Toronto Star presented with awards for coverage of Ipperwash

[Ipperwash ReportingAwards]

Awards for Star reporters spark controversy

OPP withdraws from ceremony

Reporters feted for 500 articles

March 22, 2004

ISABEL TEOTONIO
STAFF REPORTER

The Ontario Provincial Police backed out of an awards ceremony held
yesterday recognizing excellence in race relations after learning that
Toronto Star reporters were also being honoured for their coverage of the
Ipperwash standoff, said the event's organizer.

The Star's Peter Edwards and Harold Levy, whose investigative reports
about the 1995 shooting death of Dudley George by the OPP sparked calls
for a public inquiry, were among nine recipients honoured yesterday with
gold medals at the 11th National Conference on Race Relations.

Hosted by the Human Rights and Race Relations Centre, the conference also awarded gold medals to York police Chief Armand La Barge, Sudbury Police Chief Ian Davidson and other police officers from Niagara, Peel, Durham and Halton regions.

Hasanat Ahmad Syed, president of the centre, said the OPP had also
submitted two nominees for the award but withdrew them after they were
asked whether their nominees were involved in Ipperwash. Syed said he
wanted to avoid any awkward moments between the nominees and the
reporters, which is why he asked.

"I didn't want to start a controversy," said Syed. "I wanted to have
clarity that if (the OPP officers) were being recommended that they
weren't involved in this incident."

The OPP did not say if its nominees were connected to the Ipperwash
crisis but simply opted to bow out of this year's ceremony, said Syed.
Yesterday, spokesman OPP Sergeant Terry Blace was unable to confirm any of the details.

The outstanding work of Edwards and Levy, particularly regarding First
Nations people, and their relentless reports on Ipperwash, made the duo
natural recipients for the award, said Syed.

"Their persistence and work has been excellent," said Syed, who pointed
out that the two reporters have written about 500 articles on the issue.

The standoff happened when about 30 Stoney Point natives occupied
Ipperwash Provincial Park on Lake Huron, saying they were protecting a
sacred burial ground in the park. A judge ruled in 1997 that activist
Anthony (Dudley) George, 38, was unarmed when seven OPP officers opened fire on the night of Sept. 6, 1995.

In 1997, Acting-Sergeant Kenneth Deane, an OPP tactical officer who fired
the shot that killed George, was convicted of criminal negligence causing
death.

Immediately after his election victory, Premier Dalton McGuinty appointed
an independent inquiry into the controversial killing - something the
Conservatives under Mike Harris and Ernie Eves refused to do. The inquiry has been underway since July 2004.

"I'm sure that if the Toronto Star had not written (about Ipperwash) the
premier would not have appointed the commission to investigate," said
Naseem Mahdi, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which
sponsored the event.

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Read about the Ipperwash Inquiry . . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =1497#1497