Mohawk police chief sues Ont. government

Thechief of policeof an aboriginal reservenear Deseronto, Ont.,is suing theprovince afterhe wassuspended in April for publishedcomments alleging racism withinthe RCMP, and the Ontario andQuebec police forces.

Larry Hay, chief of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Police,was suspended without the proper consultation with aboriginal leaders that is required by law, alleges his lawyer, Michael O'Shaughnessy.

"It was not a consultation,"O'Shaughnessy told CBC News on Thursday.

"It was a message, an imperative given to the band council that this had happened. And it happened before there was any consultation whatsoever with the chief of the band or with council."

The lawsuit, filed in May, also alleges that the suspension has been maintained despite a formal written objection by the Mohawk of the Bay of Quinte Band Council, which governs the territory about 13 kilometres east of Belleville.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Hay'ssuitnames as respondents the Ministry of the Solicitor General, represented by the Ministry of the Attorney General and OPP Chief Julian Fantino.

Ontario Provincial Police are reviewing the lawsuit, which has not yet proceeded to court.

Hay's suspension came after an interview published on April 14 in the Online Pioneer, Loyalist College's student newspaper, about a protest at a quarry that the Tyendinaga Mohawks say is theirs.

"I left the RCMP after Oka and I realized just what a racist organization the RCMP was," Hay was quoted as saying, "and I came here to learn that the OPP and the SQ (Sûreté du Québec) are no different. It's deep-seated racism, and they will do all kinds of things to show that it isn't so, but we know better."

Mohawk protesters have occupied thequarry since March.

It islocated onland thatis the subject ofland-claim negotiations between the band council and the federal government that protesters say are proceeding too slowly.