An Ontario judge has ordered demonstrators to permanently leave a construction site at the centre of an Indigenous land dispute.
Justice John Harper says he was issuing a permanent injunction after hearing arguments from Haldimand County and Foxgate Developments in the legal battle over the McKenzie Meadows housing development.
Demonstrators argue that the development near Caledonia, Ont., and Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation is on unceded Indigenous land.
Protesters have been occupying the site for months, and provincial police say 33 people have been arrested to date in relation to the demonstration.
A temporary injunction order was granted in August and Harper says it will remain in place until the permanent order is signed.
Harper also ruled that Skyler Williams, a man named on the August injunction, could not represent himself in court or present constitutional arguments in the case because he and others were in contempt of the court’s orders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2020.
The Canadian Press
