Ann Coulter, Iranium and now…’CALEDONIA: NO MORE NIGHTMARES’

UPDATE – NEW FEATURE PAGE: ‘No More Nightmares‘ (presentation notes & video) 
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The people who brought Ann Coulter and Iranium to Canada – the Free Thinking Film Society and the International Free Press Society – now bring Caledonia to Ottawa…

– Click image for ticket details – 

Caledonia: No More Nightmares
March 22, 2011
Library & Archives Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0N4

TICKET INFO
Admission: $20 (includes HST), $10.00 for students/ seniors
Compact Music, 785 1/2 Bank Street, Ottawa
Compact Music, 190 Bank Street, Ottawa
Ottawa Festivals, 47 William Street, Ottawa

Tickets will also be available at the door.
Tickets are also available on line.

Canadian Civil Liberties Association closes door on Caledonia civil rights abuses

UPDATE: TorSun founder Peter Worthington comments re CCLA lack of interest in Caledonia abuses in ‘Why is G20 outrageous and Caledonia is not?‘
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In reply to a joint request by CANACE and the Caledonia Victims Project, the Canadian Civil Liberties (CCLA) has, once again, refused to even consider meeting to discuss the civil rights abuses in Caledonia, and has made it clear it has no intention of addressing the issue at all.

Here are our most recent communications with the CCLA, followed by a complete list of references of our unsuccessful attempts to persuade the CCLA to assist Caledonia’s victims…

1. CANACE/CVP LETTER TO CCLA, Mar 01/11 (via email & fax) [PDF]

March 01, 2011 BY FAX & EMAIL

Canadian Civil Liberties Association
506-360 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON M5S 1X1
t: 416.363.0321 f: 416.861.1291
mail@ccla.org

Dear CCLA:

Beginning in early 2007 I contacted your office on a number of occasions seeking your assistance with the civil rights abuses in Caledonia associated with racial policing practices of the OPP, but you were, unfortunately, unable to assist us at that time.

As you undoubtedly know, award-winning author Christie Blatchford’s 2010 book, Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, And How The Law Failed All of Us, has completely vindicated allegations that the Ontario Provincial Police were following orders not to enforce the rule of law in Caledonia and were, indeed, conducting policing by race to the utter detriment of non-native citizens with no lawful authority.

You may not be aware, however, that a significant amount of the evidence and background for the book was provided by us, and that Mr. McHale and his wife received an acknowledgement in the book for their assistance to the author.

Blatchford’s February 28, 2011 article in Globe, ‘For sheer abuse of state power nothing touches Caledonia,’ [LINK] opens with some frank criticism of the CCLA’s deafening silence on Caledonia’s police abuses:

How fitting that the report of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association on the policing of the G20 should be released on the fifth anniversary of the native occupation in Caledonia, Ont.

The same organization now screaming for a full-scale public inquiry into alleged abuses – particularly, the troubling breach-of-the-peace arrest authority used over that June weekend – was and continues to be absolutely silent about similar and worse abuses that occurred in the small town just south of Hamilton, just a few klicks from the Six Nations reserve.

We have worked alone, on a full time volunteer basis, with no financial or public support from NGOs for nearly 5 years – exposing and opposing the terrible race-based policing that caused so much misery in Caledonia, and we would be grateful for your interest now that you have additional resources available of the type you were able to mobilize for the G20, a very worthwhile endeavour indeed.

TVO’s ‘The Agenda’ tonight: ‘Christie Blatchford: Helpless in Caledonia’

Randy Fleming poster (arrested for walking down Caledonia road with a Canadian flag)

UPDATED — Helpless author Christie Blatchford will be appearing on TVO’s The Agenda tonight at 8:00 PM to discuss Caledonia:

Revisiting Caledonia with Christie Blatchford: Is there a double-standard of justice for aboriginals and non-aboriginals in Ontario?

