Guest post by Croghan27
Back story;
The bands involved, Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations had taken considerable trouble in trying to achieve a political/negotiated settlement appealing repeatedly to the Premier and ‘Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Michael Bryant for some negotiations about this incursion into their territory. They were not deemed worthy of a response by either of the honourable gentlemen.
Said their lawyer, Chris Reid:
….. Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant never responded to the Ardoch Algonquin proposals.
“They instructed their lawyers to sit in court this week and say nothing while the lawyers for the mining company asked for six-month jail terms and punitive fines. The fact that Mr. Lovelace is in jail today is one hundred per cent the fault of Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant.
Has nothing been leaned from the Dudley George incident at Ipperwash? (I suspect that the OPP’s reluctance to get involved in another shit storm such as ensued from that had more to do with people not getting hurt than any actions by McGuinty & Co.)
When established authorities, political and corporate, begin to use the courts and criminal system as a method to impose their will rather than those pesky and messy negotiations – it serves no one well: not (in this case) the band members, not the government leaders and certainly not the people of Canada.
[Read more…] about Corporate courts
Community