"Six Nations on the Hook for $350,000 Bill, Court Says"

The City of Brantford has been awarded $350,000 in legal costs, payable by a number of Six Nations people by the end of the month, but there is no word on how the city intends to collect that money.

Well-known land rights activists Floyd and Ruby Montour are among the people expected to pay the money by the end of March, but the two seniors say they will never be able to come up with that kind of money.

"I don't have (that money)," said Ruby Montour. "What does he (Mayor Chris Friel) think he's going to get?"

Surprisingly, she said she was told a few years ago by councillor Carl Hill that band council had passed a resolution that it would pay the Montours' legal bills in relation to the protests the two were leading in Brantford at the time.

Montour said she is not sure when the resolution was passed but she remembers Hill telling her about it. "It was just from Carl Hill verbally," said Montour. "He told me they had taken a vote. It was unanimous. They had agreed to pay our bills."

Elected Chief Bill Montour told The Turtle Island News in an e-mail that band council had never passed any such motion.

"There was never a resolution to pay any protest charges," Montour wrote.

Councillor Hill did not return Turtle Island News calls by press time.

The Montours, who live a modest lifestyle on a fixed income, received a notice about a week ago indicating they were among the people that had to pay the settlement.

"They can send notices until they run out of ink," said Ruby Montour. "We don't have any money."

Her husband Floyd said the attempt to recover costs is "null and void" because courts cannot seize assets of aboriginal people living on a reserve.

Other Six Nations people named in the settlement include Clive Garlow, Hazel Hill, Aaron Detlor, Charlie Green, Mary Green, Jane and John Doe and "persons unknown."

Brantford Judge Harrison Arrell awarded the city $350,000 in legal costs at the end of February stemming from an injunction the city sought and won against Six Nations people in relation to 10 protests they held at various sites in the city in 2007 and 2008. The sites included a hotel, manufacturing facility, retail outlets, and a residential subdivision all under construction on unceded Six Nations lands. Protesters maintained the developments were taking place without Six Nations' consultation.

The city sought $887,000 in court fees but Justice Arrell called that amount "excessive" and reduced it to $350,000.

The court application said the city could not afford to expend the resources it did to seek the injunction.

"Brantford was forced into a situation where it had to expend scarce city resources simply to ensure that its residents could enjoy what the law-abiding inhabitants of any other city take for granted: the basic right to carry on business and to undertake legitimate activity free from arbitrary coercion imposed in the absence of the rule of law," it said. "There is no reason why the ratepayers of the city should have to bear these costs, and every reason why such costs should be borne by those who conduct necessitated them."

One development companies, Kingspan, sued the city as a result of the protests.

The city held an in-camera meeting Monday night to discuss the issue, but no details were available at press time. Mayor Chris Friel did not returned Turtle Island News calls and e-mails.

Montour said Brantford should take the money out of the "billions" the city owes Six Nations for outstanding land claims.

"We have a right to stand up and defend our lands," she said.