Ottawa, ON  March 22, 2011

• [VIDEO, 15:05]
• [PDF, 36p (incl. citations)]

Caledonia’s unsung hero: Class Action lawyer John Findlay

UPDATE: Caledonia Victims Project, July 15/11: TorSun Founder Peter Worthington quotes CVP founder as he hammers ‘journalistic negligence’ & ‘defacto’ suspension of Charter, Police Services Act protection for Caledonia victims [LINK]

UPDATED July 09/11 – One of Caledonia’s greatest unsung heroes walked out of court with a victory most never thought would happen.

• National Post (Christie Blatchford), July 08/11: Settlement reached in Caledonia class action suit

But, the real victory is not the $20M payout for the victims of Caledonia; no, John Findlay’s victory is far more spectacular, and far more priceless than mere money.

Lawyer John Findlay went to war on behalf of all Canadians against the full weight of the resources of a provincial government, a lonely, thankless war that took five years — all to defend our precious rule of law during an awful, dangerous time when the Dalton McGuinty Liberal government made a decision to allow the Ontario Provincial Police to suspend – defacto – the Charter rights and Police Services Act protections of an entire class of citizens in order to appease a small, violent, racial constituency.

[UPDATE: bolded text quoted by TorSun founder Peter Worthington, July 13/11: LINK, PDF]

• Superior Court of Ontario, Feb 08/10: Judges reasons for certification [PDF, 21P]
• Superior Court of Ontario, June 12/06: Statement of Claim
• Caledonia Class Action website: www.caledoniaclassaction.com
• HelplessByBlatchford feature: ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’ (Ottawa, Mar 22/11)
• HelplessByBlatchford feature: Excerpts (from Christie Blatchford’s Helpless)

Those of us who are intimately familiar with the goings-on in the courthouses forced to deal with the Caledonia crisis know just how hard the Attorney General’s taxpayer-funded lawyers and the Ontario Provincial Police worked to legalize native lawlessness against innocent people.

For a time I wondered if anything would pull us back from the anarchy we were fighting, back from the brink of, yes, civil war. If McGuinty and his lawyers and police had their way that could easily have been the legacy left for our children. People were losing hope that the police would ever protect them again, and some may never lose their fear of being abandoned by the law again.

Thanks to one remarkable lawyer named John Findlay, however, the rule of law in our country is a whole lot safer.

Caledonia milestone: DCE occupiers & OPP respect rights of non-natives during Truth & Reconciliation Rally

“I believe the greatest reason the OPP both acknowledged our Charter Rights and then protected them this past Sunday was because we have maintained a clear message of Equality under the Law for all people, that the Rule of Law demands all people obey the Law and that we have remained peaceful even in difficult situations.” – Gary McHale

Something changed in Caledonia yesterday. In a way never before seen in the history of the Caledonia crisis both the OPP and the occupiers of the Douglas Creek Estates displayed respect for the rights of non-natives at yesterday’s CANACE/Caledonia Victims Project Truth & Reconciliation Rally yesterday, and that respect resulted in us being able to place our symbolic Apology/Reconciliation monument on the paved road-allowance portion of the entrance to DCE while we made some short speeches and answered questions from the media.

The contrast between the conduct of the OPP and the occupiers yesterday compared to our Feb 27th and March 27th attempts to place our monument couldn’t have been more stark. During those attempts the OPP stood by as occupiers bumped, assaulted, and screamed insults at us from inches away, and falsely accused us of assault. During the March rally officers watched as our monument was stolen from us by occupiers, destroyed and then burnt with our Canadian flag.

• VoiceofCanada, March 28/11: OPP watch as natives destroy Reconciliation/Apology monument, then burn Canadian flag

Yesterday’s event, however, was nothing short of remarkable.

Pre-Rally Father’s Day BBQ

We held a BBQ at the farm of Ernie Palmer at the south end of Caledonia with free hotdogs and drinks from 12-2pm. We were joined by members of a Jewish group, some of whom have read Helpless and are concerned about both the existence of racial policing and the involvement of anti-Israel groups in the Caledonia crisis.

MEDIA RELEASE: Father’s Day BBQ and Truth & Reconciliation Rally in Caledonia, Sunday, June 19th

UPDATE: Caledonia milestone: DCE occupiers & OPP respect rights of non-natives during Truth & Reconciliation Rally
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Joint Media Release by CANACE and Caledonia Victims Project – June 9, 2011

Father’s Day BBQ (free food & live entertainment)
- 12 to 2 pm -

and

Truth and Reconciliation Rally in Caledonia on Sunday June 19 at 2 p.m. [PDF]

CANACE, founded by Gary McHale, and the Caledonia Victims Project, founded by Mark Vandermaas, are holding a Truth and Reconciliation Rally in Caledonia as part of their on-going efforts to bring about lasting peace based on truth, justice, mutual respect and restoration of the Rule of Law.

