REGINA — A farmers’ support group has formed after the recent eviction of a Saskatchewan farm family.
The case of Gerald and Linda Pander and their three children dramatizes the effect that the provincial agriculture department’s lands branch leasing policy can have, says the group. The money spent on evicting the family from their Corning farm “overrides the original debt several times over,” said a press release from the Western Farmers Community Support Group.
Marcel Bouchard, a farmer at Fertile, Sask., said the original debt incurred by the Panders was $34,000.
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“How much taxpayers’ money was spent on airplane surveillance, moving vans, semi-trailer trucks, army trucks, five tow trucks, 25 RCMP officers, a number of members of the SWAT team, two lands branch bureaucrats as well as the sheriff and her deputy,” the group asked in the release.
“We feel that lands branch has spent a lot of money — and we talk about Gerald Pander but it can be any person — to try and get these farmers off the land,” Bouchard said. “If they would have worked to keep him there he would have been more of benefit to society. Instead, he’s a statistic — one less farmer.”
Bouchard said the support group has pledged to help all farmers in financial trouble stay on their land.
The support group includes representatives from the Concerned Farmers of Saskatchewan, Christian Farm Crisis Action Committee, Farm Survivalists and the National Farmers Union. Bouchard said the members are always in contact with each other and anyone needing their assistance should call.
John Vilcu of Griffin, a member of the support group, said support is not limited to Saskatchewan farmers: “Farmers with troubles … it doesn’t cut off at any particular border.”
No change in bail conditions
Meanwhile, Gerald Pander appeared in Indian Head provincial court last week. A judge denied his request to have some of his bail conditions removed, and Pander will reappear May 17.
He is charged with disobeying a court order to vacate his land and with possession of a firearm dangerous to the public peace. One of his bail conditions is that he not return to his farm.
Bouchard said the Panders’ neighbors should help the cause by not farming his land, and anyone thinking of farming it would be discouraged by the support group.
“Lands branch should come out with a hoe,” he said.
