Protesters deny shooting helicopter

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Natives occupying part of a Canadian Forces training base in southern Ontario said they were set up after a military helicopter was shot at.

Carl George, acting Chief of the Stoney Point First Nations, said the shot fired at the military helicopter could have been staged to discredit his band's attempt to reclaim their land.

The helicopter, with five military personnel on board, was on a routine night reconnaissance mission over Canadian Forces Base Ipperwash on Aug. 23 when it was picked out of the sky with a spotlight from the ground at approximately 10:20 p.m. and then hit in the tail section a bullet.

The craft and crew landed safely in London, Ont. where provincial police found a bullet lodged in the fuselage.

Military spokesman Maj. Brian Haye said the helicopter was flying at night looking for possible fires set band members who had wandered from their encampment.

But George said the aircraft was probably in the area to harass the squatters, who have been camping on the base 50 km north of Sarnia since May 6.

Ontario Provincial Police reported that a search of the camp turned up a flare gun, a pellet gun and several rounds of ammunition.

But that proves nothing, said George. The ground around the base is strewn with old and unused ammunition.

The small group of Stoney Point band members say the government does not have legal right to the land, which was commandeered the Department of Defence more than 50 years ago under the War Measurement Act. Ottawa compensated the Stoney Point Band and the nearKettle Point Band $2.4 million for the 907 hectares in 1981.

The Stoney Point lost their identity because of the forced amalgamation, said George. They did not receive their fair share of the compensation package, but that is not the real issue, he said. The land was never given away.