BY KAREN BEST Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 05:00
Local News - Just after 7 a.m. on Nov. 16, a truck driver found his route to the Edwards Landfill blocked by two dozen people from two communities along the Grand River.
One of the six Ontario Provincial Police officers assigned that day to the protest at Brooks Road and Highway 3 spoke to the driver.
Officers earlier told members of Haldimand Against Landfill Transfers (HALT) and of Six Nations that they would advise garbage haulers that they will not be going into the dump near Cayuga.
When two more trucks signalled to turn onto Brooks Road. Shoulder to shoulder HALT member Jody Orr and Six Nations citizen Phillip W. Skye stood in front of them holding signs bearing the slogan HALT the Dump.
The scene captured a shared commitment to prevent landfilling of institutional, commercial and industrial waste in a dump established in 1959 before environmental protections were in place. In 1991, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment branded the dump as the rural landfill posing the highest hazard to humans.
Today landfill guidelines exist but, as HALT found out, they can be handled in an unexpected manner. On Nov. 13, HALT members began an active protest because they believed the inherent protection of approval conditions was flouted by the ministry and SF Partners senior vice-president Brahm Rosen. In September, he became the receiver of the dump corporation, Haldimand Norfolk Sanitary Landfill Inc, when it went into receivership due to debts totalling $10 million.
Among many of the 100 conditions listed in the dump's amended certificate of approval, originally issued in May 2004, is Condition 30. It requires decommissioning a historic waste section that contains drums of toxic materials. Required by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to comply with the approval certificate, the receiver did not meet a Nov. 1 deadline for filing a decommissioning plan or the initiation of decommissioning. He asked for an extension that could put off clean up for a full year. Before any decisions were made on the request, the ministry was ready to allow delivery of new waste, HALT noted.
"We are particularly objecting to the ministry allowing garbage to go in while the dump operator is non compliant with condition 30," said HALT co-chair Anne Vallentin of the ministry's bypass of a condition extremely important to the community.
From the beginning, residents were told that reactivation of the Edwards Landfill was a good project because existing contaminants would be removed, HALT said in an issued statement.
Demonstrator Janet Fraser said the community's understanding was the old waste would be cleaned up before garbage was trucked in. Dave Bruce, who lives across the road from the intersection, said the ministry is not looking after the environment. If residents failed repetitively to comply with legal requirements, they would be be in jail, he added.
HALT does not want the garbage here and if the peaceful protest does not succeed, they will be creative with their next move, Vallentin confirmed.
When Six Nations community members learned last week about HALT's intentions, several decided to join them. Spokesperson Ruby Montour said they came out because the receiver and the province had not contacted Haudenosaunee Development Institute, which was established in September by the Confederacy Chiefs council to deal with development in the Haldimand Tract.
"This is Haudenosaunee land and we don't approve dumping of garbage on there. This is our territory. We have jurisdiction," said Montour. "We feel the only things going into this site will be your trucks removing your filthy waste."
From 6 a.m. to just after 1 p.m. on Nov. 16, HALT and Six Nations members held up HALT the Dump signs to passing motorists. Many beeped in support. Some Six Nations residents carried the purple Haudenosaunee flag.
Last Friday, dump project manager Romeo DiBattista Jr. said Edwards Landfill was ready and approved to take waste. "I feel bad for everybody but (garbage) is part of life. It's waste we produce every day," he added refusing to comment on what action might be taken if the protest continued.
Later he told HALT members that no trucks would arrive that day and on Saturday. On Monday, trucks stayed away but on Tuesday morning, two turned onto Brooks Road while protesters were away from the intersection. Clyde Powless of Six Nations pulled his pick up truck in front of them blocking their passage. Two OPP cruisers arrived and officers conferred with ministry officer Jason Ryan. After about an hour, the trucks left.
This situation solidified protesters' resolve to stand guard on the road. "We will keep coming out. They have to deal with Six Nations and HALT. We are a set now," said Montour.
Both Montour and Skye expressed concerns about water contamination. Skye said the two groups stand as one on a global issue related to the supply of drinkable water. The last thing responsible government should be doing is polluting it, he added.
"The government is obviously not listening...They have to clean (the old waste) up," said Montour. "When we stand together as one voice, they have to listen."
Because this project was fast tracked, there are unanswered questions about the groundwater contamination plume from historic waste and whether it can be cleaned up, said Skye accusing the Ontario government of placing economics before responsibility to future generations. He also noted that this project moved ahead without respect for land rights negotiations underway between Six Nations, and the provincial and federal governments.
Prior to the joint demonstrations by HALT and people of Six Nations, formal notice asking for dump activity to cease was issued by Aaron Detlor, a lawyer who is acting as an administrative assistant to the HDI.
On Nov. 14, he emailed a letter to the receiver and Ontario environment minister John Gerretsen advising them that their plans to open the dump was an infringement of Haudenosaunee rights. He directed them to contact HDI.
Activity in Edwards Landfill including the receipt of garbage is contrary to both Canadian and Haudenosaunee law, he continued. "We reserve the right to take such steps as we deem necessary to ensure the rights of the Haudenosaunee are preserved and protected," Detlor stated.
The letter also asked for the Ontario government to acknowledge its failure to consult with the Confederacy and its obligation to do so. After receiving such a confirmation, the Confederacy council will meet with provincial officials to discuss how consultation will be dealt with going forward.
In an interview, Detlor commented on the impact to county residents. "We're also very concerned that the people of Haldimand County be protected and that their interests be respected which to date has not been done by the province of Ontario," he said.
Throughout demonstrations wove a tangible theme of unity. "(Six Nations) stewardship and approach to land is very important and we're very concerned about the environment and land," said Orr. "I'm delighted to welcome our brothers and sisters from Six Nations in this struggle over the environment. We share a common cause."
"I appreciate the opportunity to work together," concurred Vallentin.
For Skye, it was an honour. He said the Haudenosaunee seek and maintain relationships and promote peace through common goals. This one event can serve as a message to Canada that differences can be put aside, he continued. "It's important that we stand together showing solidarity on what matters the most," he said.
Over more than two years, HALT has been in discussions with Six Nations and has made presentations to the Confederacy and elected councils. Dialogue continues.
During demonstrations, ministry provincial officer Jason Ryan was on location due to the very remote possibility that garbage would received. Under a commitment to the community, he or another provincial officer will be on the site to ensure that new waste is of an acceptable nature, he said. By early next year, a fulltime ministry inspector, whose wages will be paid by the dump operator, will be posted at the site as ordered in an approval condition.
Ryan offered the ministry's position on approval certificate compliance. Under a binding requirement, the owner must remove all hazardous waste. The ministry is working with the receiver to ensure a schedule and appropriate time frame is set for compliance to the outstanding condition on decommissioning, he said.
Conditions for accepting waste and decommissioning are on two separate tracks and are not chronological, added Ryan.
For the OPP, the demonstrations were monitoring assignments not policing issues, said OPP media spokesperson Paula Wright. "Anyone has the right to peacefully and lawfully protest," she added. "As they do so, our role is again to ensure safety and the peace is kept." OPP were assisting in the turning trucks around for safety purposes, said Wright.