A Father’s Day Barbecue will precede the rally from 12 noon to 2 pm Sunday June 19th where we will be serving free hotdogs and drinks to the public at the farm of Mr. Ernie Palmer [LINK, MAP]. All are welcome to drop in to chat and listen to the music of multi-instrumentalist Stuart Laughton who was an original member of Canadian Brass [LINK] and founder of the roots-rock band Porkbelly Futures [LINK]. He is also Founder & Artistic Director of The Forest Festival [LINK] in Haliburton, Ontario. Stuart will be singing and playing guitar on a selection of favourite songs by Willie P. Bennett, James Taylor, Jim Cuddy, Ron Sexsmith and others.

At 2 p.m. we will go to Douglas Creek Estates to place our Truth and Reconciliation Monument on the road allowance at the entrance to DCE. At both our Feb. 27 and Mar. 27 rallies the OPP refused to uphold the law as non-natives were swarmed, harassed and assaulted. During the Feb. event the OPP refused to remove trespassers on the private property we were using, but later arrested Gary McHale for attempting to remove their leader who had led a large group of pro-occupation activists to swarm him, and refused instructions to leave. That charge has now been withdrawn by the Crown [LINK]. On March 27th the OPP allowed the occupiers to steal, destroy, then burn our original monument along with our Canadian flag [LINK].

R. v. Gary McHale (Assault)

Caledonia Lawsuits & Court Actions> Targeting of Non-Native Activists  R. v. Gary McHale (Assault)

A charge of Assault was laid against Gary McHale arising out of a ‘Truth & Reconciliation’ rally held Feb 27/11. It was dropped by the Crown on June 07/11 because there “was no reasonable prospect for conviction.”

• VoiceofCanada, June 07/11: BULLETIN: Crown drops Assault charge vs. Gary McHale

The charge was laid by the OPP in connection with a Feb 27/11 Truth & Reconciliation Rally in Caledonia organized by McHale and Caledonia Victims Project founder Mark Vandermaas where non-native participants were swarmed, harassed and assaulted by native occupiers and busloads of unionists, anarchists and anti-Israel types led by CUPE 3903 leader Tom Keefer.

• Moose & Squirrel, Feb 28/11: Caledonia: The front line struggle against the anti-capitalist, anarchist, Marxist agenda 
• VoiceofCanada, March 02/11: Truth & Reconciliation Rally, Caledonia – Feb 27/11 (UPDATE)
• Globe & Mail, Christie Blatchford, Feb 28/11: For sheer abuse of state power nothing touches Caledonia [PDF]
• Moose & Squirrel, Feb 27/11: Truth & Reconciliation Rally -Speech notes by Mark Vandermaas (‘Caledonia’s Obnoxious Peace’ + intro for Mary Lou Ambrogio) 
• Moose & Squirrel, Feb 27/11: BREAKING: Ontario Liberal government’s private security force (OPP) to enforce race-based policing at today’s Truth & Reconciliation Rally in Caledonia! (reprint of update from Mark Vandermaas, w/photos of Apology monument)
• JOINT NEWS RELEASE, Jan 28/11: ‘Truth & Reconciliation’ Rally in Caledonia Feb 27th [PDF] [HTML w/add refs]
• Caledonia Victims Project feature: Queen’s Park ‘Truth & Reconciliation’ news conference

Keefer and the groups he works with have been supporting native lawlessness in the Haldimand Tract since 2006: 

• Caledonia Victims Project brochure, March 28/10: Caledonia’s Fifth Column: How radical unionists, anarchists, anti-Israel groups and terror group sympathizers are aiding and abetting native militants in their quest for ‘aboriginal sovereignty’ in Caledonia and Brantford [PDF, 6p] 
• VoiceofCanada feature: Caledonia Players: Tom Keefer & CUPE 3903
• VoiceofCanada, Dec 21/09: Anarchist groups & unions assist native militants to undermine rule of law
• Caledonia Victims Project April 12/10: CUPE now supporting illegal smokeshacks in Caledonia
• ‘Caledonia: No More Nightmares’ event, Ottawa, March 22/11: Mark Vandermaas presentation, Part 2 - Caledonia Myths & Policy Issues: ‘Vexatious Land Claims‘ and ’Caledonia: a National Security Issue’ [VIDEO #2, 14:50] [PDF, 36p w/citations] (includes info re support for native militants by radical unionists, anarchists, anti-capitalists, anti-Israel groups and terror group supporters – incl. Tom Keefer)  

History of the Mohawk Warrior flag: a legacy of lawlessness

Some native militants have claimed the Mohawk Warrior flag is merely a benign ‘Unity Flag’ of peace with no sinister intent or symbolism behind its use, despite a long and highly visible association with extreme violence, intimidation and criminal activity in places like Oka, Akwasasne and Caledonia.