• TVO.org, Jan 13/11: The Interview: Christie Blatchford: Helpless in Caledonia

University of Waterloo takes a stand for free speech and Christie Blatchford’s Caledonia story

UPDATED — Christie Blatchford’s presentation at the University of Waterloo on Tuesday night went off without a hitch, without even a whimper of protest from Dan Kellar or the other self-appointed censors who intimidated the university into cancelling her scheduled Nov 12/10 appearance before it even began, and had promised to disrupt her second vist.

• HelplessByBlatchford, Dec 03/10: Blatchford set to speak at UofW next Tuesday, ‘students’ promise to disrupt

The Kitchener Record has a very good account of the evening which leaves me free to devote this piece to giving credit where it is due – to the University of Waterloo, not only for ultimately defending academic freedom and freedom of speech, but for its masterful public relations work. 

Before continuing, however, I feel compelled to share what many who have read Helpless and/or experienced the OPP’s race-based policing policies in Caledonia firsthand might regard as the quote of the evening (just one of many superb Blatchford-isms to which we were treated):

“The election of former OPP chief Julian Fantino – who she blames for abandoning the rule of law in Caledonia – to a federal seat in Vaughan “makes me want to slit my wrists,” she said.

• The Record, Dec 08/10: Security tight for Blatchford’s return to UW

DEFENDING FREE SPEECH:
Christie Blatchford and the University of Waterloo

Most observers agree that UW got caught flat-footed on Nov 12th by a small group of goons who should have been handcuffed and dragged out in order to preserve the precious academic freedom that is the lifeblood of an institution upon which policy makers rely for scholarly scrutiny of vital issues of local and national concern.  

Blatchford set to speak at UofW next Tuesday, ‘students’ promise to disrupt

UofW 'students' plan to disrupt the rescheduled Christie Blatchford presentation on Dec 07/10. Click to read email to UofW Police, Blatchford, etc. from concerned citizen. Click to enlarge.

Christie Blatchford’s presentation at the University of Waterloo, postponed from Nov 12/10 after intimidation by radical ‘students,’ will take place next Tuesday, Dec 07/10:

• Location:University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, ON
  Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Bldg. [MAP]
• Time: 7pm, Dec 07/10
• Price: No charge
• Registration: TICKETS REQ’D FOR ENTRY – register online; pick up tickets at Waterloo Bookstore (located in South Campus Hall [MAP], 519.888.4673) before 12 noon on day of event.
• Blatchford will discuss book, take questions, sign copies of Helpless

Dr. Frances Widdowson on Blatchford, McHale, Vandermaas vs. academic intimidation

Dr. Frances Widdowson is the co-author of Donner Book Prize finalist Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry, and hosted the 2010 New Directions in Aboriginal Policy forum held May 05/10 at Mount Royal University in Calgary to which Gary McHale and Mark Vandermaas were invited presenters. 

Widdowson and Mount Royal University were targeted by student radicals with a campaign intended to convince the university to revoke its invitation to the two Caledonia activists via false allegations they were anti-native racists. 

CANACE video – Christie Blatchford on targeting of “law abiding” McHale by “prime minister’s new best friend”

Christie Blatchford, Chedoke Presbyterian church, Nov 16/10, Hamilton, ON

Jeff Parkinson, co-founder of Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality (CANACE), has released a short video containing highlights from Christie Blatchford’s speech to a packed crowd at Chedoke Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ontario on Nov 16/10.

In addition to commenting on the “national disgrace” of the lawlessness OPP officers refused to stop, she decries the targeting of Gary McHale by Julian Fantino:

“Fantino’s extraordinary campaign to hunt down and have arrested a man named Gary McHale – who is here tonight, too – culminated in the OPP boss writing a letter of support for a native man who had assaulted McHale was probably un-precedented and was deeply disturbing. Consider how furious women would be if the justice system reverted to the days of old when a rapist should defend himself by saying, ‘Geez your Honour, she was wearing these high boots and a short skirt.’ Thats the equivalent of what Fantino did. He wrote a letter to the court in support of the man who pleaded guilty of punching McHale and said McHale had been asking for it.

