April 22, 2006

Is Military Using Hamilton in Six Nations Standoff?

by Anthony Fenton, Dru Oja Jay

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Officials "not aware" of military involvement in Six Nations crisis, but won't deny reports

A military force of unknown size and capacity seems to be operating out of the Hamilton airport, according to information gathered by the Dominion. The deployment of military forces would be a major escalation in the standoff between Native protesters and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). The OPP has tried once, though unsucessfully, to remove demonstrators occupying a housing development that Six Nations Kanienkehake (Mohawks) say is illegal under Canadian, Haudenosaunee and international law.

During an interview, an airport official initially confirmed that Canadian Forces were at the airport as "back up support." Mary Beth Horvath, Marketing/Commuications Coordinator for the Hamilton Airport, first told the Dominion that Canadian Forces were not "using it [the airport] as a staging ground. I haven't heard it regarded in that term."

When she was later asked to confirm her report, Horvath repeated that "there is some backup support there." When asked to specifically to confirm if Canadian Forces were on site, Horvath responded that "I don't know if, again, I don't know to what extent or to what, so I'm not, I really don't want to be quoted on that because I'm not there to actually see it, physically."

[Update: A Caledonia resident who asked not to be identified, told the Dominion he saw an unmarked grey van traveling in his neighborhood, blocks away from the standoff, with eight Canadian Forces personnel aboard. "They looked like Rangers," the source said.]

Horvath referred the Dominion to two other officials, neither denied that Canadian Forces were operating from the Hamilton Airport.

"I know nothing about that," said Haldiman County Official Bill Pierce when asked about a military staging ground at the airport.

Dave Rector, a spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police, said "I am not aware of the presence of any Canadian armed forces."

Eyewitness and press reports have confirmed that RCMP are assisting the OPP, and some reports cite the Hamilton Airport as the Federal police force's staging area. An RCMP spokesperson confirmed that the RCMP is playing a supporting role, but would not comment on any specific locations or activities.

As of this writing, the Dominion could not find any officials willing to deny the deployment of military to the airport.

Federal Involvement?

The deployment of the military would mark the involvement of the Federal Government, signaling a departure from what officials have repeatedly insisted is a Provincial matter.

The last time Canadian Forces were deployed against Native demonstrators was during the 1990 Oka crisis, when Kanienkehake citizens occupied land that was slated for a golf course development. The land had been stolen a century earlier by the Catholic Church, and a century of Kanienkehake protests had not changed the situation. Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa invoked the National Defense Act, requesting "military aid to the civil power". The deployment of the Canadian army ended with one dead soldier and two related civilian deaths. Reports of torture and unjustified tactics earned Canada the condemnation of the International Federation of Human Rights and a place on Amnesty International's list of human rights violators.

Provincial officials requested the deployment of Canadian Forces--specifically, the elite Joint Task Force Two--during the 1995 Gustafsen Lake standoff, but were officially denied. According to court testimony by police officers, police took flack jackets to a firing range and fired guns at them in order to create the appearance that police had been shot by the small group of Natives occupying the site. Internal police video showed commanders stating the need for a "disinformation and smear campaign" against the Native occupiers. With 77,000 rounds of ammunition shot by police, the deployment of armored vehicles, and the use of a land mine against a truck driven by one of the demonstrators, Gustafsen lake has been cited as the largest paramilitary deployment in Canadian history.

In his book Canada's Secret Commandos: The Unauthorized Story of Joint Task Task Force Two, Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese wrote that officially, JTF2 "wasn't deployed to the standoff."

"But civilian police officers privately confirm that JTF2 operators were at the siege, helping them in covert intelligence gathering as well as determining the lay of the land in case the entire unit was needed for an assault on the native encampment," Pugliese wrote. "Some of the native protesters also insist that it was members of JTF2, and not the RCMP, who engaged them in a gun battle in early September."

Federal officials have denied that the current standoff at Six Nations has anything to do with land. "This is not a lands-claim matter," Deirdre McCracken, a spokesperson for the Minister of Indian Affairs Jim Prentice told reporters. McCracken also said that the blockade "has nothing to do with the federal government."

The presence of Canadian Forces on the ground, if confirmed, will be a stark change from the government's stated policy.

» The Dominion: Home On Native Land

» Wikipedia: Oka Crisis

» Everything2: Gustafsen Lake Standoff 1995