By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
CALEDONIA—The occupation of former development site McKenzie Meadows, dubbed 1492 Landback Lane by the inhabitants who defied police and remained on the land, hit a big landmark on April 15 by reaching 1,000 days since the occupation began.
The original development was cancelled long ago, leaving the nearly 200 homeowners who had pre-purchased homes left in the lurch. While they received their deposits back, little progress has been seen in their attempts for reimbursement of the lost value they suffered as housing prices doubled while their investments sat in limbo.
We spoke with Mark McSporran, one of those would-be homeowners, who gave us an update on the current status of the class action lawsuit launched in 2020.
“The claim is based on the lost opportunity for all the people who legally purchased homes and then had the rug pulled out from under them,” said McSporran.
He noted that, since 2019, the government created a new hoop for suing them: “The court has to approve the class action to be filed.”
The team behind the McKenzie suit have taken a different route, challenging that very law from 2019 head-on. Initially winning that challenge, the government appealed the decision.
“The courts sided with the appeal in this case. What that leaves the class action folks is, do they want to take that to the Supreme Court?” asked McSporran, who listed considerable expenses and no guarantees as significant questions to ponder. “The other option is to ask the court for a leave to be able to file the lawsuit. There are a couple of different paths to take at this point. We’re not sure what’s going to happen.”
He said the decision to challenge the law first was important because if they began with the McKenzie case itself and weren’t successful, “then you can’t really go back and challenge the actual law.”
He placed the estimated loss of each homeowner at around $400,000, which would be a collective $80 million: “At the time these houses were purchased compared to the time the developers walked away, housing doubled in price.”
That being said, McSporran doesn’t expect the full amount to be recuperated.
“I don’t think a court is going to give us the maximum in this case, but I hope that they realize that the people who purchased are the ones that lost here,” said McSporran. “We’re the victims.”
He added that the reaction from the government remains disappointing.
On MP Leslyn Lewis, he said, “We sent her emails about our situation, and she never responded to a single email, never addressed it publicly that I’m aware of, because she doesn’t want to touch it…. That’s disappointing. What options does it leave us when our elected officials are walking away?”
He continued, “Doug Ford publicly he stated that he felt sorry for the people of Caledonia. That was his only response other than to take it to the Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford. From that point on, Doug Ford’s office started blocking emails from the people that were affected. They didn’t want to do anything else.”
Currently the homeowners are waiting to see which direction the class action team decides on next.
“We are all aware it could take some time. For us personally, whatever it ends up being, I think we deserve to be compensated for what happened,” said McSporran.
With the legal team still fully committed to finding a path forward for the case, McSporran said those left waiting are simply trying to remain optimistic, noting that those impacted by the Douglas Creek Estates land occupation in Caledonia did eventually get settlements for their losses.
“Obviously, it was different at that time, with the big factor being the real estate market doubling in price. We’re out of a lot of money,” he concluded.
