PUBLISHER'S NOTE: My colleague Peter Edwards and I were invited to attend the unveiling a plaque honouring the memory of Sam George, the older brother of the Dudley George, slain by an Ontario Provincial Police sniper during an occupation by unarmed protesters reclaiming their own land on September 6, 1995, at Ipperwash Provincial Park.
The plaque, on the grounds of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) headquarters at 777 Memorial Drive in Orillia, Ontario, was unveiled on September 4, 2025, by Sam George's wife Veronica, who was present with her large family, and members of her community .
This was an extraordinary occasion, and I am publishing this post to explain 'why'. One comment by way of preface: The purpose of this post is not to review the changes in policing that have been made since the OPP riot squad moved in on a small group of unarmed land protesters, and there still is a long way to go.
That said, this post is about the OPP's determination to ensure that there will never be another 'Ipperwash crisis' in Canada - and that's a very good thing.
I also interpreted the OPP tribute to Sam George as a genuine attempt by the OPP, acting on its own initiative, to continue its efforts to reconcile with the Kettle and Stony Point nation, some of whose people still cannot escape the trauma from that nightmarish evening when an innocent, unarmed community was assailed for peacefully trying to retake their own land which had been wrongly kept from them for decades,
Reconciliation after such a deep historical tragedy is not an easy task - given the depths of the wounds (some might think it's impossible - like I initially did) - but my impression from attending the unveiling ceremony is that it is a well thought out positive development which I truly hope will succeed.
The OPP, under Commissioner Thomas Carrique, who spoke eloquently about the OPP's desire to win back the native communities trust and support, could have stayed quiet, in the hope that memories would eventually fade.
Instead the OPP had unequivocally acknowledged Sam George's pursuit - and the unvarnished truth about the OPP operation at Ipperwash (one of the darkest moments in Canada's policing history) which ultimately emerged thanks to Sam George's quest for answers about his brother's death.
His quest for the truth of Ipperwash;
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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COMMENTARY: Sam George: Ontario: 'A true hero - and his quest for the truth of Ipperwash', by Harold Levy, published on The Charles Smith Blog, on September 21, 2025. Acknowledgment: Thanks to the AI site 'Perplexity' for research assistance!) HL;
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A PEACEFUL LAND PROTEST TURNED DEADLY (BY THE ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE):
On September 6, 1995, a peaceful protest by a small group of natives who occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park, in Southern Ontario, along the shores of Lake Huron, having been given a key to enter the park, at the end of the tourist season seeking the rightful return of their land and their ancestral burial grounds turned into a hellish nightmare, after a heavily armed Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) riot squad confronted them.
Hours later, when the dust settled, Dudley George, one of their leaders, had been shot dead by an OPP sniper, Cecil Bernard George, a local counsellor who tried to persuade the OPP to resolve the situation peacefully, was in hospital with life threatening injuries inflicted by the police, 16-year-old Nicolas Cottrell, who tried to rescue Cecil Bernard from the vicious police beating he was receiving, was being treated for his injuries while under arrest by the OPP, Dudley George's family was traumatized, trying to cope with the nightmares - and the entire Kettle and Stony Point First Nation community had been understandably left fearing, if not hating, the police who supposedly were supposed to be protecting them, and left desperately seeking answers.
How could this possibly have happened?
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FAST FORWARD: SEPTEMBER 4, 2025:
Fast forward thirty years to a ceremony for the unveiling of a plaque honouring the memory of Sam George, being held on September 4, 2025 at the Ontario Provincial Police Regional Headquarters in Orillia, Ontario in the presence of the top brass of the force, Sam George's wife Veronica, his children, grandchildren and other members of the George family, and dozens of their friends and supporters.
Peter Edwards and I, who had reported on Ipperwash for years for The Toronto Star, had been invited to be present at the ceremony as well.
Indeed, Peter, who had been reporting at the park that awful night, remembers how astonished he was when he realized that some of the protesters were standing behind him, a reporter, for protection - from the police!
Over the following months, and years, we both grew to admire Sam, as he gently, but firmly, pushed us to do our job as journalists, to help bring out the truth of Ipperwash, wherever it may lead.
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THE PLAQUE:
The plaque which has been hung under a symbolic white Pine Tree, reads"Memorial Tree: In honour of Maynard (Sam) George 1952 - 2009.
Whose pursuit of truth and justice after the Ipperwash crisis of 1995 created a legacy that will forever influence relationships between First Nations government and police in Ontario.
The Sam George Memorial tree is a white pine that signifies peace and unity in many cultures. It was planted on July 9, 2009 at Ontario Provincial Police Headquarters.
The OPP acknowledges our ongoing commitment to the recommendations of the Ipperwash Inquiry and to reconciliation with indigenous communities."
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A RELENTLESS QUEST FOR TRUTH: NOT REVENGE OR RETRIBUTION:
From the start we realized that Sam George was not pursuing this quest out of revenge - the primitive desire to hurt or harm someone in return for an injury or harm from an injury suffered at their hands.
As Peter is quoted as saying in an interview with Author Tommy Johnson, in 'Rabble: "The first time I met him - it was six hours after - I asked who do you blame for the shooting. He said he ain't blaming anyone but he wanted to find the truth. "That's all?" I thought . What kind of answer is that?" I didn't realize how powerful that statement was at the time."
"They have a word" 'Debwewin'" Peter continued.' It means generally positive truth. Not nail someone to the wall but turn it around and make something good out of something bad, it's a healing process, What he wanted to do was to foster healing for his family, for native people and beyond it, for humane police and government."
