Customer Reviews

Helpless: Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The book is a detailed blow by blow account of the Caledonia occupation, recounted by those directly involved. It is in effect a compilation of interviews etc the author accumulated while talking with virtually every person who had something to say about the various events. However, there is little discussion with the natives to give any depth to the story.

The book is really about the hardships faced by the Caledonians at the hands of both the occupiers and the OPP. It is very damning of the OPP, the OPP leadership, Mr. Fantino, and all the other Government officials involved in deciding what was to take place in Caledonia.

The book recounts how the OPP planted cameras in the house of one Caledonia residence to surveil the owner. Also, there was an incidence of planting a GPS locator on an officer's personal vehicle. The officer was personal friends with one of the central homeowners and was in the difficult position of having to do his job, while also act as a friend and counsel. This role was exploited by the OPP to their advantage.

Reading it, you can't help but think of those poor souls living in occupied Europe during the war, the KGB, the SS. The OPP broke nearly every law you can think of, while refusing to serve or protect people who badly needed their help.

Imagine you live in a lovely small town - close enough to the big city to be convenient, but far enough away to be a quiet country hideaway. Now imagine that one day, without warning or provocation, a group of thugs arrive in your town and take a construction site hostage. In the months to follow, these interlopers "with a little help from their friends" will erect barricades, rip up the main street, push a van on its side and roll it off a bridge, and blow up a hydro facility, cutting power to the town.

Fiction? Not at all. This nightmare actually took place in the town of Caledonia, with members of the Six Nations reserve seizing control of the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision on February 28, 2006. Five years later, the occupation is still going on.

Columnist and crime reporter Christie Blatchford's Helpless is the tale of how the residents of Caledonia had their lives turned upside down - in the name of political correctness gone mad. Blatchford makes it clear right from the start that this book is not about the validity of native land claims, or a chronicle of abuses Canadian officials from an earlier time foisted upon our First Nations. What she is interested in doing is telling a story that few, if any, have had the courage to tell, revealing dark and difficult truths along the way.

Needless to say, there has already been something of a backlash to this book. Some have even gone as far to condemn Blatchford as a racist. Others point to her portrayals of the townsfolk as heroes and the natives as thugs and bullies. While showing several of the residents of Caledonia acting with great courage and patience, only one of the occupiers comes off well - Michael Laughing, a high-steel ironworker who volunteered at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks.

Blatchford, however, saves her real venom not for the natives holding Caledonia hostage, but for those who seemed unwilling or unable to enforce the Rule of Law in this community. Whether calling out the Government of Ontario - and, in particular, Premier McGuinty - or senior officials with the Ontario Provincial Police first and foremost, former OPP Chief Julian Fantino.

Blatchford shows just how spineless and conniving those in charge can be. The book also shines an unflattering light on the province's judicial system, as well as the mainstream media, which for the most part could not be bothered to cover this story.

Hovering over this story is the ghost of Ipperwash another Native occupation from 1995, where one of the protestors, Dudley George, was shot and killed by an OPP officer. With the public inquiry still fresh in everyone's mind when the occupation of Caledonia began, it comes as no surprise that the Government of Ontario and the OPP would do everything in their power - including doing nothing - to ensure they didn't end up with a second Ipperwash on their hands.

Particularly appalling is the treatment of those holding the town hostage. This "hands off, kid gloves" approach stands in stark contrast to the way the law-abiding citizens were treated, which can only be described as a "blame the victim" approach.

In fact, a fair amount of Helpless is spent chronicling political and law enforcement tactics - tactics that worked all too well in protecting and supporting the activities of the protestors, but did little to help the besieged and beleaguered townsfolk. Blatchford goes into great detail, having interviewed most of the key participants (although Premier McGuinty and Chief Fantino declined to be interviewed), showing just how far political correctness has been allowed to go. Perhaps most telling is the saga of Richmond Hill activist, Gary McHale, who was arrested following a peaceful rally on the make-believe charge of "counselling mischief not committed."

This is an important book, a dangerous book, because it takes no hostages and instructs us in a very real way just how out-of-control and topsy-turvy our world has become. Having the courage to tell the truth at a time when few others seem able or willing to do so, Christie Blatchford reminds us of the true role of the media - to be fair and to be accurate.

Do yourself a favour. Ignore the naysayers and read the book.

As a former resident of Caledonia during the occupation, this book brings back memories. For years we tried to get anyone to listen to what was happening in our town. The OPP abandoned us in so many ways. The book was very moving and I had to put it down several times as it stirred bad memories. It was a book that needed to be written, and I thank Christie Blatchford for taking the time to write it in a respectful way. I can't believe that people are calling this book racist. These people have clearly not read the book, and certainly did not live in Caledonia during those difficult times.

This book was so well written that I completed it in two (2) days.

It reflected the struggles of the people of Caledonia, Ontario (small town near Hamilton) where the natives of Six Nations took over a construction site and the police (OPP) turned a blind eye to their illegal actions. The Caledonia townspeople living around the construction site were constantly harassed and threatened but the OPP would not give any assistance. Even when there was a blockade, the OPP faced the townspeople rather than the natives.

