Wii’nimkiikaa

Charges dropped against four native protesters

October 16, 2008
Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator
CAYUGA

The Crown has dropped criminal charges against four native protesters arrested by a heavily armed OPP tactical squad at the controversial Stirling Woods survey in Caledonia last year.

The operation involved about 50 officers in riot gear, including shields and batons, who marched into the partially constructed residential subdivision in September 2007 to remove a small pocket of native activists occupying the site.

The massive sweep came about a week after 52-year-old Sam Gualtieri was attacked and beaten by intruders inside a house he was building as a wedding gift for his daughter. He suffered severe head and facial injuries and has since launched a suit against the Ontario Provincial Police, alleging they didn’t protect him against the protesters.

In a surprise move yesterday, assistant Crown attorney Mitchell Hoffman announced he wouldn’t be proceeding against Skyler Williams, 25, who was charged with mischief and resisting arrest, or against Stephen Powless, 43, June Jamieson-Maracle, 42, and Francine Doxtator, 48, who were all charged with mischief.

Hoffman also told Ontario Justice Joe Nadel he wouldn’t be prosecuting an 18-year-old woman, who was also charged with mischief and will appear in Cayuga court Oct. 23.

He said he will be proceeding with charges against the four remaining Stirling Woods defendants, however, when the trial starts late this year or early next.

They include: Ronald Cook, 31,of Akwasasne, N.Y., for mischief and possession of a prohibited weapon; Gregory Powless, 19, of Ohsweken for mischief; and Sheranne MacNaughton, 25, of Hagersville and Teresa Jamieson, 42, of Ohsweken, who both face charges of mischief and assaulting police to resist arrest.

The defendants are all out on bail awaiting their trial.

Defence lawyer Sarah Dover, who at one time represented all nine Stirling Woods defendants, said her clients are anxious to have the matter heard in court as quickly as possible.

She told Nadel she intends to bring a pre-trial application to have the charges dropped against her two remaining clients, Powless and MacNaughton, on the basis that the OPP used “excessive force” in arresting them and the mischief charges couldn’t be proven. She also indicated she may argue charges should be thrown out because of the undue delay in bringing the case to trial.

Nadel adjourned the case until Nov. 5 when the lawyers and judge will try to come up with a suitable date for the trial, which is expected to last about four weeks.

Last month, Hoffman also withdrew charges against 19-year-old Byron Powless. He was one of three people charged in connection with the attack on Sam Gualtieri, his nephew Dominic and another man during the confrontation at Gualtieri’s partially built house Sept. 13, 2007.

After hearing the evidence of a key Crown witness at the preliminary hearing, Hoffman told the judge he was dropping the charges against Powless because there was no reasonable prospect of convicting him.

Charges dropped against teen accused in Caledonia beating

September 24, 2008
Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator

The Crown has dropped the case against a Six Nations teenager who was charged last year after a violent confrontation that landed Caledonia house builder Sam Gualtieri in hospital with severe injuries.

Assistant Crown attorney Mitchell Hoffman withdrew charges of assault and break and entry against Byron Powless, 19, at the conclusion of Powless’s preliminary hearing in Hamilton yesterday.

After hearing the evidence of a key prosecution witness, Hoffman said the case wasn’t strong enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the teenager was involved in the incident.

“There no longer is a reasonable prospect of a conviction,” he told Ontario Justice Norman Bennett, who endorsed dropping the charges.

Powless was charged with attacking Dominic Gualtieri during an altercation at his uncle Sam’s partially-built house. He was one of three teens charged in connection with the September 2007 incident while police were trying remove Six Nations protesters from the Stirling Woods subdivision in Caledonia.

The turn of events has frustrated and angered the family of Sam Gualtieri, 53, who was allegedly attacked with a large club by another teenager. He suffered facial injuries, a fractured shoulder blade and two skull fractures. He is suing the OPP for failing to protect him against protesters occupying the site.

“It hurts us that justice wasn’t served,” Sam’s younger brother, Joe Gualtieri, said yesterday.

Gualtieri family members were in court Monday and yesterday when construction worker Duane Davies testified for the Crown. He was in the house during the altercation and was considered a key witness in identifying Powless as the man who attacked Domenic Gualtieri.

