Meanwhile, I have been reading various comments from those now afraid to fish. That saddens me. They win when your line stays dry.

That phrase gives the illusion that these asians are professional fisherman who make a livelihood from fishing Lake Simcoe. It couldn’t be possible that these asian people went fishing with their friends as a fun activity.

Considering the fact that there were other ethnic groups involved in this particular incident I find the insistence of the press to use the term “asian anglers” as further proof of trying to belittle this situation.

If the media is going to label this with slight racist overtones then charge Middleton with “hate crimes”.

I wonder what the media would have called this if “nipper-tipping” was happening to black or jewish persons? Would the courts have charged the offender differently?

TORONTO, December 16, 2009—Members of Ontario’s Asian Canadian community are calling for tough sentencing after Trevor Middleton of Sutton, Ont., was found guilty on six criminal charges relating to a high-speed car chase that left two people seriously injured and the community traumatized.

“We are satisfied with the guilty verdict delivered by the jury to Mr. Middleton in this case,” said Avvy Go, clinic director at the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic.

“Now it is up to the judge to hand down a sentence, commensurate with damages caused to the four direct victims, with further consideration that Mr. Middleton’s actions were motivated by hate against Asians,” added Go.

The 12-member jury at Newmarket, Ont., court found yesterday that in the early hours of September 16, 2007, Middleton used his pickup truck as a weapon, repeatedly ramming it into a Honda Civic driven by Ruohang Liu, with passengers Shiv Kumar, Shayne Berwick and Charles Hogan.
The car chase ended when the Honda hit a tree, ejecting Berwick and Hogan from the vehicle. Both men were seriously injured, and Berwick suffered permanent brain damage and now requires constant medical care.

Middleton was found guilty of four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. The assault charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years each, while criminal negligence carries up to 14 years.

The jury spent just over five hours deliberating evidence that the high-speed chase was an escalation of an earlier incident during which 10 to 20 Georgina locals assaulted a diverse group of seven friends who were fishing at a dock near Mossington Park bridge at Lake Simcoe.
Jurors had heard witness testimony that described the assaults as “nip-tipping,” a derogatory term used for targeting and pushing Asian Canadian anglers into the water.

“Beyond the jury’s verdict and the community’s expectation that the judge will see fit to hand down a lengthy sentence, it is now time for our public institutions to step up with measures to prevent such assaults from happening again,” said Susan Eng, community activist and member of the Community Reference Group that assisted with an inquiry by the Ontario Human Rights Commission into attacks on Asian Canadian anglers.

A sentencing hearing is expected in January, following a scheduling hearing on January 4, 2010. Community members plan to submit a “Community Victims Impact Statement” for consideration by the judge.

“The Asian Canadian community has been traumatized by widespread news coverage of such racist attacks and the statement will reflect that,” said Karen Sun, executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter.

“We know that the issue of race-based violence is broader than one specific incident,” added Neethan Shan, executive director of Council of Agencies Serving South Asians. “It is our responsibility to draw attention to and work towards eradicating racism and discrimination.”

—30—

Farewell to tolerance
The Globe’s Margaret Wente throws cold water on the “nipper-tipping” controversy in Westport, Ont., where locals have ostensibly been clashing with anglers of Chinese extraction, in some cases throwing them into the lake. Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall has waded in after them, writing in the local paper that “[t]hese attacks can only be described as racist”; but the head of the Toronto Chinese Anglers Association disagrees, noting that some Chinese people don’t understand the need for fishing licences and to obey conservation laws. “But the voices of reason are being drowned out,” Wente writes, blaming Hall and others “determined to find hate where none exists.”

Along with Christie Blatchford’s obsession with the victimization of innocent white people by an endless parade of brutal and sinister dark people, The Globe has a pretty serious racial sensitivity problem.