Widespread protests are needed to counter the government campaign, get out the truth about these vicious assaults, and help prevent further attacks by the cops.
In Ontario, 38-year old Anthony George was killed when the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) attacked native people from the Kettle and Stony Point Chippawa band who are occupying a sacred burial ground at Ipperwash Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Huron. The standoff by native people against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at Gustafsen Lake in northern British Columbia is also about unsettled native land claims. This summer native people have erected barricades and occupied land at seven different points across the country.
The federal and provincial governments along with the cops are waging a racist campaign to paint the native fighters as outlaws and criminals and the cops as defenders of law and order.
Ontario premier Mike Harris rejected out of hand Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Ovide Mercredís demand that he negotiate with the protesters at Ipperwash. "It's a matter for the police," he said with indifference toward the lives of Natives.
We are "criminals in relation to who?" asked Steve Wolfe, a Stoney Point band councilor. "Who did the shooting? Who died?"
The Native fighters are not intimidated. Over one thousand from across North America attended the funeral for Anthony George at the Ipperwash camp. Demonstrations in support of their struggles have been held in cities across the country.
Native people justifiably reject the cop investigations of their own actions and are demanding an independent inquiry into the killing of Anthony George.
The government armed forces should immediately withdraw from the areas claimed by the Native protesters.
The trigger-happy cops that murdered George and wounded others should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.
The land claims of Native people across the country should be recognized and settled without further delay.
It is urgent for all working people to support these demands. In the context of the deepening political and economic crisis facing Canada's capitalist rulers the state force used against Native people today will be turned against strikers on picket lines tomorrow, or working people and students fighting cuts to education and social services.