The Ipperwash Crisis was a dispute over Indigenous land that took place in Ipperwash Provincial Park, Ontario, on September 4, 1995. Several members of the Stoney Point Ojibway band occupied the park to assert claim to nearby land which had been expropriated from them during the Second World War.
During a violent confrontation, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) killed protester Dudley George. George was holding a stick when OPP officer Ken Deane shot him. George subsequently died from his injuries. Ken Deane later claimed that George had a firearm. Deane was found guilty of criminal negligence.
It was later alleged that the violent confrontation and eventual death of Dudley George came a day after newly elected Ontario Premier Mike Harris was alleged to have said to the OPP "I want the fucking Indians out of the park", according to a former attorney general. However, eight other present witnesses deny this allegation.
The ensuing controversy was a major event in Canadian politics. In 2003 a provincial inquiry, the Ipperwash Inquiry, was started after a change in government. Former Ontario Chief Justice Sidney B. Linden led the investigation of events, which was completed in the fall of 2006.
Background
In 1936, the province of Ontario created Ipperwash Provincial Park. In 1942 during the Second World War, the Government of Canada wanted reserve land from the Stoney Point Band to use as a base for military training and offered to buy it for $15 per acre. They also promised to return the land after the war ended. The band rejected the offer, however, under the War Measures Act, the federal government expropriated the lands from the Stoney Point Reserve and established Military Camp Ipperwash. The First Nations claim that the grounds contain a burial site. As of 2010, archaeological surveys have established that such a site does indeed exist. As early as 1993, while Camp Ipperwash was still being used as a summer training centre for the Royal Canadian Army Cadets, band members had occupied portions of the camp and the adjacent piece of land. After the summer of 1993, the government moved the cadet camp to CFB Borden. There was growing tension about the base at Camp Ipperwash.
Occupation of the park
On Labour Day Monday, September 4, 1995, a group of people started a protest in Ipperwash Provincial Park to draw attention to the decades-old land claims. After the park closed at 6:00 p.m., protestors cut back a fence and by 7:30 had moved vehicles into the park. About thirty-five protestors occupied the park. The protestors had been threatening occupation since the spring. The original police strategy was to co-occupy the park peacefully with the First Nations. But when a protester from the group smashed the window of a police cruiser, the OPP pulled back from the park.
In anticipation of the move on the park by the Stoney Point First Nations, the OPP had prepared a contingency plan named Project Maple. The plan stressed "a peaceful resolution" and called for a team of two negotiators to be on call around the clock.
Progressive Conservative member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Marcel Beaubien was in contact with the police the following day, and Beaubien also contacted the office of Premier Harris, in an attempt to put pressure on the government to intervene.
On September 5, 1995, the premier and several government officials met to discuss the Ipperwash protest. The meeting notes concluded that "the province will take steps to remove the occupiers as soon as possible."
Killing of Dudley George
On Wednesday, the OPP became concerned about a group of protesters who had wandered outside the park and into the Sandy Park lot area adjacent to the cottages. The group were allegedly carrying bats and sticks in their hands. The number of protesters has been debated, although police reports indicate a group of up to eight.
There was also misinformation about damage that had been done to a band councillor's car by this group of protesters. The damage to the councillor's car was from a rock thrown by one of the protesters who took exception to an article the councillor had written disapproving of the occupation. A rumour started that the protesters smashed up the vehicle of a female driver with baseball bats, a report that was later found by Justice Sidney Linden to be false and misleading.
Out of public safety concerns, the OPP decided to deploy the crowd management unit (CMU) to force the protesters back into the park. The CMU was a riot squad armed with steel batons, shields and helmets. The CMU was backed up by a tactical response unit (TRU). The OPP intended a show of force to move the protesters back inside the park.