An injunction ordering a group of Indigenous people to leave the site of a proposed housing development in Caledonia has been cancelled after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Indigenous activist Skyler Williams was denied a “fair opportunity” to be heard during court proceedings.

The decision, which was released on Dec. 21, said Ontario Superior Court Justice R. John Harper conflated contempt and abuse of process when he denied Williams’ rights to procedural fairness and the opportunity to be heard during a hearing in the fall of 2020.

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Williams and several other Six Nations demonstrators set up camp at the proposed housing development site near Caledonia and Six Nations of the Grand River. The group, known as 1492 Land Back Lane, argued the project was on Haudenosaunee territory and refused to leave.

Williams was named on the injunction order that sought to remove people.

This month’s judgement determined that Justice Harper did not allow Williams to participate or make legal arguments during the hearing because he determined Williams and others were in contempt of previous orders to leave the site.

At the time, Harper granted a permanent injunction to Foxgate, the company looking to build a subdivision on the land, and another to Haldimand County that barred people from blocking public roads.

Last week, Justice Lorne Sossin’s written Appeal Court decision found that it was unfair of Harper to bar Williams from participating. He set aside the injunction order and the costs that Williams was ordered to pay in the matter, which amounted to roughly $168,000.

The judgment also awarded Williams $20,000 to cover the costs of his legal fees.