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A SKILLED LAWYER IN ANOTHER LIFE?
Sam George was a very bright man who, like a skilled lawyer, knew where not to find - and where to find the truth; Certainly not in the weaselly denials and obfuscations of the politicians, the lies and misinformation from the police, or in the reporting of news organizations covering the brutal, unjustified attack on the innocent protesters (many of whom were wrongfully arrested) without leaving their newsrooms, without troubling to give their side on what had happened.
But like a skilled lawyer, Sam George knew that it was only through the legal process, with its examinations for discovery, subpoena powers to compel production of documents, and the ability to require witnesses to testify honestly under oath or face real consequences, so that the truth would finally be freed.
He therefore launched the George family lawsuit, against Premier Harris, Attorney General Charles Harnick (then in another ministry), and former Solicitor General Bob Runciman to get answer's for his brother's death - accusing them of personally directing the OPP to get tough with the Natives in the park.
Although the high-placed defendants fought back aggressively using court procedures to keep the case from coming to trial, the lawsuit - which never reached a verdict because ultimately a public hearing had finally been called - managed to unearth valuable information, and kept Ipperwash firmly in the public's eye. (Which was far from where the defendants wanted it to be!)
The pressure on Sam was enormous throughout this period. Peter Edwards notes in his stellar book, 'One Dead Indian':
"He often marvelled about how much effort it was taking to get an explanation that would help make sense of the thirty seconds in which his younger brother had been killed, and what a high cost in time, money and emotion, was being paid in search of those answers. ""I've lost a few years (of time with) my grandsons," he said. "I've dragged my wife across the country. It's almost like fighting a giant because he's got all of the power and the resources. He kept reminding himself that bitterness wouldn't solve anything. "If you let the hatred get ahold of you, it will eat you, just eat you."
Sam also benefited greatly from the verdict in the trial of Acting Sergeant Ken Deane who was convicted of criminal negligence causing Dudley George's death.
A Wikipedia entry informs us that, "Deane's defence was that he had believed that Dudley George was carrying a rifle. The judge rejected Deane's claim, stating that he had invented it "in an ill-fated attempt to disguise the fact that an unarmed man had been shot."
In reaching this conclusion, the judge noted that no officers referred to a gun in Dudley's hands that night in the small patch of land where the confrontation occurred, The judge also noted that no police officers and no police equipment were hit by fire.
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FINALLY: AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL PUBLIC INQUIRY:
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On November 12, 2003, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called a public judicial inquiry into the death of Dudley George with a broad mandate to inquire and report on events surrounding the death of Dudley George - and to make recommendations to prevent further violent suppression of native land protests.
The two-year Inquiry, headed by Justice Sydney B. Linden, culminated in a four-volume 1,533-page report. (Disclaimer: Justice Sidney B. Linden: Wonderful lawyer then judge and my good friend! He did a very fine job!)
Within these volumes are to be found many of the answers that Sam was looking for. 'The Truth of Ipperwash.'
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THE TRUTH OF IPPERWASH:
The Linden report added much to what had already been learned over the years from Sam George's unflinching quest - much of which had been obscured by the lies, distortions and obfuscations.
Factually the Inquiry and court rulings made it clear that:
0: Dudley George was, in fact, not bearing a gun when he was shot and killed by the OPP sniper;
0: None of the protesters were bearing guns.
0; The protesters did not initiate the skirmish which led to the beating of Cecil Bernard George: (The police did.)
0: The since returned land was, in fact, an ancestral burial ground, and had not been returned to the First Nation at the end of World War Two as promised by the authorities.
0: Allegations of testimony that Premier Mike Harris allegedly said, "I want the fucking Indians out of the park," suggesting political interference with the police, but vigorously denied by Harris, was included in Justice Linden's report.
0: This was not an isolated incident as the police maintained. There was evidence of prior planning for removal the protesters from the park, going back several days.
0: Evidence that showed bigoted government policies, systemic racism - and terribly flawed policing (failure to take steps to avoid violence) contributed to the debacle - and that the OPP, and the Ontario governments and Federal governments all bore some responsibility.
Most significantly, the Inquiry did not duck away from the truth which Sam George was seeking, and with that truth, as Sam taught us, the door to healing was open, and eventually there could be a path, though long and challenging, to healing and then reconciliation.
FAST BACK TO THE SEPTEMBER FOUR CEREMONY:
Due to rainfall, the ceremony related to the unveiling of the plaque which was placed under the Sam George Memorial Tree was moved into a library inside the building.
I was moved by the native prayers and songs I was hearing in the heart of the Provincial Police Headquarters, and by the words of speaker after speaker, united in their tribute to Sam, , and acknowledgment of his important message.
I truly think that if Sam could have been there, he would have enjoyed that irony and the ceremony, and being Sam George, would have thanked all of the others who participated in the fight for truth, including Veronica and his family, Murray Klippenstein, a committed lawyer who spearheaded the George Family case, and Gerry Philips, the opposition Member of the provincial legislature who led the political battle for a public inquiry (far from his constituency office in Scarborough (an area of Toronto.)
POSTSCRIPT: Recently, Justice Linden was moved when I told him about the plaque unveiling scheduled for the next day. "Sam was a real hero," Justice Linden told me. "He sat in the front row. He was there every day," referring to the lengthy two-year inquiry hearing.
Sam, who had clearly inspired Justice Linden, as he has inspired many others, including Peter Edwards and myself, will be remembered not just for his humanity, but, as even the OPP has recognized, for his successful quest for truth and Justice,
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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