• VoiceofCanada feature: Caledonia Players – The Mohawk Warriors

Not only is this claim highly dubious on its surface, the birth of the Mohawk Warrior flag flag in violence and criminality has been well documented in a Masters thesis by a Concordia University student named Kahente Horn-Miller who “…is Bear Clan Kanienkehaka and lives near Montreal Canada on the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory…”

Horn-Miller’s mother Kahn-Tineta Horn – as she notes in the Acknowledgements section (page iv) - was a “Warrior during the Oka crisis”:

• Concordia University, Kahente Horn-Miller Master of Arts thesis, August 2003: The Emergence of the Mohawk Warrior Flag [PDF, 238p; accessed May 31/11, if no longer available - contact Mark Vandermaas for copy: info@caledoniavictimsproject.ca]

• Concordia University, May 12/09: Bio – Kahente Horn-Miller [PDF]

‘The Emergence of the Mohawk Warrior Flag: a symbol of Indigenous unification and impetus to assertion of identiy and rights commencing in the Kanienkehaka community of Kahnawake’ [PDF, 238p]

[p86-88 (PDF p94-96)]

Early on in the research process it became apparent that there was more than one flag. In fact there are two flags. One is known as the Unity flag which stems from its creation in the context of the assertion of sovereignty in the early seventies with the establishement of the Independent North American State of Ganienkeh. The second flag is known as the Kahnawake Warrior Flag or Mohawk Flag which emerged at another time of assertion of sovereignty in the late 1980′s. [...]

In May 1974, a group of Kanienkehaka seized a 612-acre former summer camp for girls at Moss Lake in upstate New York and claimed it as sovereign Kanienkehaka territory. They named this new terroritory Ganienkeh. [...] After some shooting incidents where two-non-native citizens and a nine year old girl were injured, New York State…negotiated with the Kanienkehaka for their removal from the original site [of Ganienkeh].

JOINT NEWS RELEASE re High Park, Toronto protest Saturday, May 28th

PROTEST COVERAGE (includes many great photos):

• Caledonia Victims Project feature: History of the Mohawk Warrior flag: a legacy of lawlessness (quotes thesis written by native student whose mother was a “Warrior at Oka” – documents the history of how the Warrior & Unity flags were both born out of lawlessness; addresses false claims the Warrior High Park Warrior flag was merely a benign ‘Unity Flag’; includes extensive update re High Park protest incl. threats against us; defamation by occupiers; newly discovered video produced for occupiers by Toronto Police ‘Aboriginal Peacekeeping Unit’)
• FiveFeetofFury, May 28/11: So why didn’t High Park turn into another Oka or Caledonia? (“Ordinary people spoke up, early and loudly, at the risk of being called “racists.”)
• Blog Wrath, May 28/11: The Ghosts of Caledonia’s past haunt Toronto’s High Park 
• Blazing Cat Fur, May 28/11: New from Ronco! Mohawk Begone! 

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(references following) 

- Joint News Release by CANACE and the Caledonia Victims Project -  

City of Toronto approves racially segregated park land [PDF] 

CANACE, founded by Gary McHale, and the Caledonia Victims Project, founded by Mark Vandermaas, are holding an Information Rally in High Park in Toronto on May 28, 2011 in order to inform the public about the dangers to public safety regarding the ongoing illegal occupation of High Park by Native protesters. The illegal occupation in High Park is being conducted under the banner of Six Nations and Mohawk warriors. 

The City of Toronto has already decided to fence off the park land where Native protesters have stated they will continue to use the land at will. There is little doubt non-Natives will be banned from the area in order to appease the protesters. 

All who have read Christie Blatchford’s book Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us are aware of the victimization of Haldimand residents by a small minority of Native extremists, and how government appeasement victimized innocent people. The public needs to be aware that these so-called peaceful occupations can lead to serious violence once governments refuse to uphold the Rule of Law. 

Caledonia: Was the Conservative Party of Canada friend or foe to victims?

Excerpt from
‘Caledonia: An Illegal Peacekeeping Mission on Canadian Soil’
[PDF, 11p]; PowerPoint presentation [PPT, 22.5MB]
presented by Mark Vandermaas,
Delhi Belgian Club, April 14/11

[...] I would like to preface my final set of remarks by saying that I have voted for the Conservative Party all my adult life. In fact, the only party I have ever been a member of was the Reform Party under Preston Manning.

As someone who has volunteered four and a half years of my life to working towards ending race-based policing in Ontario and as someone who holds conservative values I am compelled to ask a question during this election:

What were Diane Finley and the Harper government doing while the Ontario government was undermining Canada’s Charter of Rights and our precious rule of law during the past 5 years?

SLIDE: HAS ANYONE SEEN DIANE FINLEY?

This picture from Gary McHale’s 2006 March for Freedom shows a resident carrying a sign that was posted around Caledonia to convey the sentiments about their MP’s lack of interest. It says, “Has anyone seen Diane Finley?”

Diane Finley has brushed off Doug Fleming’s attempts to meet with her to discuss the blight of illegal smokeshacks in his community. She has so far rejected our attempts to set up a meeting to talk about Caledonia issues.