By : Dennis Stein
Imagine for a moment that you sit on a piece of beautiful Ontario farmland, which you own, and which has been in your family since 1798 when this country was first settled by the United Empire Loyalists. You have worked this land all of your life, feeding fellow Canadians, and enjoying your living, developing the land to grow large crops, raising beef and poultry. Building barns and homes with your own hands. Raising a family, which follows your family tradition of farming for over 200 years. Now imagine the government coming to serve you a notice, that despite the King of England's grant of this land, you must surrender it for a military base expansion. Imagine being sent letters, bullied and intimidated to submit everything you have worked years for. You are promised things which are never delivered, and in the end, you have not been paid anything for your land or hard work, and bulldozers show up to destroy the buildings on your land that you have built over generations.
This is not some far flung piece of fantasy, this is happening right now. An 85 year old man and his wife are set to lose their land to the government for the expansion of the military base in Trenton, Ontario. Frank and Marjorie Meyers have lived on and worked this land for decades, following their forebearers who helped with the settling of Upper Canada. Today, this man sat at his kitchen table with tears in his eyes, explaining to me the seven year war he has fought against having his land expropriated. The stress this has caused them is quite obvious, and I can't imagine someone living with the spectre of having their land taken away from them for something that the government and the Department of National Defense could have placed at other locations, particularly previously abandoned installations in Ontario.
The fact of the matter is, bulldozers are moving in today on Meyers Creek Road, to demolish Frank and Marjorie's barns and outbuildings. He has yet to see any payment, after being forced to sign paperwork under duress regarding the transfer of his acreage. He has even still been paying taxes on this land, despite it having been placed in the Department of National Defence's name since August of 2013.
How secure do you feel where you live? Paying your mortgage and taxes apparently means NOTHING in this case. Suppose tomorrow it is you who receive a notice from the government that they want your property? What would you do....?
Check out the ever-growing support on the Facebook, the page is Save Frank and Marjorie Meyers Farm...Currently is has 19,000 members, and is growing by the minute...
Imagine for a moment that you sit on a piece of beautiful Ontario farmland, which you own, and which has been in your family since 1798 when this country was first settled by the United Empire Loyalists. You have worked this land all of your life, feeding fellow Canadians, and enjoying your living, developing the land to grow large crops, raising beef and poultry. Building barns and homes with your own hands. Raising a family, which follows your family tradition of farming for over 200 years. Now imagine the government coming to serve you a notice, that despite the King of England's grant of this land, you must surrender it for a military base expansion. Imagine being sent letters, bullied and intimidated to submit everything you have worked years for. You are promised things which are never delivered, and in the end, you have not been paid anything for your land or hard work, and bulldozers show up to destroy the buildings on your land that you have built over generations.
This is not some far flung piece of fantasy, this is happening right now. An 85 year old man and his wife are set to lose their land to the government for the expansion of the military base in Trenton, Ontario. Frank and Marjorie Meyers have lived on and worked this land for decades, following their forebearers who helped with the settling of Upper Canada. Today, this man sat at his kitchen table with tears in his eyes, explaining to me the seven year war he has fought against having his land expropriated. The stress this has caused them is quite obvious, and I can't imagine someone living with the spectre of having their land taken away from them for something that the government and the Department of National Defense could have placed at other locations, particularly previously abandoned installations in Ontario.
The fact of the matter is, bulldozers are moving in today on Meyers Creek Road, to demolish Frank and Marjorie's barns and outbuildings. He has yet to see any payment, after being forced to sign paperwork under duress regarding the transfer of his acreage. He has even still been paying taxes on this land, despite it having been placed in the Department of National Defence's name since August of 2013.
How secure do you feel where you live? Paying your mortgage and taxes apparently means NOTHING in this case. Suppose tomorrow it is you who receive a notice from the government that they want your property? What would you do....?
Check out the ever-growing support on the Facebook, the page is Save Frank and Marjorie Meyers Farm...Currently is has 19,000 members, and is growing by the minute...
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