Ontario turns over Ipperwash park to First Nation

Ontario turned over Ipperwash Provincial Park to a First Nation on Thursday, settling a long-standing aboriginal grievance in the province.

"We are returning Ipperwash Provincial Park lands to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation," Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant said during a news conference in Toronto.

"In doing so, we are sending a clear signal that the McGuinty government is acting on the premier's ambitious agenda on aboriginal affairs."

Located about 40 kilometres northeast of Sarnia in southwestern Ontario, Ipperwash Provincial Park has been closed since 1995 when Ontario Provincial Police officers shot and killed aboriginal activist Dudley George during an aboriginal occupation of the park.

Members of the First Nation argued that land for the park and a nearby military base was illegally taken away from them in violation of their aboriginal rights. They claim the park contains an aboriginal burial ground.

Dudley George's brother, Sam, and a high-profile inquiry that looked into the shooting had recommended the park be handed over to the aboriginal people.

Bryant said the land will be co-managed by a number of groups during an interim period until the park is fully transferred.

"Thelands of the provincial park will be co-managed. The community, First Nations and government will be put at the same table and they will determine the future of those lands," he said. "Andafter the period of time, ownership of the lands will transfer to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation."

It wasn't clear how long that process would take or whether the land would remain a park, but negotiations are set to start in the new year.

Dudley George's family pleased

Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people have to find a way to live and work together in Ontario, said Bryant.

"Right now, the relationship between these neighbours … is not what it should be," said Bryant.

"And I say, we're all in the same canoe. We have got to find a way, where there is friction, to live together."

Sam George said his family was grateful for the support of the people of Ontario.

"By returning these 109 acres, by keeping a treaty promise and by honouring the memory of my brother Dudley, we are respecting each other," he said.

"It shows it's like a game of hockey. We can all play on the same forward line together."

Chief Tom Bressette of Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation said he looks forward to talking with his "neighbours" about how to use the land.

"I'm glad the war is finally over," Bressette said.

Decades-old dispute

The origins of the dispute date back to the Second World War. Ottawa expropriated land belonging to the Stony Point band in 1942 under the War Measures Act in order to build a military training facility called Camp Ipperwash.

The military camp is next to Ipperwash Provincial Park, which had been created by the province at leastsix years earlier.

The Department of National Defence offered to return most of the land after the war if it could lease the land necessary for the military base, but later withdrew the offer. In 1972, Jean Chrétien — who was then the minister of Indian Affairs — suggested that if the land wasn't returned, the band should be offered another piece of land as compensation.

The dispute continued unresolved until 1995, when a group of about 30 protesters set up barricades at the park to draw attention to their land claim on a military base.

Dudley George was shot and killed by an OPP sniper onSept. 6,1995 as police moved in to clear out the park.

Justice Sidney Linden ruled in May 2007 that the OPP, the government of former Ontario premier Mike Harris and the federal government all bore responsibility for events that led to George's death

The original land claim— the reason protesters occupied Ipperwash in the first place— was settled in 1998. Under the $26-million agreement, the land occupied by the former military installation was to be cleaned up and returned to the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. As well, every member of the band was to receive between $150,000 and $400,000 in compensation.