Here’s the gist of the story:
The setup: Tony Keenleyside and Jeff Clark had summered on Green Lake near Shawville, Quebec since childhood in the 1950s-60s, along with a third cottager, Scott Howes. They all accessed their properties via a rough dirt road called Chemin de la Baie-Alpha — really just two tire ruts with grass in the middle, only wide enough for one car.
The conflict: In 2021, newcomers Jim Scoles and Natacha Ducharme bought an empty lot on the same road for $95,000, planning to build a retirement home. They soon told their new neighbours they intended to permanently close the road, insisting it ran through their private property and that no legal right of way existed. What followed was years of escalating confrontation — chained-off roads, logs dragged across the path with a backhoe, a car parked to block access, multiple police calls, and cottagers hacking makeshift alternate routes through the bush.
The lawsuit: The three established cottagers sued for an injunction and damages; Scoles and Ducharme countersued. The case turned into a deep dive into property records dating back to 1883, hinging on Quebec’s civil-law concept of a “servitude of right of way.” A judge found that a supposed right of way to the north — which Scoles and Ducharme had relied on — was invalid because it had been created by someone who didn’t actually own that land, an error repeated for generations in title deeds.
The outcome: In February 2026, Quebec Superior Court Justice Paul Mayer ruled the dirt road itself was a legitimate right of way, based on its uncontested use for 70+ years, and that the cottagers were otherwise landlocked. He awarded Keenleyside, Clark, and Howes a combined $45,000 in damages, called Scoles and Ducharme’s actions “sneaky” and self-created trouble, and awarded the couple nothing. They didn’t appeal, and their lot — bought for $95,000 — is now listed for $249,000, roughly what they say they’ve spent on legal fees.
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