Ipperwash Inquiry Report

In 1995, during the unarmed protest of a land claim dispute, Dudley George was killed by a police sniper.

George, pictured at left, was one of the Stoney Point band whose land was appropriated in 1942 under the War Measures Act to be used for a military base. The tribe has been trying to get the land back ever since.

The inquiry of George's death was called, in part, to look at the role that former Ontario premier Mike Harris [Conservative] may have played. During the inquiry, "former attorney general Charles Harnick... testified that former premier Mike Harris said 'I want the f****** Indians out of the park,' during a high level meeting about the Ipperwash occupation just hours before the fatal shooting of Dudley George. When Harris appeared at the inquiry in February 2006, he denied using that language." (CBC)

The police officer who shot George was "acting Sgt. Kenneth Deane of the OPP. In 1997, Deane was convicted of criminal negligence causing death after a court ruled he did not have a 'reasonable belief" George was armed. Deane later resigned from the force." (CBC)

While Native groups called for an inquiry, the Harris government claimed it had nothing to do with police actions that day. The inquiry was called days after the Liberal government was elected in 2003 -- eight years after the incident.

The following year, the CBC obtained copies of video surveillance tapes that contain the use of may racist slurs by the police.

For info about today's report go here.

For an in depth look at the incident at Ipperwash go here.

The CBC will be covering the release of the final report live at 10 a.m. this morning. (I assume that would be Eastern Time.)

Colleen