Caledonia couple settles lawsuit against police, government

Christie Blatchford

Globe and Mail Update
Published on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009 5:20PM EST

Last updated on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009 5:38PM EST


.The Ontario government suddenly has settled out-of-court with the Caledonia, Ont., couple who were suing Queen's Park and the OPP for abandoning them to a lawless native occupation that began almost four years ago.

The surprise move came as the couple's trial was slated to resume next Monday in a Hamilton courthouse before Ontario Superior Court Judge Thomas Bielby.

Among the remaining scheduled witnesses were a number of OPP officers, at least one of whom, The Globe and Mail has learned, was prepared to testify about the front line's profound frustration with marching orders that saw “the law twisted” during the occupation.

Though it was never crystal clear at trial whether those orders originated with the Dalton McGuinty cabinet or the OPP brass, government lawyers acknowledged early on that normal policing, where officers conduct investigations and make arrests in a timely manner, didn't happen during the occupation.

Rather, as government lawyer David Feliciant said in his opening statement, both Queen's Park and the OPP were concerned that “provocative action” by the police could escalate the crisis, and relied instead on special guidelines for “aboriginal critical incidents.”

If the theory sounds ringing, as Judge Bielby heard, in practice the policy led to bald-faced two-tiered policing – strict, arguably over-enforcement of the law for non-natives, virtually none for natives – which infuriated Caledonia residents and emboldened the most lawless of the protesters.

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