The Ipperwash Crisis was a dispute over Indigenous land that took place in Ipperwash Provincial Park, Ontario, on September 4, 1995. Several members of the Stoney Point Ojibway band occupied the park to assert claim to nearby land which had been expropriated from them during the Second World War.
During a violent confrontation, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) killed protester Dudley George. George was holding a stick when OPP officer Ken Deane shot him. George subsequently died from his injuries. Ken Deane later claimed that George had a firearm. Deane was found guilty of criminal negligence.
It was later alleged that the violent confrontation and eventual death of Dudley George came a day after newly elected Ontario Premier Mike Harris was alleged to have said to the OPP "I want the fucking Indians out of the park", according to a former attorney general. Eight other present witnesses denied this allegation,[1] however the Ipperwash Inquiry concluded that Premier Harris did in fact make the remarks. [2]
The ensuing controversy was a major event in Canadian politics. In 2003 a provincial inquiry, the Ipperwash Inquiry, was started after a change in government. Former Ontario Chief Justice Sidney B. Linden led the investigation of events, which was completed in the fall of 2006.[3]