Facing demolition, Ont. farmer handing out own cease and desist orders

Canada AM: Senior fights to save farm Farmer Frank Meyers says his farm is his sole source of income. He says he was under stress when he signed over his land to the DND.

The Ontario farmer fighting to save his farm from expropriation by the Department of National Defence is handing out his own cease and desist orders today.

Approximately 200 acres of Frank Meyers' farm in Trenton, Ont. faces demolition this week, to make way for the Canada Special Forces Command's new headquarters and training camp the DND plans to build there.

Now in his mid-80s, Meyers has been fighting the move for more than seven years.

Meyers, whose family has worked the farm since 1787, was to be compensated for the land transfer under the terms of a confidential deal reached last November, but the farmer says he "never received one nickel."

Meyers nevertheless thought he had lost the fight, until his cause began attracting broad support online.

Emboldened by the show of support, Meyers has now resumed his opposition to the expropriation.

In the letters he is distributing to visitors at his farm Tuesday, Meyers declares three points of contention with the deal.

Besides providing "no benefit" and being "a causal source of harm," Meyers writes that it "lacks the capacity to compel performance" and "lacks the power to force i (sic) or my person to be bound to perform under any and all of its terms and conditions."

Though his legal fight is lost, Meyers' story continues to attracting growing public support thanks in part to a Facebook campaign that had more than 22,000 'Likes' by Tuesday morning.

More than 9,100 people have signed a separate petition online, that calls on the federal government and the DND to leave the farm in operation.