Judge wants answers in Caledonia dispute

CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news
Last Updated Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:51:26 EDT

[SISIS note: The following mainstream news article is provided for reference only, as an example of how mainstream media treats indigenous resistance to genocide. Mainstream media often presents biased and distorted information, lacking pertinent facts and/or context. Inclusion of this article on our site should not be considered an endorsement by SISIS.]

An Ontario judge is demanding to know why no one enforced his injunction order to have aboriginal protesters removed from a construction site they occupy in the Caledonia land-claims dispute.

Superior Court Justice David Marshall set the order in April, some weeks after protesters from the Six Nations Reserve occupied a housing development near the town southwest of Hamilton.

The protesters claimed it was being built on land that they owned historically and had never surrendered.

This week, Marshall ordered representatives of the native protesters, town, police and even of Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, to appear before him in court Thursday to explain why the order wasn't carried out.

Instead, tensions continued to escalate at the site, as the Ontario Provincial Police raided the land, the native protesters blockaded roads and non-native residents from town staged a counter-protest that led to some punches being thrown.

Although the native protesters eventually agreed to remove one of three road blockades, they still occupy the housing project.

Former Conservative Solicitor General Bob Runciman said Marshall's move shows the court feels the government did not and is not upholding his order.

"On the surface it appears that way," he said.

"Apparently Superior Court Justice Marshall has some concerns that they indeed are flouting his order, and that the Attorney General is not fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities to uphold the rule of law and to uphold the law equally for all residents of Ontario."