Descendants of Komonee and Sarah George return to their homelands and raise questions on ownership of the former Ipperwash Provincial Park

LAMBTON SHORES ( May 1 4, 2021)— Relatives of the late Anthony “Dudley” George began occupying the former Ipperwash Provincial Park today in a land reclamation with their home community of Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation.

George was the land defender who was killed by the Ontario Provincial Police on  September 6, 1995, during the “Ipperwash Crisis.”

The new group claims information has surfaced that shows the traditional homestead of their great-grandparents covers part of the former Ipperwash Provincial Park, including the beachfront and picnic areas. The land was not part of the 2016 Final Settlement Agreement for the former Camp Ipperwash, which occurred between Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation and the Canadian government.

“True, sincere and honest reconciliation must not only take place across Canada but it must also take place within our communities and within our Nations,” states NaWalka Geeshy Meegwun, one of the land defenders now re-occupying the former parklands.

Returning to the traditional homestead of their great grandparents, grandparents, and parents are NaWalka Geeshy Meegwun, Ezaamdoonid, Misko Binesis Kwe, and Meegaazhaqua. The four are the great-grandchildren of the original landholders Komonee (Albert George) and Sarah George. They are also grandchildren of Robert George Sr. and Laura George, and the children of Robert George Jr. and Sylvia George. NaWalka Geeshy Meegwun is Anishnaabe Ojokwe (Two-Spirit/Indigenous Queer), and Ezaamdoonid, MiskoBinesis Kwe, and Meegaazhaqua are Anishnaabe Qua. Meegaazhaqua, Sara George, was named after her great-grandmother. There are three generations of family to Komonee and Sarah George, that are present and engaged in the reclamation.

Anthony “Dudley” George was also a great-grandchild of Komonee and Sarah.

The group says they are reclaiming their sacred ancestral homeland so they may fulfil their traditional roles and responsibilities as Anishnaabe Kwe (women) and Ojokwe (Two-Spirit/Indigenous Queer). These roles are assigned at birth and include responsibilities to the land, water, themselves, their families, their communities, their Nation and all relatives and future generations. They view it as their shared responsibility to act, secure and serve as guardians of the lands for the future of the Seven Generations that follow.

In April of 2016, the federal government and Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation concluded negotiations for the return of the military lands known as Camp Ipperwash. The former Canadian Forces training facility was located in Lambton County, Ont., near Kettle Point in the Municipality of Lambton Shores. The residents of Aazhoodena, also known as the former Aux Sable Reserve or Stony Point Reserve, were forced to surrender their lands to Canada in April of 1942 to support the war effort. The lands were never returned after the war ended, as promised.

Months after the Ipperwash Inquiry concluded in 2007, the Province of Ontario, under former Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, promised to return Ipperwash Provincial Park to Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation. In 2020, the Provincial and Federal Governments followed through on that promise. The lands included the traditional homestead of Komonee and Sarah George, who held the “location ticket” to the north half of Lot 8, Concession A of the Stony Point Reserve prior to the surrender and sale of the beachfront to the Mayor of Sarnia in 1929.

Historical documents show that in 1929, the local Indian Agent, Thomas Paul, was a shareholder and Director at Industrial Mortgage & Trust Company, which was the same bank that issued the mortgage on the Stony Point beachfront. The land surrender was therefore a violation of the Indian Act of 1927, which stated that no Indian Agent could profit directly or indirectly from the sale of “Indian land.” It indicates the beachfront land acquisition was illegal and should never have taken place.

Historically, the federal government used many tools of oppression, assimilation, racism, and discrimination to gain title to many traditional Indigenous territories which had been promised in perpetuity through treaties. Those tools included, via the Indian Act, threats to send children to residential schools, and threats to control food rations. Many times, language barriers played a negative role in “surrender votes,” which resulted in the apprehension of traditional family homesteads. Many of those same tools of oppression, assimilation, dominance, power, and control still exist in Canada today.

At the time of the 1929 beachfront surrender, Indigenous people lived simple lives and had traditional relationships with the land, water and all creation. Many lived in poverty as a direct result of the tools of oppression, racism, and discrimination that were enforced by levels of governments, by civil servants such as Indian Agents, and through policing. Due to the Indian Act, very little education was accessible to Indigenous people. Not only were they not able to attend forms of post-secondary education, but the Indian Act forbade them from hiring legal services to protect themselves or their properties. They had no voice.

The group’s father, Robert “Knobby” George, worked alongside a handful of Aazhoodena descendants who first started the wheels in motion to regain the former Camp Ipperwash from the federal government. In 1989, the CBC’s The Fifth Estate interviewed Robert.

“That must be one hell of a long war, ‘cause I haven’t got my home back yet,” Robert states in the interview.

Robert never got to return home to Aazhoodena and neither did his parents or his grandparents, Komonee and Sarah. It turned out to be a decades-long battle, which included the attached speech which Robert delivered to then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

In 1995, newly elected Premier Mike Harris played an important role during the “Ipperwash Crisis.” According to former Attorney General Charles Harnick, on the afternoon of the tragic shooting, the former Premier told a private meeting of Cabinet Ministers and seconded OPP officers, “I want the f*****g Indians out of the Park.”

Meegaazhaqua has a new message: “Today, the… Indians are back in the Park!”

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Additional Sources:

Dubinski, K. (2020, September 8). Quarter century after killing of Dudley George, Ontario provincial park land returned to First Nation (2020), CBC News, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ipperwash-provincial-park-returned-to-kettle-stony-point-first-nation-1.5715748

Gillespie, K. (2007, December 21). Ipperwash land returned to Indians, Toronto Star, https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2007/12/21/ipperwash_land_returned_to_indians.html

Klippenstein, M. (2006, February 15) Cross examination of Mike Harris, Ipperwash Public Inquiry, p. 174, http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/transcripts/feb_15_06/index.htm

The Fifth Estate. (1989) Ipperwash Land Expropriation: Hell of a Deal, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je07YYrt7Q4

CONTACT:

For further details or information:
NaWalka Geeshy Meegwun
289-680-4544