Gary McHale
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Canadian civil rights activist Gary McHale
Gary McHale, 46, formerly of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada and currently resides in Binrook, Ontario owns and operates a website called Caledonia Wake Up Callabout the Caledonia Land Dispute.
McHale the youngest of six boys, McHale's mother was killed in a car crash when he was 10. His childhood was turbulent after that because his dad wasn't around. McHale got into mischief and McHale earned a police record for shoplifting a rifle scope. Some of his brothers got into drugs. On Christmas morning, a 13-year-old McHale packed up and moved to his aunt's. It was his first stand for a life lived by rules. McHale proudly points out that he was accepted by two universities, but he couldn't afford tuition. He started a bookkeeping business which now includes web design. At its height, he says he had offices in four cities. His wife worked for him. He's been married for 27 years to Christine McHale. In 1992, McHale enrolled in a theology degree at the Central Baptist Seminary but didn't complete it due to the merging of Central Baptist Seminary and London Baptist Seminary which caused the new Seminary to relocate to Cambridge Ontario. He received two awards at Seminary. One for having the highest marks and the second for his leadership abilities. Religion remains central to his life and to his fight in Caledonia. He says being a Christian means committing to morals that run deeper than material belongings: "truth and justice and faith and peace."
POLITICAL ACTIVISM
Gary McHale is a civil rights activist consistently engaging in protests against the Ontario Provincial Police in Caledonia, Ontario as observed in this December 16, 2006CTV story. An OPP police service report showed that Commissioner Fantino had requested, via the Ontario Legal Services, that they find some way to arrest McHale. From Dec. 3, 2006 until his arrest on Dec. 16, 2006 the OPP had several meetings to plan out how to arrest Mr. McHale, hold him in jail, force him to appear before a judge and to force Release conditions upon him. The OPP report shows how 5 OPP officers questioned their authority to hold McHale and the Crown in Hamilton repeatedly told the OPP to release McHale. Finally the Judge ordered McHale's release. At no time did the OPP have any charge against McHale.
On Oct. 15, 2006, McHale's first March for Freedom drew a crowd of 2,000 people. Since that time hundreds have joined his newly formed group called CANACE (Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality).
After being arrested in Dec. 2007, over 100 people sent messages to the court that Gary McHale is an advocate for them. Haldimand Mayor Trainer testified in court that Gary McHale was an advocate for the coummunity. She also testified that Gary McHale was non-violent. Local Member of Provincial Parliment Toby Barrett also testified on McHale's behalf. A Hamilton police officer testified that Gary McHale is non-violence and advocates peace. On Dec. 14, 2007, OPP John Murray testified that he knowns of no OPP report that claims McHale has ever been involved in any violence and criminal activity during any of this protests in Caledonia.
To date, McHale has had 3 News Conferences at Queen's Park which have been booked by MPP Toby Barrett. Guest speakers at McHale's rallies have included MPP Toby Barrett, numerous Caledonia residents, a residents from Ipperwash, John Sabin (a Native private investigator in New York), Canadian Taxpayers' Federation and McHale even allowed Clyde Powless (the man arrested for assaulting McHale) to speak at one of his rallies.
McHale's main message is one of Equality and Free Speech. He states, "these are not just word but something I live by."
SAMPLE LETTER OF SUPPORT FROM RESIDENTS
The following letter was just printed in both local newspapers - The Regional News and The Sachem. McHale claims that his group doesn't know the author but believes there are countless average people who share his Equality message.
Who else can the people turn to?
Published on May 16, 2008 - Sachem News I'm always amused at all the posturing and name-calling that surrounds the controversy about land claims, native's rights, blockades, and the like.
While not everyone likes the methods he uses, Gary McHale, and the website he started, CaledoniaWakeUpCall.com, is still a very effective tool for exposing the government's one-sided racially motivated handling of the situation. It matters not what side you sit on, or who you think is right or wrong, the facts speak for themselves, and have been for over two years now. Without a doubt there is a double standard being exercised by the government and the OPP when it comes to fairness, the rule of law, and the appropriate response to trouble.