There was anecdote where the home owner came home from a ball game but the natives would not let him pass their lines. Apparently, he missed a native curfew. Anyway, he got quite upset and drove past their line to his home and then was surrounded by a group of native who forced him into a vehicle and transported him back to the OPP line where he was arrested and spent the night in jail. The victim were arrested and the illegal action was condoned.

There a sections of humour in this book but also segments where one would have a hard time believing that this could happen today in Canada.

Helpless is a very useful summary and analysis of the years of terror that innocent common citizens lived through in Caledonia. The story of Caledonia is an example of what happens when the rule of law breaks down due to two systems of justice for different groups of people, and political correctness binding the law. Numerous interviews with those involved portray the McGuinty Government, its deputy ministers, and the upper echelon of the OPP in a incompetent and negligent light.

No doubt the results of the events at Ipperwash set up the massive failure that occured in Caledonia. However Ipperwash was a battle over land the Native people legitimately owned. The housing development in Caledonia was clearly private property. Blatchford illudes to this being the case, but her main thesis is more directed towards what happens when the Government fails it's citizens and the Police are controlled by the interests of the governing party rather than the interests of the law. This she sets out in interviews and researching news reports in the plain straight of fact manner she is well known for rather than injecting her own opinion or analysis.

One of the most damning quotes from the book is from an interview. "... in the early days the residents [of Caledonia] never spoke to the media. Refused. They believed the media twisted their words, so they would always paint the residents as the ones inciting the violence, and once their names and photos were printed, they become targeted or their kids would targeted at school."

Unfortunately Blatchford did not interview many native people, and it would have been interesting to hear their side or them answer to what they did to innocent people.

Christie Blatchford is one of the few Canadian reporters willing to put herself on the line, and for that matter one of the few worth reading.

As disturbing as the facts are, it is good to be informed. So much of what Christie Blatchford reveals was unknown to me and this comes from someone who lived in the middle of it. It amazes me that the very people we trust to take care of our community and protect us from wrongdoings are failing us in ways I never dreamed possible in Canada!

Excellent book. Well researched and revealing. Every person in Canada who suffers under the illusion that we live in a stable society needs to read this book.

Christie Blatchford's book titled "Helpless" was excellently researched, documented and written. Basically, the book clearly illustrates how the Ontario Provincial Government and the Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) abandoned the residents of Caledonia, Ontario in their time of need.

"Helpless" clearly depicts the struggles and hardships endured by the residents of Caledonia, Ontario, when the natives of Six Nations illegally took over a construction site resulting in the Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) abdicating their duty and turning a blind eye to the criminal acts committed as well as the illegal occupation, road blocks, curfews and other activities. The book makes it very clear that the rank and file police officers of the Ontario Provincial Police did not abdicate their duty on their own, but rather under the direction and orders of their superiors - Senior Police Officers.

This book provides a detailed page by page accounting of the illegal occupation, hardships and abuse faced by the residence of Caledonia, which was inflicted on them by the illegal occupiers and the Ontario Provincial Police. Christie Blatchford does not hold back or sugar coat the facts, but rather she places the blame directly on the shoulders of the Ontario Provincial Government, the Ontario Provincial Police, the O.P.P. leadership and then Commissioner Julian Fantino.

"Helpless" also recounts incidents such as an elderly couple and a television camera crew having their vehicles surrounded by aggressive occupiers and the Ontario Provincial Police Officers standing by and not coming to their assistance. The book also delves into how the Ontario Provincial Police in a sneaky and underhanded manner planted surreptitious cameras in the home of a Caledonia resident and even crossed the unwritten fine blue-line by sinking so low as to plant a GPS locator on the personal vehicle of a fellow police officer.

Christie Blatchford also saves her anger not for the illegal occupiers but rather for the yellow-belly Provincial Government officials and the command of the Ontario Provincial Police for abdicating their duties, refusing to provide a policing service, by not enforcing the Criminal Code of Canada and Provincial Statues and for recklessly allowing the residence of Caledonia to live in a state of fear and danger.

It is clearly evident that Christie Blatchford has done her research by collecting the facts, conducting interviews and documenting the Caledonia events in detail. At times, this book provided humourous events but mainly contained factual and documented events which the reader can not help but wonder how such incidents can be allowed to take place in a democratic country such as Canada!

The complete title of Christie Blatchford's book sums it all up "Helpless: Caledonia's Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us."

This book by Christie Blatchford should be read by every person in Ontario. It is a shocking and I believe accurate account of what happened in the Caledonia occcupation by Six Nations native people in a quiet town in southern Ontario. The occupation in itself was not what was shocking. The lack of policing by the OPP and the total disregard for non-native residents is almost unbelievable. It is obvious that the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty "arranged" to have a peaceful resolution...which amounted to allowing the native people to do what ever they wanted, including violence, while law abiding non-native people were arrested for putting up a Canadian flag! Natives were allowed to block roads, impose curfews and require "passports" for residents to travel roads to their own homes!
Congratulations to Ms.Blatchford for trying to enlighten the rest of us.

As a constant "Blach" reader and fan,I was disappointed at the change in her writing from the opinion laced and objective to the history book like facts.
She would normally mix in many worthwhile solution suggestions.If those were there I missed them.If the book were published sans author I would not have guessed Blach whose regular Fantino reporting would be enriched with a great many more,well deserved,expletives.