Helpless

NATIONAL BESTSELLER In February 2006, the site of a residential development in Caledonia, Ontario, was occupied by protestors representing the Six Nations. The land, they claimed, rightfully belonged to their people. They have never left. And Christie Blatchford has never let go of the story: a story so fraught with complications and sensitivities—with political explosiveness—that the Canadian media has too often found it easier to avert its gaze. It is the story of innocent victims who have been abandoned, left helpless. It is the story of a government that has not governed and police who have not policed. It is the story of a community whose freedom and peace of mind have been sacrificed in order to maintain a toxic status quo and keep officials in the jobs they are refusing to do. But the last word should go to the author: "This book is not about aboriginal land claims. The book is not about the wholesale removal of seven generations of indigenous youngsters from their reserves and families - this was by dint of federal government policy - or the abuse dished out to many of them at the residential schools into which they were arbitrarily placed or the devastating effects that haunt so many today. This book is not about the dubious merits of the reserve system which may better serve those who wish to see native people fail than those who want desperately for them to succeed. I do not in any way make light of these issues, and they are one way or another in the background of everything that occurred in Caledonia. "What Helplessis about is the failure of government to govern and to protect all its citizens equally."