“He’s fighting individuals … he couldn’t say 100 per cent,” Joe Gualtieri said, adding that identification is complicated by the fact that Powless has a twin brother.

He suggested there were three other witnesses inside the house who could have strengthened the Crown’s case.

Outside the courtroom, Powless said he was elated by the decision. He still faces other charges, laid Monday, of mischief and disguise with intent in relation to a highway blockade in Caledonia in April. He is out of custody and was ordered to return to court in Cayuga.

Richard Smoke, 19, still faces charges of break and entry and aggravated assault in connection with the attack on Sam Gualtieri. Smoke is to return to Cayuga court Oct. 15.

A 16-year-old also faces charges in connection with the incident.

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Big day today in Court for Byron Powless. He was accused of breaking and entering into a home on stirling street last September 13, 2007 as well as assaulting a 6ft 300 lb man.

Today in a Hamilton Court House, ALL CHARGES WERE WITHDRAWN. There was insufficient evidence to proceed with a trial.  (He wasn’t even in the house when our two young men were attacked.) Needless to say his accuser couldn’t even identify him!

Also, last Friday the OPP stormed Kanonhstaton to arrest one of our men. In the midst of this attack officers pointed their loaded guns at the heads of two of our women.

On Sunday during a ceremony at Kanonhstaton, a non-Native male climbed a fence onto Kanonhstaton and brandished a knife and physically and verbally threatened the life of 10 yr old boy who was partaking in the ceremony.

On Monday at Kanonhstaton a non-Native Male who resides in a house in front of Kanonhstaton was drunk, erratically driving an ATV onto the site. He then began threatening our women. He was calling them derogatory names and told one of the women, ” I know your husband is in jail, but I’ll finish the job for him…” Basically sexually threatening an Indigenous woman. As far as I know, as of yet, there have been no charges laid.

This man also was witnessed grabbing a gas can and trying to set his own house on fire.

All in all, a very eventful weekend to say the least…

janie jamieson

September 23, 2008

Natives say man’s arrest breaks deal

September 20, 2008
John Burman and Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator
CALEDONIA

OPP officers have arrested a native man on Douglas Creek Estates, the first arrest on the site since an ill-fated raid more than two years ago fuelled a protracted land claims dispute.

Reading from a prepared statement yesterday at the site, native spokesperson Dawn Smith said the OPP broke an agreement made on April 20, 2006 not to enter the property.

That was the day dozens of OPP officers entered in a pre-dawn raid, arresting 16 protesters at the Argyle Street South subdivision they had by then occupied for eight weeks. It sparked native blockades and violent clashes.

Smith compared yesterday’s arrest of Kenneth Greene with the police tactics in Ipperwash that led to the death of native activist Dudley George in 1995.

“Today rings of Ipperwash all over again,” said Smith, surrounded by native supporters. “In our eyes, it was a direct act of aggression and hostility against all Haudenosaunee. The OPP were ready to shoot.”

Haldimand OPP Constable Paula Wright could not confirm that police pointed guns at anyone.

Greene, 43, of no fixed address, is charged with disguise with intent, four counts of assault with a weapon, three charges of uttering death or bodily harm threats, two counts of intimidation and four counts of mischief.

The charges are in connection with events on Labour Day, when the arrest of a prominent Six Nations spokesperson and two others in Brantford triggered a chain reaction that led to parts of Caledonia being barricaded.

The arrest follows a separate incident on Thursday when Dana Chatwell, who lives in a home at the edge of the property, alleged Greene threatened her husband Dave Brown with a gun.

URGENT CALLOUT FOR SUPPORT – 6 NATIONS in BRANTFORD

This morning, the Brantford Police arrested two young activists from 6 Nations, aged 17 and 19. The two were arrested in transit while trying to leave the campsite on Fen Ridge Court. Twenty cops in 8 unmarked cars pulled over the vehicle they were travelling in, and arrested the two teenagers who are currently in jail. Activists at the site in Brantford have asked for supporters to come to the site tonight and/or tomorrow.

The Hampton Inn site on Fen Ridge has been shut down completely for two weeks. It had also been shut down several times over the last few months by various representations from 6 Nations including Ruby and Floyd Montour, the Confederacy Council, the Men’s Fire, and now grassroots activists including Boots Powless and a newly dubbed NYM-6 Nations. The current callout comes directly from the activists on site.

