A land dispute dating back many, many years. Tensions running high. Acts of war taking place daily. The rest of the world stands helplessly by. The rule of law laying shot in a ditch. Demands for an immediate ceasefire.
Sound familiar? It should. It's happening right here in Ontario. And our government is fanning the flames.
Yes, the mess in Caledonia will continue for the foreseeable future, no thanks to Premier McGuinty and his coterie of idiots.
I last wrote about Caledonia here, on May 23. Since then, the Ontario government has bought the land in question. In my opinion, that was a shrewd move: it freed the developer from an ugly situation he had nothing to do with, and turned the natives' attention towards Queen's Park, a more formidable foe by far. The government was backed by a court order demanding immediate evacuation of the site.
But, of course, the natives ignored that. Court orders don't apply to them--they've said as much. In their own words, held high at every protest, they are not Canadians and our laws do not apply to them.
What does the government do when faced with such blatant defiance of its authority?
Nothing.
Worse than nothing: it applauds and says "more, please! Assault a police officer? Hurl a brick? Block a road? Knock out power to surrounding homes and business? Sure...why not? And then let Ontario taxpayers pick up the tab for the ongoing (yet strangely impotent) police presence and periodic repairs? Go ahead, we don't care!"
They're actually appealing the judge's order. Natives, of course, are overjoyed: it means their tactics are working. The Neville Chamberlain of Ontario politics, David Peterson, says "there's no one truth here, there're many truths. All I know is we have to settle this before someone gets hurt."
Uh, Dave? People have been hurt. Here are the only "truths" that should matter:
A group of people--their race is irrelevant, or at least it should be--is illegally occupying land in defiance of a court order. They're blocking one of the Queen's Highways, which merits a charge in and of itself. They have assaulted peace officers and civilians with impunity. In other parts of the world, we would deem this "terrorism".
Does it upset you to hear these native Canadians referred to as "terrorists"? It shouldn't. Here is the dictionary definition of "terrorism":
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. (from Dictionary.com)
I'd say Caledonia qualifies. And I shouldn't have to say this, but I'd feel exactly the same way if the terrorists in question were white, blue or polka-dotted.
That said, if these people persist in their claims that they are not Canadian, they should relinquish the rights that go with the citizenship. They sure as hell have relinquished the responsibilities!
Our courts get it: you don't negotiate with terrorists. Doing so only encourages more terrorism. Dalton McGuinty and his gang are clueless as usual.
1 comment:
ermmm. NOT Canadians? Well, in that case, they shouldn't be able to use Canadian's tax money to live on the reserve, tax-free, go to post-secondary school without paying tuition, and many of the other perks that they get because they were so awfully victimized, like, 100s of years ago... And it's really strange that these lands don't seem to mean too much to them until someone else sees an opportunity to make money there, and then, all of a sudden, miraculously it becomes a sacred burial site or some such thing...
I know, I know, it sounds politically incorrect, but I don't like it when any groups or people are treated differently from the rest... be it positive or negative. Interestingly, some other people don't seem to have a problem with keeping their culture and traditions alive while still being useful members of society.
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