Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

More than six years after the horrible events at Ipperwash Park (Aazhoodena -- territory of the Stoney Point People) on September 6, 1995, justice remains elusive. With all the money on the side of those who abused their powers to wreak injustice, none of us can be surprised at this reality.

By the same token, we can't "afford" to give up the fight for respect and human rights. Every one of us knows -- no matter our skin colour or spiritual/ethnic affiliations -- that the rights of all of us are in jeopardy when an unarmed person [Dudley George], who is simply defending his Peoples' human rights, can be shot in cold blood.

Those of us who are not Indigenous can't "afford" to give up our support for the rights of the First Peoples of this land. We have two worlds in this land -- the marginalized Aboriginal "world", which places 63rd on the UN's Human Development Index, and the dominant Canadian "world", which ranks among the top three nations on the planet according to this same Index. As long as we have these two worlds butting up against each other within Canada, there will be peace because there is no justice. Indigenous Peoples will continue to strengthen their campaigns, celebrating more than 500 years of resistance and survival with rebirth, regrowth and reassertion of rights. Canadians must stand side-by-side with them.

None of us can allow the officials who encouraged, supported, planned and carried out the terrible human rights violations that happened on September 6, 1995 to "get away with it"... even if it is almost 6 and 1/2 years since that night. We must never forget. We must never stop sifting through papers, talking about what happened, building public awareness about the long-standing violations of the rights of the Stoney Point People (and so many other Aboriginal Peoples across Canada), putting pressure on politicians and officials to be accountable for what has happened to and at Stoney Point. We must keeping searching in dark and creepy places for light and truth.

Contact,Ann Pohl, reporting on behalf of Turtle Island Support Group.