UoW pseudo-leftists create “surge” in HELPLESS sales publisher reports

Nazi swastika drawn on home of a Caledonia resident during the night.

Despite the shameful assault on freedom of speech and academic freedom represented by the character assassination, and intimidation that resulted in the cancellation of Christie Blatchford’s speech at the the University of Waterloo on Nov 12/10, the controversy has achieved several positive results.

Not only has it generated a storm of counter-criticism in mainstream media and blogs highlighting universities as being the front line in the battle to preserve free speech, it has – happily – dramatically boosted sales of Blatchford’s book.

Our friends at Doubleday Canada say that thanks to the Waterloo protest and the publicity it has generated they’ve had another surge of demand for the book which made it necessary to order a reprint of Helpless. 

Comment by Mark Vandermaas

All who have supported our four-year long quest to expose and oppose racial policing in Caledonia owe an ironic, yet distasteful, debt of gratitude to the radicals and anarchists who have now helped to ensure that even more people will read Helpless and understand the despicable conduct of those whose lawlessness they supported, and the dangers these self-appointed censors pose to the Charter of Rights. 

Sam Gualtieri - suffered permanent brain damage after being assaulted by native protesters Sept 13/07 during illegal occupation while in a home he was building for his daughter. Click image to read his family's tragic statement of claim in Superior Court.

It should be no surprise that those who support and/or actively worked to enable the native extremists who terrorized Caledonia do not want the victims they helped create to have a voice, and then vilify those of us who have been willing to speak for them. As I noted in my presentation at the 2010 New Directions in Aboriginal Policy forum: 

The words ‘heartless’ and ‘cruel’ seem inadequate to describe the irony of a situation wherein an organized group from one race of people terrorized others with racial slurs, fire, violence, vandalism, and property seizures and then tormented their victims with false accusations of being white supremacists.

As the son of parents who lived in Nazi-occupied Holland I am offended to the very core of my being by the blaming of innocent victims for racially-motivated crimes committed against them.

• Mark Vandermaas presentation to 2010 New Directions in Aboriginal Policy forum, May 05/10: Listening to Victims: A Fresh Approach to Healing and Reconciliation [PDF, 21p, 8.5MB]  

Donna Laframboise: Former VP of CCLA offers unique perspective on Blatchford UoW incident

Donna Laframboise has written for the National Post, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Chatelaine and Toronto Life. When other journalists lost interest in the notorious Guy Paul Morin case after he was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1992, she used her freelance column in the Star to expose the flawed forensic science that led to his conviction.

She is also a former member of the board of directors for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association between 1993 and 1998 – and served as a Vice-President from 1998-2001. 

Donna’s remarkable accomplishments, which include being the founder of NOconsensus.org – a website devoted to researching misinformation related to climate change, enables her to offer a unique perspective on the shameful attack on free speech at the University of Waterloo against Christie Blatchford by doctoral student Dan Kellar…who happens to teach climate change to undergraduates.

Suzuki’s Children (The Political Kind)
by Donna Laframboise

Dan Kellar is a geography student at the University of Waterloo. He is currently writing a doctoral thesis under the supervision of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change author. He teaches courses in climate change to impressionable undergraduates, and describes himself this way:

I’m a PhD researcher at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and a decolonial propagandist. I’m an organizer with AW@L (peaceculture.org)

Last week, Kellar and a handful of other students prevented journalist Christie Blatchford from speaking to a campus audience about her newly-released book, Helpless. An excerpt from that book appears here (three more are scheduled). The book describes how, in a dispute in a small Ontario community, for nearly five years the police have chosen not to enforce the law when suspects are of aboriginal (First Nations) descent. To quote from a news story:

Ms. Blatchford does not claim to have written a “360-degree view” of [the dispute in] Caledonia, but rather an account of one narrow slice of it — the failure of the rule of law. “I care about the rule of law, I believe in it. To me it’s natural that is what I would have concentrated on,” she said.

