Justice Lynn Ratushny describes Shawn Brant's actions in the dispute as those of a deceptive, self-serving man who played the role of victim and failed to take responsibility for himself.And, in this instance, it's not just the wily white man that Brant is at war with. This time he gave his aboriginal brothers a royal screwin' over, too.
The long-running dispute between the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte community and the Brants involves a piece of land where the men started a cabinet-making business in 1992. They received $430,000 in loans from an aboriginal financing company and Industry Canada for the start-up. Despite the sizable loan, Shawn Brant scoffed at the $8,700 purchase price his father negotiated for the land and instead offered $1,500.But even that wasn't gonna stop this noble native entrepreneur.
"With the benefit of hindsight, it is evident that his initial reaction of trying to get something for less or for nothing was a foreshadowing of what was to come," Judge Ratushny writes.
The band refused the offer and a deadline for the purchase passed without event.
The Brants went ahead and erected a building on the property. Their business failed within one year and none of the $430,000 in loans was repaid.And he's still not in jail.
"At times during the last 16 years, therefore, the Brants have used the lands and building almost for free, for their own purposes," Judge Ratushny writes in her decision.
"They have used hundreds of thousands of dollars from lenders for their own purposes. Shawn Brant has purported to sell that which he never did purchase and knew he did not purchase and he has kept the sale monies, for his own use."
Amazing.
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