Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Local History

Shelley and I watched the made-for-TV movie "One Dead Indian" tonight based on the Ipperwash occupation and the shooting of Dudley George. Needless to say it is a contentious issue around these parts, what with the Public Inquiry going on at the community centre amidst spray-painted swastikas in the parking lot.

For our own enlightenment, we watched. We tried to match what we've heard locally with the televised version. It was amusing to see local places depicted (the film was shot near Montreal): Ipperwash Provincial Park, the souped-up local OPP station, the emergency room at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital and we tried to guess which restaurant/coffee shop the officer was patronizing.

It was also surreal to try and imagine a life-and-death drive to the hospital, likely along the very roads that I might use to get to the churches on Sunday. I suppose we have a better idea of what happened September 6, 1995; and I suppose we'll never really understand or know all of what took place.

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