Three legal actions stemming from native occupation in motion

Hamilton Spectator

(Sep 18, 2008)

Sam Gualtieri's lawsuit is the latest of three legal actions -- and the second claiming the OPP failed to protect property owners -- filed since the native occupation of the former Douglas Creek Estates subdivision in February 2006.

A week after Gualtieri was injured, Dave Brown and his partner Dana Chatwell, who have lived in their Sixth Line home for months behind native barricades, launched a $12-million lawsuit claiming the OPP and provincial government breached their duty to protect them by allowing natives to harass the family.

In court documents filed in December, the Ministry of the Attorney General said the OPP acted with all due care in performing their duties and responsibilities and denied the claim, which has yet to be proven in court.

A third suit, a class action for damages caused by the occupations involving four businesses and 14 Caledonia residents, is working its way through the courts. Once approved as a class action, it will name former OPP commissioner Gwen Boniface, the former Haldimand OPP detachment commander and the Ontario government, and focus on the closure of Argyle Street, closure of Highway 6 and failure to enforce court injunctions. The suit alleges the OPP and province broke laws allowing these things to happen. The allegations have yet to be proven in court.