University of Waterloo apologizes to Christie Blatchford: “freedom to speak and to learn is fundamental”

UPDATED 2030 Nov 17/10 — The University of Waterloo has issued a strongly worded apology to Helpless author Christie Blatchford after a small group of students were able to intimidate the university into cancelling her Nov 12/10 appearance at the Humanities Theatre:

Apology after author is silenced  

University officials issued a statement yesterday in the wake of a Friday night incident in which Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford was prevented from speaking at a scheduled event in the Humanities Theatre.

A group of protesters took exception to what they called the “racist” attitude of her book Helpless, which deals with the four-year standoff over native land claims in the village of Caledonia in Ontario’s Haldimand County. Blatchford had been invited to campus by the university bookstore to speak about her book. After some time, it was announced that her talk would be rescheduled.

The events of the evening were live-blogged by the Wilfrid Laurier University student newspaper The Cord, and got some media attention yesterday.

MPP Toby Barrett: Is Blatchford’s ‘Helpless’ the final word on Caledonia?

Toby Barrett, Caledonia’s Member of Provincial Parliament (Haldimand-Norfolk) today asked the Liberal government if Christie Blatchford’s shocking book ‘Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, And How the Law Failed All of Us’ – which hit bookshelves today – would lead them to finally call a public inquiry into the matter. Barrett’s email is reprinted below.

The Liberals, once again, told the Legislature they were relying on the recommendations of the Ipperwash Inquiry – even though they (and the Opposition) know full well that it never studied the issue of preventing native violence against innocent residents. Please see the notes and resources following Barrett’s email:

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[PDF]

From: Barrett, Toby [toby.barrett@pc.ola.org
Sent: Tue 10/26/2010 4:08 PM
Subject: Caledonia update

Re: Christie’s book 

Good afternoon Toby here,

The release of Christie Blatchford’s book at 9 a.m. this morning provided a good opportunity to query the McGuinty government on their plans for the dispute. 

Please find below the news release regarding the questions I asked in the Ontario Legislature, as well as the draft Hansard transcript. 

Toby 

For Immediate Release

October 26, 2010

Is Blatchford’s ‘Helpless’ the final word on Caledonia?

Minister shrugs call for public inquiry 

Queen’s Park – On the launch of renowned journalist Christie Blatchford’s chronicle of the land occupation in Caledonia, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett asked Premier McGuinty if this book represents the final chapter. 

“Her book is titled Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us. “Some questions, Premier: Does this wrap it up? Is this the final say on what happened, on what went wrong down in Caledonia? Premier, now will you get to the bottom of this?”

In true McGuinty fashion, the Premier passed the buck to Attorney General Chris Bentley who ducked the question and took the time to speak about land claims rather than Barrett’s inferred questions about law and order.  

In the introduction of the book, Blatchford states, “What the book is really about is the failure of government to govern and to protect all its citizens equally. She also notes, “Over the ensuing four years — and then some, as the occupation continues to this day — the rule of law was utterly decimated.” 

‘Helpless’ excerpt #1: Caledonia: the town that law forgot

This is the first in a series of excerpts and related commentary from Christie Blatchford’s upcoming book, Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, And How The Law Failed All of Us. It tells Caledonia’s story and the story of those who fought back to preserve the rule of law:

The Globe & Mail
Caledonia: the town that law forgot [PDF]
by Christie Blatchford
Oct 24/10

Now that I’ve written a whole book about what happened in Caledonia, Ont., starting in February of 2006 and continuing to this day, it’s daunting to offer a precis. But basically it’s this: The people of that lovely small town just an hour and change from Toronto were abandoned by their governments, and ultimately by their police force, and left to fend for themselves. The book is about the failure of government to govern, and of leaders to lead.

From the get-go, the federal and provincial governments had adopted a hands-off policy to the occupation. Ottawa didn’t even recognize the tenuous land claim that residents of Six Nations were belatedly making, and deferred to Queen’s Park; the Ontario government nonetheless treated the occupation as purely a land claim and somehow, overtly or in the subtle ways that are the hallmark of practised politicians, made its wishes known; the Ontario Provincial Police, first under then-commissioner Gwen Boniface and later under her successor Julian Fantino, now a star candidate for the Stephen Harper Conservatives, obligingly carried that message to the force’s rank and file.

