The Other Victims Of Caledonia

We have a tendency to ignore the fact those that serve us are victims....got a problem at local municipal office; blame the public service; get a parking ticket; blame the police; we get involved in conflict in a foreign country; blame the soldiers. Come on Stephen.....let's resolve this situation.

EDITORIAL: Caledonia’s other victims

There’s one group of people hurt by the native occupation in Caledonia which has been largely ignored up to now.

Of course there’s the local citizens who have seen their town economically damaged and who have been living with the stress for months.

There’s the broader Canadian community, many of whom see Caledonia as an example of politicians kowtowing to native protesters and creating a double standard in enforcing the law.

There’s the frustration felt by natives across Canada who have to wait decades to have their land claims resolved.

Based on Caledonia, they must be wondering whether taking the law into their own hands is the only way to get government attention.

Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty have failed the test of leadership in Caledonia. Instead of someone taking charge, Ottawa and Queen’s Park keep passing this political football back and forth.

But another group of Canadians have also been enormously harmed in this mess.

That’s the Ontario Provincial Police.

There have been allegations during this standoff that they stood idly by and allowed law-breaking, even up to the point of assault to occur, while doing nothing.

That they botched the initial attempt to enforce a court order to evict the native protesters and have been all but useless ever since.

Former OPP commissioner Gwen Boniface, now in a new job helping to oversee Ireland’s national police force, failed, in our view, to properly defend or even explain OPP actions in Caledonia.

We believe OPP officers were put in an impossible situation by their political masters in Caledonia.

Newly-appointed OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, Toronto’s former top cap, has rightly noted that politicians have to resolve this standoff, because that’s not the job of the OPP.

Besides, Fantino rightly wants to focus the OPP on other priorities such as impaired driving, noting Canada’s leading criminal cause of death is not murder, but drivers who are drunk or drugged-out at the wheel.

Good point. Only thing is, are McGuinty and Harper even listening as they pass the buck between them.