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Members of a Six Nations reclamation camp have appealed two court orders ordering them to vacate a housing estate in Caledonia, Ontario.
Skyler Williams, a spokesperson for the group and defendant in the case, said Thursday she had appealed to the Ontario Superior Court to fight the injunctions.
“We have chosen to engage in a process, a process that is not ours, to try to move it forward,” Williams said during a media update Thursday. “For us the land question here is still before the courts and certainly has to come to a nation-to-nation discussion.”
The occupation of the McKenzie Meadows complex, dubbed 1492 Land Back Lane by protesters, lasted for months and included blockades through the streets in the area, court orders to remove people staying there, and dozens of arrests.
Last month, Judge John Harper ruled that activists had to clear the land where Foxgate Developments had designed a housing development. The Six Nations group says the property is indigenous land that has not been sold and has been occupying it for 131 days. Harper ordered members of the Six Nations to leave on 22 October.
Williams said Thursday he hired attorneys Barry Yellin and Wade Poziomka from Hamilton Ross & McBride LLP. If the appeal is successful, he said, Foxgate Developments and Haldimand County will have to restart the permanent injunction proceedings.
“The Ross & McBride LLP filing focuses on the court’s failure to distinguish between contempt and abuse of trial, a procedural issue,” the 1492 Land Back Lane group said in a press release.
“The problem is that Williams’ pleadings and evidence were dismissed by Judge Harper in error contrary to the law, procedural fairness and the rules of civil procedure. If the appeal was successful, the matter would be returned to court. superior before a different judge., and all of Williams’ pleas would be reinstated in his defense. “
The appeal, Williams said, is “an honest effort to engage in the legal system at a time when I was not represented in the judicial process.”
Harper said last month Williams showed “contempt” for the court by refusing to obey previous temporary injunctions and insisting that the courtroom in Cayuga, Ontario was part of the “colonial” justice system.
Harper said the court must recognize the “abuses that have been done on the Aboriginal community”, but “the claims and grievances in our society … must be done with respect, must be done in accordance with the orders.”
The Six Nations Elected Council signed a deal in 2019 with developers for $ 352,000 and 17 hectares of land in exchange for supporting the two housing projects. Williams said Thursday that the elected council has expressed “tentative” support for 1492 Land Back Lane.
The traditional Six Nations government, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council of Chiefs, supports the reclamation camp.
The group called on the federal and provincial governments to step in and work with their representatives for a peaceful resolution.
Despite the promise from the office of Carolyn Bennett, Crown Minister of Indigenous Relations, that government officials “are looking forward to meeting with the community as soon as possible” and are “committed” to addressing issues of claiming the land of long-standing, Williams said negotiations are still open to begin.
“They’ve said over and over that they want to be at the table, they’re working on it … and here we are. Three and a half months later,” Williams said. “Apparently it takes a long time to get here from Ottawa.”
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