A great number of people in Caledonia and the surrounding areas would love nothing more than to see this all go away. They'd like to bury their heads in the sand, forget the names, forget the faces, turn the clocks back a couple of years and pretend that all is well. That same attitude was prevalent in the late '60's when the likes of a couple of guys named King and Lennon were making people uncomfortable with their messages of peaceful protest and equal rights. Their messages don't seem so crazy now, do they? I don't for one moment think that Mr. McHale is in the same league, but someone has to try and keep the torches burning, and he has managed to do that. For that he deserves a lot of credit, as does Merlyn Kinrade, Mark Vandermaas, and the rest of that group.
At every corner the powers-that-be have been trying desperately to silence the complainers, or expose them in a manner that brings criticism and ridicule from government leaders, the media, and from the very people they're trying to protect. At every corner they have turned a blind eye to the law-breaking of one group, based on racial profiling, and tried to enforce the full weight of the law on others.
Is it any wonder that they are now being called before the Human Rights Commission to explain their two-tiered methods? Is it any wonder that the small group that continues to try and stop the government from sweeping Caledonia under the carpet, as they have done to Ipperwash, has to resort to human rights complaints to have their voices heard?
When the traditional protectors of our rights, the police and the government, openly refuse to uphold the law and protect those rights, who else can you turn to? Should the people of Caledonia start filing complaints with the United Nations, as the natives have?
All is not well in this province, and in this country for that matter, but no one seems to be noticing.
Somewhere, at some time, governments have become unaccountable to the people that have elected them, especially in this post-9/11 world we've been kidnapped by. Somehow they've managed to throw away the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the very fabric that used to make our society the greatest in the world, exchanging it for the heavy-handedness of the taser, the pepper spray, the SWAT team. More and more they tell us what we will do, not what they'd like us to do, regardless of the wishes of the majority. Somehow they've become dictatorial and refuse to listen. Their new agenda has become the furthest thing from democracy as one can get.
When will it end? What do we still have to look forward to? What do we tell our kids?
Mark Delio, Caledonia
GARY MCHALE'S WRITINGS
Christian Extremists = Muslim Extremists = Native Extremists [1]
Native Protesters and KKK share ideology [2]
OPP Press Release: More Lies and Deception [3]
Justice in Ontario Video created by McHale [4]
The Heart of Compassion is… [5]
Living by Fear, Hate, Indifference, Money, or by Faith [6]
VIOLENCE
Although no violence has ever occured at any event organized by McHale, he and fellow CANACE co-founder Jeff Parkinson were hospitalized on December 1st 2007 when Native protestors turned violent against the non Natives in attendance at a protest organized by residents against an illegal smoke shack on the outskirts of Caledonia.
Video clearly shows that within minutes of their arrival, peaceful non Native protestors were being assaulted by Natives while the OPP refused to intervene. As the situation escalated the Natives began assaulting OPP officers in order to get to the non Native protestors and not a single arrest was made that day.
Later the same day before any official investigation could be done, OPP commissioner Julian Fantino issued a press release blaming the non Native protestors for "taunting and provoking" the Natives (which video evidence clearly shows never happened) and assured the public that the non Natives would be brought to "justice".
On December 6, 2007 Clyde Powless was arrested for assaulting Gary McHale after footage aired on CHCH TV showing Powless jumping on the back of McHale who kept his hands in his pockets during the incident.
Camille Powless was charged with Public Mischief for filing a false police complaint claiming that Gary McHale had assaulted her when video evidence later proved that it was Powless who assaulted McHale while screaming "don't assault me Gary McHale", and she was later charged privately in court by Gary McHale with assault.
Gary McHale was charged with allegedly "councilling mischief" for suggesting that someone move a vehicle onto a road (an incident which the OPP contend did not take place)
No arrests have been made some 6 months later for the many assaults committed by Natives against OPP officers, nor for the attack that left CANACE co-founder Jeff Parkinson in hospital. OPP Sgt. Murray testified in Court that no arrests were made for the assaults on officers because "nobody complained"
CANACE
On May 14, 2008 Gary McHale, contesting HDI's demand for Coraddo construction to cease building a new sub division, referring to the Ipperwash Inquiry, McHale said a report written by the Ontario Attorney General's office debunked the colour of right to occupy land or stop construction. Colour of right is a legal phrase that says that if a person has good reason to believe they own land, they can go on it without facing any criminal charges.
McHale's organization called CANACE (Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality) became involved because they want to see law and order restored, he said. Their services were offered free according to the Dunnville-Chronicle.