[IPSM] RCMP now on the scene in Caledonia

Fri Apr 21 12:21:11 PDT 2006

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Friday, April 21, 2006 | Updated at 9:44 AM EDT

   RCMP now on the scene in Caledonia

By Daniel Nolan

Photo by: Gary Yokoyama, Hamilton Spectator
Gary Yokoyama, Hamilton Spectator

Native protesters allow Haldimand County fire trucks through the Argyle
Street barricade. The fire department was investigating a small fire at
a barn that was unrelated to the protest.

CALEDONIA -- The RCMP are now helping the OPP keep an eye on a volatile
native protest that has virtually cut the town of Caledonia in half.

The presence of officers this morning from the national police force
comes 24 hours after a police raid on a housing project that protesters
say lies on native land. The occupation, entering its 53rd day, has
spilled off Douglas Creek Estates and has seen the protesters block the
Highway 6 bypass and Argyle Street South.

RCMP Inspector Vic Josey from Toronto visited the OPP lines in front of
the protest barricades for an early morning briefing from OPP officers.

Asked by The Spectator how many RCMP officers are in Caledonia, Josey
said "We have a few."

The protest area was quiet for much of the night after hundreds of
Caledonia residents and masked natives stared down each other last
night, separated only by 50 metres on Argyle Street, just north of
Douglas Creek Estates. New talks are set to begin this morning in
Brantford between the Six Nations Confederacy, the province and Ottawa
to try and find a peaceful resolution to the occupation.

OPP Deputy Commissioner Maurice Pilon said yesterday the OPP had no
immediate plans to enter the site and arrest protesters violating a
court injunction ordering them off the site. However, half a dozen buses
could be seen parked behind Seneca Unity School, which is in the north
of Caledonia and has been renamed by the Haldimand Reclamation Command
Post. It's not known if the buses brought police officers in or may have
been slated to take protesters away.

Natives are calling the protest a land reclamation because they say it
is property Six Nations never surrendered, but was stolen from them.
Canada and Ontario, however, say the land was surrendered and sold in
1841 to help build the Plank Road (Highway 6).

While calm had returned to the scene, there is still evidence of
frustration and tension over the affair. One man hollered angry comments
this morning at four OPP officers standing by a cruiser at the police
perimeter line.

"Hey, you guys what's the matter with you," he said. "You guys are
standing around like a bunch of bozos. At least clear the road so we can
get on with our lives."

The protesters dumped three large piles of gravel on Argyle Street to
block traffic, but were allowing emergency vehicles like ambulances and
fire trucks through. This morning, just after daybreak, four fire trucks
sped into the native blockade to check out a report of a barn fire at a
farm directly across the road from the housing project. The trucks were
held up for a few moments, but were allowed to proceed.

When they came back to return to the fire station, one masked protester
told a firefighter behind the wheel that next time just let them know
it's an emergency and they can proceed pass through with no trouble.

"They keep pushing us," the protester, referring to police, told a few
dozen people milling around the barricade. "They got the media right
there. We have to let emergency vehicles through. There's enough of us
now that three or four emergency vehicles is nothing if they are trying
to pull something. We're keeping the police out of here."

One group of unexpected visitors to the protest site last night were the
Hells Angels. At about 11 p.m., a half dozen roared up to the native
barricade just as the mass of TV trucks spilling over into the parking
lot of The Canadian Tire were beginning their live reports on the
Caledonia standoff.

A protester later told The Spectator the visit by the notorious
motorcyclists -- with their patches proclaiming Hells Angels Ontario --
stunned them. But she said one man on a motorcycle yelled, "Don't move.
Don't move. We're on your side."

The Angels revved their engines a few times and then turned around and
left, heading in the direction of Hamilton.

The occupation drew the curious, even into the small hours of the
morning. Kelly Muir, 19, Rachel Binek, 17, and Rob Weatherstone, 21,
found a piece of grass in front of the nearby Tim Hortons, sat down and
covered themselves with a sleeping bag. They planned to stay the entire
night to see if there might be another police raid on the site, but left
after a few hours.

They weren't too impressed with the standoff and, like many Caledonia
residents, wished the authorities would close it down permanently.

"They're closing our town down over this," said Muir. "People are scared
in this town."

She said she has a lot of friends from Six Nations and they do not
support the occupation. "They think it's ridiculous," she said.

It was hard to determine how many people were behind the barricades. One
protester said there were about 1,000 people while another said there
were about 300.

Dawn Smith, working at a barricade some call 'The Back Door' because it
is behind the Canadian Tire, said Thursday's OPP raid has instilled in
her a determination not to give up.

Asked if trust has been broken because of the OPP raid, and that might
make the talks unproductive, Smith said, "In my personal opinion, the
trust was never there in the first place. It was expected (the raid).
Whether they can redeem themselves it's entirely up to them."

dnolan at thespec.com

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Macdonald Stainsby
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