The Ipperwash Inquiry was established by the Ontario government on Nov. 12, 2003 to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of native protester Anthony Dudley George.

George was killed during a police raid to remove native protesters from Ipperwash Provincial Park on Sept. 6, 1995. The protesters wanted nearby Camp Ipperwash, formerly the Stony Point reserve, to be returned to Stony Point descendants.  The land had been taken by the government in 1942 and converted into a military training camp known as Camp Ipperwash.

Stony Point descendants had occupied and protested at Camp Ipperwash since 1993 but stalled negotiations prompted the move into the government park on Sept. 4, 1995, two days before the shooting.

Without full community support, about 30 people staged the protest.

On Sept. 6, OPP sniper Kenneth Deane shot and killed George during a nighttime raid.

Ontario Judge Huge Fraser later ruled that Deane knew George was unarmed when he shot him. Deane, found guilty of criminal negligence causing death, was given 180 hours of community service with no house arrest or jail time.

In 1996, a wrongful death lawsuit, filed by George's family, named former Ontario Premier Mike Harris as one of the accused, based on allegations that Harris initiated and ordered the raid that killed George.

Harris testified at the trial in Nov. 2001 and denied ordering the OPP to conduct the raid on the protesters.

He refused to call a government inquiry into George's death during his tenure as premier. His successor, Ernie Eves, also did not call an inquiry, citing ongoing legal matters into the incident.

In 2003, Premier Dalton McGuinty made calling an inquiry one of his campaign promises. The Liberals won and McGuinty set up the inquiry to investigate the events that led to George's death.

Just prior to the Liberal victory, George's family settled their civil suit against Harris, and several members of his former cabinet.

Confident of a win and the ensuing inquiry, the family accepted a $100,000 settlement from provincial police plus undetermined legal costs.

There are 101 witnesses registered to testify at the Ipperwash inquiry. Harris is listed as the 100th witness.

According to the inquiry's website, "Its mandate is to inquire and report on events surrounding the death of Dudley George, who was shot in 1995 during a protest by First Nations representatives at Ipperwash Provincial Park and later died. The Inquiry is also to make recommendations that would avoid violence in similar circumstances."

There have been some controversial testimonies at the inquiry including that of former attorney general Charles Harnick.

Harnick alleged that, in a meeting just hours before George's death, Harris was heard yelling that he wanted "the fucking Indians out of the park."

The allegations were denied in later testimony by former deputy solicitor general Ellen Todres and former solicitor general Bob Runciman.

Former Ontario premier Mike Harris also denied the allegation during his highly-anticipated testimony.

"I absolutely did not say that, or words to those effect, or use that adjective at any time during this meeting," Harris said.

What was said at that meeting, attended by Harris' executive assistant, two plain clothed OPP officers seconded to the Ministry of the Solicitor General, three cabinet ministers and their deputies, has become a central part of the inquiry.

George family lawyer, Murray Klippenstein, told Canadian Press that the events of the meeting are critical to providing answers into George's death.

"When, and if, the premier said these things, did that get pipelined to the police commanders and police officers on the ground with the guns? Did it affect their behaviour? Was it the critical tipping-point factor that made the difference between Dudley George dying and not dying?"

In his inquiry, Justice Linden, a former Ontario Court chief justice and head of the province's legal aid system, cannot make accusations of civil or criminal liability.