Attorney General drops extortion charge against Montours

OPP charge Six Nations couple with mischief

Posted By KAREN BEST CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

Mischief, extortion and intimidation charges against two Six Nations community members were withdrawn and replaced by a mischief charge last week. According to Floyd Montour, his lawyer was told by the Crown Attorney that charges laid through private prosecution by Gary McHale were dropped and that OPP were charging him and Ruby Montour, his spouse, with mischief. The McHale charges stemmed from May incidents where the couple asked developer Michael Corrado to contact the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) and follow their approval process. The developer had just started construction on a townhouse subdivision on the south end of Cayuga. Corrado's partner, Dave Eccles, asked Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality (CANACE) to pursue private prosecution charges. CANACE was founded by McHale and Mark Vandermaas. In June, the developers obtained an injunction banning the Montours and others from interfering with construction. Since then, the Montours have yet to return to the Cayuga site. Floyd Montour said he had no concern about McHale's charges because he was doing something he shouldn't. The Montours are to be in court on Sept. 24 to answer to OPP-laid charges. Charges laid by a private person against the Montours were before the court on Aug. 20, said Brendan Crawley of the Ministry of the Attorney General's communications branch. "All of those charges were indictable so the Crown was required to intervene in this private prosecution under...the Crown Attorney's Act," he stated in an email. A separate OPP investigation resulted in mischief charges so citizen charges were withdrawn to avoid duplication, said Crawley. Asked why extortion and intimidation charges were withdrawn, he said he would not provide details on the Crown's reasons because of outstanding OPP charges before the court. Like all cases prosecuted by the Attorney General ministry, the two charges filed by a citizen were reviewed under the Crown charge screening policy which is more onerous than the standard applied by a justice of the peace at pre-hearings, Crawley noted.