Court, who is 90 years old and calls himself a “1923 model,” has a long, white beard that goes down to his chest and he walks with a cane to get around the property under dispute.
He also has trouble hearing, from what he said is thanks to his time on the minesweeper HMCS Fort William during the Second World War.
As he stood on the ground covering his septic bed, Court said he served his country during the war only to have the government try to kick him off his land.
“Is that a good way of doing business?”
The North Rustico lighthouse sits surrounded by long grass on a small parcel of land overlooking beaches on both sides of the point where it stands guard over North Rustico Harbour.
Buildings belonging to the Court family stand in various states of repair nearby, including the house where Emard has lived his whole life.
His brother, Vance, also lived in a house next to the lighthouse before he moved to Charlottetown and they shared the septic bed that is at the heart of the dispute with the government.
The lighthouse is one the Department of Fisheries and Oceans declared surplus in 2010 as part of cost-saving measures.
Friends of North Shore Communities has a plan to take over the lighthouse and could turn it into a seasonal rental cottage.
First, the government has to settle with the Court family that says the septic bed land is part of the deal. Without it, Emard won’t be able to live in the house and there is nowhere else nearby that is suitable for a new septic bed.
The Courts have a long history in the area where Emard and his brothers built up the land in dispute by shoveling in dirt and clay to bring it above flood levels.
Family lore also has it the lighthouse stands where it does because it fell into the water after the land eroded beneath it many years ago. Members of the Court family fished the lighthouse out of the water and brought it back on land near their home, inadvertently setting off the chain of events that led to the dispute many years later.
In 1915, the federal government expropriated land around the lighthouse, including where Emard’s house sits.
The family, which has never had a deed for the land, has been involved with court cases and attempts to settle the land titles for more than 20 years.
When asked why he doesn’t just move, Emard had a simple answer.
“No way,” he said.
For the federal government’s part, Public Works and Government Services Canada is working on DFO’s behalf to get rid of the surplus lighthouse. A statement from a public works spokesman said discussions are underway with the Courts to provide access to title on the land where the house is and to give an easement to the septic field area in perpetuity.
Kendra Curtis has power of attorney over Emard’s affairs and said in the two years since she has been involved in the dispute there have been three mediation meetings scheduled with a federal government employee. Each of them has fallen through, including last week when the employee didn’t show up, she said.
“We just want someone to come to the table.”