The group has maintained the site beside the Hampton Inn development site in a tepee for over 60 days, upholding the declaration put forward by the Men’s Fire that these sites should be shut down pending settlement of outstanding land disputes. Further, all three sites that have been targeted from the base camp have been sited as posing ecological threats; the Fen Ridge industrial development area and the Oak Park Road development site are located in an environmentally sensitive area less than a kilometre from the Grand River.

A Callout for supporters to be physically on-the-ground as early as tonight has been issued from the camp. They are also asking for food and phone cards (”solo” brand).

To get to the site:take the 403 to Brantford, exit at Oak Park Road, turn right at the T junction off the exit, then take the first left onto Power Line Road; the site is down the road a few hundred meters, and should be evident across from the King & Benton site. Look for the tepee, Boots has asked people to meet there first.

Wednesday September 10, 2008
BRANTFORD, Ont.

Today at approximately 11:00am my one year old son and I were leaving the King and Benton site in Brantford, Ontario. My sister left the site a few seconds behind me. Two youth were travelling with her. I stopped at the stop sign and then proceeded through. I checked my rear view mirror to see how far behind my sister was.

When I looked I saw a non-Native man with a closely shaved head pulling on her truck door with one hand while punching the driver’s side truck window with his other hand. He had a closed fist and was hitting the window with full swings. With all the threats made against our people and the violence and abuse we survive, I thought she was under attack by a group of skinheads, as there were several unmarked cars blocking her in.

I drove up to a spot where I could safely turn around. When I got back to the corner all vehicles were gone. I turned right because traffic was slow in that direction. Sure enough, the same cars had her truck surrounded but now the skinhead that was viciously, forcefully trying to attack them earlier had on an OPP vest and a belt loaded with weapons.

By then there were approximately 8 cruisers both marked (OPP and Brantford City Police) surrounding my sister and the two youth. They had one youth handcuffed. Moments later they handcuffed the second youth.

I told the police our youth are under our authority and jurisdiction as Ogwehowe women and the police had no right or authority to kidnap our children on our own territory. The police were informed our youth had EVERY authority to uphold our traditional laws.

The police were then told to cease and desist their armed invasions of our people. They were also told the kidnapping of our children needed to stop as well. They were told they keep trying to escalate things with our people and the tactics they are using is nothing short of declarations of war.

We were told how everything they were doing was “standard”. (Yes, even for an allegation of “mischief”.) As hard as it was to believe it was standard police practice, I do believe it. It was almost a year ago 9 of our people were attacked at Stirling Street for upholding their land rights by 200 fully armed RCMP, OPP, OPP Riot Squad and the Hamilton City Police . The acceptable standard to deal with our people for minor offences was most recently set in 1995 in Stoney Point when Dudley George was murdered by a paid sniper.

While we were talking about 5 officers (without permission) began searching my sister’s truck for “weapons”.

I put tobacco in the hands of the youth and told them to hold onto it and not let it go. The police told me I couldn’t do that and to get rid of it. The youth held onto it and were then placed in separate cruisers and taken to the Brantford Jail.

One youth may get out today. The other young man is up for bail tomorrow at 9:00am at the Brantford City Court on 44 Queen Street.

Also, Bawa Construction (Hampton Inn & Suites) has resumed construction despite being given several warnings they are building illegally on traditional territory in Grand River Country. I’ve been told construction will be shut down soon.

We are asking for support in the form of supplies and people both at the construction site (ASAP) and at the courthouse tomorrow. To get to the construction site take the 403 west towards London, Ont. Exit off Oak Park Road. Turn left and drive over 403. Construction site is immediately on the right hand side.

Boots Powless’ son was one of the young men targeted and arrested today.

Our people have upheld their words regarding maintaining peace. At no point have any of our people stepped out of the Kaiienarekowa. The developers and the police continuously escalate events by targeting our children, women (mothers and grandmothers) and men. There is a consistent effort to attack our women and children to protect the finances of local and international corporations.

Just like the targeting of our people and constant attacks by fully armed civil servants continue, we, as ogwohwe will continue to uphold our great-great grandchildren’s right to exist.

We are justified.

Janie Jamieson
Grand River Country