Focused on the recommendations in the Ipperwash Inquiry report, Sam George visited the Ontario legislature today calling on the province and the federal government to return the lands that his brother, Dudley George, died fighting for.
The 38-year-old was killed during a police raid to remove native protesters from Ipperwash Provincial Park on Sept. 6, 1995.
The protesters had wanted nearby Camp Ipperwash, formerly the Stony Point reserve, to be returned to Kettle and Stony Point descendants.
The land had been taken by the government in 1942 and converted into a military training camp but was never returned. The protesters also claimed that the Ipperwash Provincial Park was the site of a sacred burial ground.
In his report released Thursday, Commissioner Sydney Linden said "the most urgent priority is for the federal government to return the former army camp to the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation immediately with an apology and appropriate compensation."
George said he wanted to make sure that Linden's recommendations were followed, including the return of the park lands.
"I am asking the people of Ontario, through their government, to make the commitment in the next few days to return the 109 acres of what was the Ipperwash Provincial Park to full native control,'' he told reporters. "...It's going to take all of us to make these recommendations go."
George family lawyer, Murray Klippenstein, said the government shouldn't delay the process with legal wrangling.
"The province now legally, technically is the owner of the land... under non-native law," he said Friday at the press conference.
"The province can change everything by simply saying that on the books it is our land under present law but we are making it clear as a matter of public principal, symbolically and with great seriousness, that we are going to restore this -- then put the technicians to work."
Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday it would take some time to assess the report's recommendations.
McGuinty said he understands the symbolism attached to the land but said more time is needed to first review the report.
He did say that the government may be able to act "sooner rather than later."
Report findings
The Ipperwash report found that the federal and Ontario governments, along with police, all shared responsibility for George's death.
Linden makes 98 recommendations in the document to help all sides move forward.
He suggests that police make more formal efforts to reach out to aboriginal organizations.
He also targets the federal government saying they bear responsibility because they allowed Aboriginal land claims "to fester for decades."
Further, he calls for a Treaty Commission of Ontario to be established to help settle land claims.
Then-premier Mike Harris is also faulted in the report for impatience, uttering a racial slur and misleading the legislature.
However, Linden concluded that "the premier did not give instructions to or interfere with the OPP's operations at Ipperwash."
With files from The Canadian Press
