Judge grants permanent injunction to developer of controversial project near Six Nations, Ont. | 24CA News

An Ontario decide has granted a everlasting injunction to Foxgate Developments, barring demonstrators from the positioning of a controversial subdivision venture in Caledonia, Ont.

Haudenosaunee land defenders, who’ve constructed constructions and planted timber on the property often known as 1492 Land Back Lane over the previous two years, say they may proceed to occupy the land and can enchantment the choice.

“Our people will continue to live peacefully at 1492 Land Back Lane,” mentioned spokesperson Skyler Williams on Wednesday in a news launch. “Any disruption to peace here will be brought on by the courts, developers, and police, which we will absolutely defend ourselves from.”

Lawyers who represented Williams in Cayuga Superior Court when the case was heard in September had argued that there should not be a everlasting injunction, saying Williams and others have asserted their treaty rights (per Section 35 of the Constitution Acts) and since injunctions have already criminalized Williams and different group members.

This week, the decide sided with Foxgate, figuring out Williams and the 2 different land defenders named within the case as John Doe and Jane Doe, “have no authorization to act on behalf of the community” to assert treaty rights.

‘Supports the necessity for a everlasting injunction’

“The conduct of the defendants, including the destruction of property and the continuing trespass, supports the need for a permanent injunction,” wrote Justice P. R. Sweeny in his resolution.

Sweeney referenced the Coastal GasLink case in his resolution, noting that in that occasion of land defenders attempting to cease the development of pipeline in British Columbia, the court docket famous that the pipeline firm has all of the permits required by legislation, and the defendants had no authorized proper to blockade the property regardless of their “honestly-held beliefs” on the contrary.

“The defendants did not challenge the validity of the plaintiff’s permits and authorizations through legal means but rather chose to pursue unlawful self-help remedies in furtherance of their goal of preventing construction of the pipeline project,” Sweeney wrote within the resolution, referencing Coastal GasLink.

Earlier this week, a B.C. Supreme Court decide sentenced 5 protesters, together with Williams, for ignoring a court docket order forbidding them from blocking entry to the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

A portion of the venture is being constructed throughout territory to which their defence lawyer in B.C., Frances Mahon, mentioned Canada’s high court docket has acknowledged the Wet’suwet’en have “unextinguished Aboriginal rights.”

Three protesters have been handed a $500 superb and two others obtained 25 hours of group service.

‘We are by no means going to go away’

The disputed website in Ontario, identified by Foxgate as McKenzie Meadows, has been the placement of an occupation since July 2020. Police have arrested dozens of demonstrators in that point.

Foxgate, a three way partnership between Losani Homes and Ballantry Homes, deliberate to construct 218 models on the location in 2020.

Activists stopped the work, saying the land was unceded Haudenosaunee territory, and renamed it 1492 Land Back Lane.

The land sits on the Haldimand Tract, which covers 384,451 hectares of land alongside the Grand River and was granted to Six Nations in 1784 for allying with the British in the course of the American Revolution. 

Six Nations elected council authorised the event, however some in the neighborhood don’t acknowledge the council and many don’t take part in elections. Others on Six Nations acknowledge the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council because the leaders of the group as a substitute.

In the discharge issued Wednesday, the land defenders mentioned they’re viewing the everlasting injunction as a “very serious threat” to their security. 

“This decision now gives Foxgate Developments the ability to seek police enforcement of this injunction. Previous enforcement attempts led by police resulted in serious harm to our community,” the assertion learn.

“Canada’s colonial legal system is fundamentally designed… to deny our inherent connection to our lands, to dispossess us in order to extract resources and develop our territory without our consent. This is exactly how land left is made legal. 

“We will likely be free on our land for nevertheless lengthy it takes Canada to comprehend we’re by no means going to go away and for generations after that.”