A well-known native protester, his father and their one-time Mohawk business partner have been ordered to pay $600,000 for ripping off their own band council.
Earlier this year, Shawn Brant, his father Ronald Leslie Brant and Andrew Clifford Maracle (aka Miracle) were ordered to return control of a disputed building and land to the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.
The property in question is Miracle’s Mohawk Liquidation Centre and gas bar on Old Highway 2, just west of Shannonville.
Judge Lynn Ratushny has ordered the defendants pay out a total of $600,000 in damages — money that includes covering legal costs and punitive and special damages, stated court documents obtained by The Intelligencer.
“There were important issues in this action for the (band council), particularly regarding the issues of control of the lands, the reinforcement of the rule of law on the Territory,” she wrote in her judgment.
The property, which has always been owned by the band council, has been at the centre of a bitter, 16-year legal dispute regarding ownership.
The ordeal began in 1992 when Brant and his father constructed a building on the property using borrowed money, despite not having obtained ownership of the land. The Brants then sold to Miracle a few years ago, though the judge determined neither the Brants nor Miracle ever had band council’s consent to do so, which is required under the Indian Act.
In March, Miracle was ordered to turn over control of the land and the buildings on it to the Mohawk band.
As well, Miracle and the Brants were ordered not to “trespass” on the land and Miracle must close his business and remove the buildings and gas storage tanks and pumps there, if the band requests him to do so.
To date, a stay has been granted in the case, which allows Miracle to operate his business under certain conditions until an appeal — which has yet to be filed — is heard.
In her original judgment, Ratushny noted the case’s history included five previous court orders and she chided Shawn Brant for “always acting in his own best interests” over the last 16 years.
“Shawn Brant has also demonstrated, both in his past affidavits to this court and in his testimony at this trial, that he is able to be loose with the facts.”
“He has continued to talk about injustices against himself and other band members, while at the same time forcing the band to incur substantial legal costs to defend against his attempts to say that he did own the lands and building,” Ratushny wrote.
She added he also “devised a story of his entitlement” based on “inconsequential” information and acted “on the flimsiest of theories and while making false statements,” making “bold” and often “misleading and dishonest” claims which were “surprising in their audacity.”
The judge didn’t mince words when talking about the father-and-son duo.
“At times during the last 16 years ... the Brants have used the lands and building almost for free, for their own purposes.
“They have used hundreds of thousands of dollars of lenders, for their own purposes. Shawn Brant has purported to see that which he never did purchase and knew he did not purchase and he has kept the sale monies for his own use,” she wrote.
When speaking of Miracle, Ratushny noted the Mohawk businessman had “full knowledge of his risks “and that Brant had not been allotted the land by council.
“The band has respected the court process. The Brants and Miracle have not.”