Ipperwash Crisis - Death of Dudley George

Death of Dudley George

On Wednesday, the OPP became concerned about a group of protesters who had wandered outside the Park and into the Sandy Park lot area adjacent to the cottages. The group was allegedly carrying bats and sticks in their hands. The number of protesters has been debated, although police reports indicate a group of up to 8.

There was also misinformation about damage that had been done to a Band Councillor's car by this group of protesters. The damage to the Councillor's car was by a rock thrown by one of the protesters who took exception to an article the Councillor had written disapproving of the occupation. A rumour started that the protesters smashed up the vehicle of a female driver with baseball bats, a report that was later found to be false and misleading by Justice Sidney Linden.

Out of public safety concerns, the OPP decided to deploy the Crowd Management Unit (CMU) to force the protesters back into the Park. The CMU was a riot squad armed with steel batons, shields and helmets. The CMU was backed up by a Tactical Response Unit (TRU), effectively a SWAT team. The OPP intended a show of force to move the protesters back inside the park.

On Wednesday evening, police riot squads marched down to the Sandy Parking Lot to confront the protesters. As the CMU advanced, the protesters initially retreated back and the CMU responded by retreating back. A particular protester, Cecil Bernard George approached the police (peacefully according to the protesters, violently according to police reports). George was taken down and surrounded by police and arrested. Protesters attempted to rescue George from the assault by the police units. This resulted in a riot.

A car and a school bus driven by protesters started out of the park to assist the protesters. According to police officers, there was gunfire from these vehicles but First Nations protesters have insisted they had no weapons in the park that night. The OPP TRU teams opened fire on the vehicles, resulting in the wounding of two Native protesters and the death of Dudley George, an Ojibwa protestor. Among the TRU members was Acting Sergeant Ken "Tex" Deane, a senior officer in charge of a four-man sniper team with the job of escorting the force's crowd management unit. Deane was near the park entrance and fired three shots at Dudley George, who was about fifteen feet from the park entrance, and was hit and badly injured. Deane later claimed he had mistaken the elongated dark coloured branch which George was carrying for a rifle.

George's sister Carolyn and brother Pierre attempted to take him to the local hospital for treatment but were arrested and delayed by the OPP for over an hour. George was declared dead at 12:20 a.m. on September 7, 1995, at nearby Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital, in Strathroy, Ontario. Anthony O'Brien George (March 17, 1957 – September 7, 1995), nicknamed "Dudley", was the eighth of ten children born to Geneviève ("Jenny") Pauline Rogers George and Reg "Nug" (Reginald Ransford) George.