The same Attorney-General's Ministry that now purports to offer Mr. McHale a fair review of his complaint sent two lawyers to the pre-enquete to argue that the complaint should be quashed, as indeed it was.
But Mr. McHale appealed, and again the ministry dispatched the two lawyers to oppose him.
And on Dec. 31, Ontario Superior Court Judge David Crane overruled the JP, and ordered the local JP to "issue process" - basically, to get on with it. On Jan. 8, the JP issued process, which meant that the commissioner was officially charged, although the York force apparently hasn't been able to locate him to serve him with a summons.
Furthermore, who should this week interject himself into the fray but Mr. McGuinty, who was asked whether Mr. Fantino would be stepping aside pending resolution of the charge against him, and said there was no reason for him to do so.
Given all of this, Mr. McHale has good reason for cynicism that his complaint will be reviewed neutrally and treated like any other. It sure hasn't been thus far.
And, speaking of Caledonia, the home of Dave Brown and Dana Chatwell, whose lawsuit against the government and the OPP provided weeks of evidence about the OPP's handling of the occupation before the case was quietly settled out of court, has been razed.
As part of the settlement, ownership of the house, which is bordered on two sides by the occupied site, was transferred to the province, which took possession of it on Thursday. For "safety and security reasons," according to a release from the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, it was immediately demolished.
Spokesman Sylvia Kovesfalvi said the razing "will avoid potential hazards associated with an unoccupied building."
I'm sure it had nothing to do with this week's Turtle Island News, an independent paper published on the Six Nations reserve. On Page 7, a story reports that at last week's Six Nations' elected council meeting, in a general discussion about council "taking" land as opposed to buying it, Councillor Melba Thomas said, "Shouldn't we do that, too, with the house that's been vacated? At DCE?"
Only in Ontario do you tear down a house to protect it.
