Native lease puts quarry back in business

Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator

Hagersville (Jul 29, 2008)

A native businessman has assumed the operation of a limestone quarry and effectively rescued the non-native owner who was earlier shut down by the province.

Bill Monture finalized a one-year lease agreement with Gary Nichols yesterday by holding a sacred aboriginal ceremony at the 93-hectare site west of Hagersville.

He wasted little time in getting down to business after Nichols handed him the key to the property.

By noon, he had removed three truckloads of material from the quarry, which has been mired in legal problems for five years and has seen little activity since Nichols bought the land nine years ago.

Unlike the owner, Monture doesn't believe he needs provincial approval to operate the site because he has the blessing of the native-run Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI), which aims to regulate development on disputed lands or in treaty areas.

"Our position is that a permit or licence is not required at this time from any level of government to operate a quarry until such time as all Six Nations land claims have been resolved," Monture said in a press release yesterday.

He argued the Ministry of Natural Resources, which regulates quarries in the province, has no authority to issue pit licences in this area without the approval of Six Nations.

In a letter dated July 18, HDI interim director Hazel Hill said the institute had no objection to Monture's lease agreement with Nichols' company, Nichols Gravel Limited.

She suggested the arrangement complied with the Nanfan Treaty of 1701, which gave natives the right to hunt and occupy the land in question.

Although he got the go-ahead from the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in 2003, the MNR has repeatedly charged him and members of his family under the Aggregate Resources Act.

The MNR says his company failed to comply with a number of conditions outlined in a letter from the ministry after the OMB granted his licence. The conditions were designed to protect neighbours, mostly farmers, from adverse environmental impacts that may result from the operation of the quarry.

Nichols argued in his latest court challenge that the MNR had no authority to impose the conditions. The OMB imposed no conditions when it granted the licence in 2003.

Last year, his company sent a convoy of 12 trucks to Queen's Park to dramatize his frustration with the ministry.

Monture, whom Nichols had never met, called him out of the blue after learning of his story.

"He called up and said he was sick to his stomach (from what he read) and asked what we could do about this," Nichols recalled. "I was open to any suggestion."

After 10 months of negotiations, they sealed the deal yesterday.

The one-year agreement will let Nichols collect rent on the property and royalties on the sale of the aggregate as he awaits the outcome of the court case.

Monture hadn't heard anything from the MNR as of yesterday. But he realizes the minister could show up and challenge him over not having a provincial licence.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he said.

MNR officials couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.