Cayuga builders obtain injunction against protesters

Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator

SIMCOE (Jun 11, 2008)

Two Cayuga builders have obtained a toughly worded injunction they hope will allow them to finish their 44-unit townhouse project without any more interference from native protesters.

The order prohibits protesters from blocking roads, obstructing, intimidating or in any way impeding contractors and workers at the 1.8-hectare site known as Parkway Place in Cayuga.

The injunction, which was posted on the site yesterday, also invokes a section of the Criminal Code preventing the protesters from "watching and besetting" the workers and owners at the site.

As part of the injunction, Superior Court Justice James Ramsay directed the provincial police to help the Sheriff of Haldimand County remove protesters who violate the order or vehicles, barricades or other property that may interfere with the building project.

The judge stipulated the enforcement of the injunction would be "subject to the discretion of the OPP acting reasonably with respect to the timing and means of removing any such person."

In their application, developers Michael Corrado and David Eccles had named the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI), its employee Hazel Hill, protesters Ruby and Floyd Montour, John and Jane Doe and persons unknown as defendants in the injunction.

Yesterday, Ramsay agreed to strike the HDI and Hill as defendants but the other persons remained on the injunction.

Outside court, Toronto lawyer Lou Strezos told reporters the removal of his client's name is a victory for the HDI.

"It's a recognition that the HDI was acting in a responsible manner to develop an interface with developers in the area," he said.

He suggested the judge had accepted the affidavit of Hazel Hill, who stated the native-run agency wasn't directing the actions of protesters like Floyd and Ruby Montour.

Michael Bordin, a lawyer for the developer, said the HDI or its representatives would still be caught in the general language of the injunction if they impede the project.

The HDI and Hazel Hill and those named on the injunction will also remain as named defendants in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Corrado and Eccles have filed against native protesters.

Outside the courtroom, Eccles and Corrado said they weren't sure whether they would proceed with the lawsuit, now that they have the injunction. "Our goal was to prohibit the protesters from interfering with the project. We have no beef with the First Nations people," Corrado told reporters.

He suggested he and his partner were caught in the middle of a dispute between Six Nations and the government.

"Every ransom demand needs a hostage. We are the hostages. They put us in the middle of a fight we shouldn't be in," he said.

Corrado said native protesters, including Ruby Montour, first started appearing at his construction site in April. He added Montour handed him printed material with the HDI letterhead and told him he'd have to talk to the HDI about his project. He was also quoted an application fee of $3,000.

"It's the optics ... why would we not think they're associated (protesters and HDI)?" he told reporters.

He said he spoke to the HDI but didn't feel obliged to comply with its demands because the province has assured developers it stands behind its land titles system.

Corrado felt his ownership was solid. His lawyer had obtained a Crown patent from the national archives in Ottawa showing the building site had been transferred from the Six Nations to a non-native called John Twigg in 1891.

But he suggested the province doesn't back up its land titles system when it comes to enforcing property rights. And he said the OPP have been acting only as "peacekeepers" at protest sites.