Land Over Landings: People or Planes gallery

  • The iconic People or Planes logo and the simple word POP spoke volumes, and is echoed in our Land Over Landings / LOL name. Many of the original members are with LOL today.
  • In 1972, residents of North Pickering were stunned to learn that their homes, farms and businesses now belonged to the federal government, in an unprecedented and completely unexpected land grab of 18,600 acres.
  • Homes such as Melody Manor, formerly Ever Green Villa, would be torn down to make way for an international airport. Instead the heritage home became the birthplace of POP.
  • At any early POP meeting, Bill Lishman is seen under a photo of his new landlord, Queen Elizabeth. From the beginning it was clear that a media campaign would be key to gaining public and political support.
  • One of the first actions was to make pseudo military gear and weapons out of farm tools. 'Pickering Fusiliers' Bill Lishman and Michael Robertson patrolled the newly created offices, blocking the entrance and demanding passports.
  • Bold actions like 'enhancing' existing highway signs welcomed travellers to 'Blunderland'. An ironic name, considering part of Montreal's Mirabel Airport ended up as an amusement park some three decades later.`
  • The numbers of airport users may have changed over the decades, but not the percentage of people who use food. Since 1972 the percentage of food flown into the country rather than being grown locally, has risen meteorically.
  • In the early 70s there were over 700 homes and farms here, meaning lots of children, schools, community groups and businesses. Everyone got involved in the protest, from the elderly to the very young, farmers and business people alike.
  • One of the largest actions was a march on Queen's Park with masses in black hooded cowls, carrying coffins that mourned the death of Mother Nature. Busloads came in from Pickering Township. It made front page in the Star.
  • In those days fewer women worked outside the home. They were a tight-knit rural community and working together for a common cause came naturally. For the anti-airport women, burning government documents was just the beginning...
  • Young Liberal MP Norah Stoner joins white-haired farm wives in serving tea from the bucket of a bulldozer temporarily diverted from its usual work of demolishing houses. The women also patrolled the barricaded properties and organized a mass farmer's market at Queen's Park.
  • Brenda Davies knew how to get herself on the front page! Her airplane hat was famous even before she herself gained national headlines, when she became one of three women to occupy the home of Ernie Carruthers.
  • The handsome 1850s Carruthers' farmhouse, one of the finest heritage structures in Pickering, became the site of the famous 'last stand' that finally broke the government and stopped the airport. On September 14. 1975, it was scheduled for demolition.
  • The Carruthers family were victims of brutal psychological warfare as truckload after truckload of debris from the bulldozed remains of their neighbours' houses was dumped at the end of the unopened road allowance that was the their farm laneway. The day they gave up and moved out, POP held a party for them... and three women moved in.
  • Under the cover of a party for the Carruthers, Anne Howes, Frances Moore and Brenda Davies moved into the Carruthers' house. A statement pinned to the door read: "Each of us has reached the point of civil disobedience through our private and agonizing search for any other alternative."
  • Two and a half weeks later, a shy but delighted Ernie Carruthers shares a hug and national attention with Brenda Davies after the three women's 'last stand' forces the hand of the government. The airport is stopped -- for now.
  • Ecstatic New Democrat Dr. Charles Godfrey was catapulted into fame and into office because of his stand on the expropriation and planned airport. He's also the man with sign 100% USE FOOD.
  • "Oh, we had a hell of a party", says Lorne Almack, recalling the day the airport was cancelled. The news made front pages everywhere, but left a million questions unanswered -- and 18,600 acres in limbo.
  • "Immediate return of all land in the Pickering Airport project to former owners who want it" was demanded by POP. It would prove to not be that simple, and almost 40 years later, the land remains in limbo.
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