The end result was a form of policing that would be simply unrecognizable to Canadians living anywhere else in the country: cops who watched or turned away as the law was broken, sometime brazenly; cops who appeared to take sides and would take action against only one group of people and not the other; cops who refused to make arrests, conduct investigations or protect the public.

Some of those officers who resisted were either punished, reprimanded or disciplined, with the result that the others lost heart.

Few people are as shamed by Caledonia, sickened by their own impotence, as the men and women of the OPP who worked there regularly.

At one end of the spectrum is a letter written by then-commissioner Fantino in December of 2008.

Hamilton Spec re ‘Helpless’: New OPP mission after police attacked by natives – ‘protect natives’

UPDATED – The Hamilton Spectator has published the first story based on quotes from Christie Blatchford’s book, Helpless.

(Note that the date of the meeting with Inspector Getty described in paragraph 3 was actually April 28/06, not Feb 28th as shown. The meeting occurred eight days after the disastrous raid of April 20/06):

CALEDONIA It was a bizarre display of self-congratulation for an OPP commander whose elite squad had been publicly humiliated by a group of crudely armed native protesters only eight days before.

Instead of removing protesters from Douglas Creek Estates (DCE), members of the OPP tactical team were themselves pelted with rocks, attacked with clubs and other makeshift weapons and driven off the occupation site as television cameras rolled.

But on Feb. 28, 2006, two months after the protesters took over the subdivision, Inspector Mel Getty held a meeting to praise his troops for their handling of the volatile situation.

He declared the operation a smashing success and defied anybody to disagree with him. “If anyone doesn’t agree, you can leave the door right now,” he stated while pointing to the exits.

According to Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford’s new book, Helpless, Getty then said something even more astonishing. The new mission, he stated, was for the OPP to protect “natives from non-natives.” It was the first time a superior officer had told them they should be treating people differently because of their racial background. […]

• Oct 15/10: Hamilton Spectator: A nightmare of fear and anarchy

CBC News coverage of April 20/06 failed OPP raid

Note how occupiers complain of police use of force, but are proud to say they resisted arrest.

• CBC News, April 20/06: Failed OPP Raid on Douglas Creek Estates

OPP testimony about the violence by native occupiers

• Journalist’s Quick Reference Evidence Guide re OPP testimony [PDF, 9p] (see Officer Jeff Bird, p5)
• related: VoiceofCanada, Dec 22/09: Brown-Chatwell trial: crimes against democracy

Photos from raid

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Canadian citizens forced to carry ‘passports’

After the abortive April 20, 2006 raid the protesters had set up checkpoints around the 40-hectare residential subdivision, issued passports to residents and imposed curfews. Debbie Thomson, who was forced to go through the checkpoints, told Blatchford the protesters had even threatened to body search her. But they backed off when she told them to get lost.

• Oct 15/10: Hamilton Spectator: A nightmare of fear and anarchy

Watch the inspiring promo video for ‘HELPLESS’

It’s just 52 seconds, but the inspiring Doubleday promo video shows just how committed they are to telling the terrible truth about Caledonia’s ordeal.

‘HELPLESS by Blatchford’ Project co-founder Mark Vandermaas emailed the publisher after receiving the link on Oct 13/10 with his emotional reaction.

Welcome to HelplessByBlatchford.ca

This is a joint project to help readers and researchers by key Caledonia activists who devoted thousands of hours over the past four years documenting and opposing the terrible injustices of the Caledonia crisis.

We plan to add many resources over the coming weeks to support the book and further our goal of moving the shocking issues raised by it onto the policy debate table.

Note that, beyond what you see here, resources directly related to the book will only be made available on the official launch date of Oct 26th. 

Click here for more info about the project and the people behind it.

POSTED BY: Mark Vandermaas, info@caledoniavictimsproject.ca