OPP threatens arrests at Site 41, protesters will not yield
This morning, four OPP officers verbally warned people blocking the gates at controversial dump Site 41 in Tiny Township to leave immediately or face arrest, putting Site 41 opponents on high alert. Police had previously said they had ‘no issues’ with the ongoing protest. The protesters were directed to immediately leave the gates or risk being arrested for Mischief under the Criminal Code which carries penalties of up to $5000 fine and/or six months in jail. Local residents, farmers, cottagers and First Nations people have blocked the four gates to Site 41 around the clock for the last 10 days.
“We have said all along that we will not let construction work continue on this dump, that we will protect the water,” said Vicki Monague, one of the Anishnabe Kwei from Christian Island that have been camped at Site 41 for more than two months. “We have maintained good relations with the police, the county and the contractors. We let the security guards in and out and we allow access for the pump contractor and various engineering and Ministry people to monitor the site and keep it safe,” said Monague, “and the county is welcome to come anytime and remove its machinery to put to work off site.”
“Just yesterday the police said they had no issues with the protest. What has changed?” asks Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow. The Council of Canadians is urging the OPP and local police not to arrest anyone, but rather let the matter be debated at Simcoe County council instead. “The way to resolve this is not by arresting peaceful protesters. This highlights the urgent need for an emergency session of Simcoe County Council, and an immediate moratorium on Site 41 construction.”
“A woman in her eighties was here blockading with us yesterday and she said to me ‘If I am going to get arrested once in my life it will be to protect the water.’” said Monague. “At her age, she is really protecting the water for the next generations. This touched me very deeply because that is my role as an Anishnabe Kwei.”
Dump site 41 was originally rejected as a landfill site in the late 1980s by the Ministry of the Environment but their decision was overturned through an Order in Council by the Liberal government of David Peterson. For the last two decades, the local agricultural community has fought to protect the Alliston aquifer that lies beneath the proposed dump site, which contains the purest ground water ever tested. Serious questions about the theoretical modeling in the engineering reports used to select the site have been reinforced by real facts revealed by the actual construction of the site.
For More Information:
Vicki Monague, Anishinabe Kweag, 705-305-8425
Dylan Penner, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
Background Information on Site 41: www.canadians.org/Site41
A moratorium on this site must be achieved to protect this valuable water. Mankind must protect Mother Earth, not destroy her.
They may try to arrest us at the gates. They cannot stop us in the masses walking up and down the road holding signs. We need numbers lets all bring some people.
We MUST protect this water and demand an emergency meeting with County Council for a one year moratorium. Tony Guergis should be the ‘team leader’ he was elected to be as Warden and call this meeting immediately.
It appears it’s the police that are using intimidation tactics and threats.
By the Canadian Charter of Equal Rights, we the people HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE!!!! And the right to protest peacefully!!!
I wish they’d call it the Dump Site 41 Assembly, it’s a much more POSITIVE word than “Protest”
You might want to mention the following article from the GPC website.
Council Must Stop Construction at Site 41
Posted July 7th, 2009
SIMCOE COUNTY–An independent environmental review is needed before any more construction takes place at Site 41 in Simcoe County, Ontario, says the Green Party of Canada. A blockade has now formed at all entrances to the dumpsite, which is located on the Alliston aquifer, and residents are calling for a one year moratorium on construction so that better public consultation and examination for environmental and safety concerns can be undertaken. “The community is clearly against this dump site,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May. “Simcoe County councillors need to pause and listen to what their constituents are telling them—this dump is not in any way a good idea. There are better solutions than this and citizens should not have to resort to blockades to be heard.”
A special session of the local council regarding the one year moratorium has been scheduled for late August, but in the meantime, construction is being pushed forward quickly. “Democracy demands that the council not allow this construction to continue until this resolution has been debated,” said May. “If they need to call a special meeting to resolve this situation, then that is what they should do.”
The site is also located on disputed land, making it a constitutional requirement for adequate consultation with First Nations peoples, something which the local residents feel has not been done.
The Green Party has been urging municipalities to look for alternate solutions to deal with their waste, especially as reusing and recycling wastes generates ten to fifteen times more jobs than land filling.
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Contact:
Michael Bernard
Communications Officer
Green Party of Canada
613-562-4916 ext. 244
(c) 613-614-4916
michael.bernard@greenparty.ca
I fully believe that the OPP are simply using Intimidation to attempt to scare us off.
Keep coming to the Site to show your support, people. It is helping tremendously.
Watching the police on television saying there could be criminal charges, made me wonder who is really committing the criminal act here. It certainly doesn’t appear to be the natives, the grandmothers, the farmers, the retirees, the mothers and fathers who are blocking the gates in an effort to protect our water. The de-watering and dumping of pristine water from the aquifer and the polluting of our precious drinking water should be considered the real criminal act.
The day is fast approaching when clean drinking water will be more precious than gold, oil or any of the other resources. We all need clean water to survive and there will be wars fought, world wide, for the dwindling water supplies that are available. What are our politicians thinking???
An excellent cause! I sure hope Dump Site 41 gets stopped!
Is it possible to ‘get a Canadian movie star’ on board with the fight……i.e..Jim Carey, Michael J. Fox, Dan Akroyd?
I know that lots of people are fighting the fight….but a ‘famous Canadian’ would draw more
media attention.
let us remind the Politicians, who it was that gave them their job, and who can take it away. Provincial as well as Municipal.