The women: Shelley Essaunce, Beth Brass Elson, Vicki Monague, Alida Elson and Pauline Monague

….and promised they wouldn’t leave until the dump was stopped

Two years ago today, the Anishinabe Kweag decided to set up camp opposite Dump Site 41. On May 10, 2009, Vicki Monague sent a call-out to all First Nations. It started like this:
Sunday, May 10, 2009.
Concession 2, Tiny Township, Ontario, Canada
My name is Vicki Monague and I am apart of 5 Anishinabe Kweag from Christian Island, Ontario who are making a stand for the Water where the purest water in the world is being threatened here by Dump Site 41.
And it ended like this:
WE WILL NOT LEAVE UNTIL SITE 41 IS STOPPED PERMANENTLY!

They kept their promise…. Miigwech… For the ancestors, for the future

Elmvale has lost a fine and courageous citizen: Clara Anne Ritchie passed away peacefully at Hospice Simcoe in Barrie on March 21 2011, in her 67th year. Members of the Site 41 group and AWARE Simcoe will remember Clara for her quiet grace and steady reliability. We were lucky to have her at our side. Our hearts go out to her husband Bob and all the family. Visitation is at the Lynn Stone Funeral Home in Elmvale, 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm Thursday and Friday, the funeral will be at Elmvale Presbyterian Church at 2 pm on Saturday.

By Kate Harries AWARE Simcoe March 15 2011
Simcoe County councillors responded warmly last week to a presentation by Dr. William Shotyk of the University of Heidelberg for a water innovation centre of excellence at Site 41 in Tiny Township.
“This would be a living laboratory,” Shotyk told members of the county’s performance management committee last Thursday.
. “We’re talking about a kind of Silicon Valley of water,” he explained, detailing the possibilities around Simcoe County’s most remarkable environmental phenomenon: pure water, achieved naturally.
Full story

A couple of suggestions for future use of the Site 41 property are on the agenda of this week’s Performance Management Committee meeting.
-Dr. William Shotyk, President and CEO of the Elmvale Foundation, will be giving a presentation on his idea to use the site for research and education. Dr. Shotyk’s study of the water that gushes from artesian wells in the Site 41 area determined that it is the purest water ever tested. As a result, the parameters found in Tiny Township water have made it the “reference” water used by researchers around the world in studying water contamination.
Dr. Shotyk is Professor of Environmental Geochemistry at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and was the 2010 W.S. Fyfe Distinguished Scientist in Residence for Environment and Sustainability, at the University of Western Ontario, London.
-Also on the agenda is a proposal from John Bacher and Danny Beaton that the land be turned into a tract of the Simcoe County Forest.
The Performance Management Committee meets at 9 am in the council chambers of the county building, 1110 Highway 26, Midhurst. Meetings are open to the public.

Women & Environments International Magazine is published twice a year and is associated with the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. The most recent issue has a four-page article on the Anishinabe Kweag and Site 41, with pictures, by Linda Bruce and Kate Harries. We are advised that the magazine is on sale at many alternative bookstores including Chapters, so a single purchase can be made there or by writing to
Women & Environments International Magazine
Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
HNES Building, Room 234,
4700 Keele St. Toronto ON M3J 1P3
More information

The restoration of Bell’s Gristmill in Utopia, Essa, is one of the finalists in the Aviva Community Fund, where success depends on the number of votes from the public. With 10 days to go, the project is one of the leaders in its category.
But it’s still about 400 daily votes behind the first-place entry.
“We have already defied the odds,” says Susan Antler, one of those who have worked tirelessly to save the Gristmill. “We need to catch up and surge ahead. Right now, we are in fourth place. Yesterday at one point, we were second. So there is a lot of jockeying going on. But so far, we have yet to take the lead. And we need to do this before the gap is too great.”
She urges everyone to register and vote, daily. And also to get your friends, work colleagues and family and all points in between to register and vote as well.

To register and vote
Guy Lafleur backs project
Check out this informative video.
More info
Questions? Contact Ashley Bourassa: ashley@utopia.ca. She can also be reached at work @ 416 535 6710.

Updated, see radio interview below
By Gerard Creces Lucknow Sentinel
Whom do you turn to when the professionals are wrong?
Why can a government withhold information that shows something is harmful?
Stephen Ogden, resident of Tiny Township in Simcoe County, told a harrowing tale of bullying, cover ups and willful ignorance to concerned residents of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh last week, recounting the long and costly battle with local government and the Ministry of the Environment to stop the construction of a landfill – Site 41 in Simcoe County.
As ACW plans to extend the life of its landfill another 60 years, residents are crying out for alternatives. The landfill sits directly on top of a highly sensitive aquifer, and Ogden’s message was protect your water – “No more dumps.”
Full story

Stephen Ogden and Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek interviewed on CKNX Radio. Click on Thursday, interview starts at 12:03

Please join us for a Celebration Christmas Potluck. We have so much to celebrate!
Site 41 is returned back to agriculture and good results in the elections. It’s been a good year.
Saturday Dec 11th, Wyebridge Community Centre-
Water, coffee/tea. Children free. A $1 contribution would be appreciated.
Please bring your own dishes/cutlery/cup/napkins and prepared dish.
Social starts at 5 p.m.,
We eat at 6 p.m.
For more info if you would like to help with set up please call Bev Leonard 322-1580
We look forward to seeing you. Please forward or inform to those who would be interested in attending.

by: Victor Grossman, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
A retired engineer of 66 loses an eye when it is forced from its socket by water cannon at short range. High school kids in an approved protest demonstration get beaten and excruciatingly blinded by pepper gas. Over 400 people are injured in a major police attack, which failed completely in its aim: to end the protests. It happened on the now-historical date of September 30, 2010. A whole city was in a state of near shock and anger – and all because of a railroad station and some ancient trees?
Full story

Guergis “dynasty” swept off the mapBy Kate Harries AWARE Simcoe
The electorate has chosen change – a new brand of leaders who have promised to listen to the people, care for the environment and be prudent with our tax dollars.
Yesterday’s municipal election was a significant victory for the hundreds of county residents who rose up against Site 41, who fought for a new approach to waste management and who organized across the County under the AWARE Simcoe banner for transparency, sustainability and fiscal accountability.
The Guergis “dynasty” – standard bearers for behind-closed-doors dealings, over-the-top spending and an arrogant disregard for regular folks – has been swept off the map.
Full story
Toronto Star