Protesters stop garbage delivery
Ministry says site is ready
After a couple of hours of peaceful protest and two quiet arrests for failing to disperse, police suddenly surged forward and arrested a third protester who had been pleading with police to identify the officer in charge. He was attempting to inquire why the police would not let the truck and driver leave the scene after he had allegedly agreed to do so. BOBLIDDYCOAT/THECHRONICLE
Posted By KAREN BEST, DUNNVILLE CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Updated Monday, December 15, 2008
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment declared the Edwards Landfill ready to receive waste but did not notify a concerned community group about this determination.
“The ministry made sure the site was fully in compliance with all our requirements before it became operational,” said Jason Ryan, the acting supervisor for the ministry’s Hamilton office. “The ministry is satisfied that the site had been sufficiently prepared to receive waste in a manner that will not cause an environmental impact.”
On Dec. 8, waste was sent on its way to the Cayuga dump on Brooks Road. A ministry official was on duty at the site.
In a letter dated Dec. 8, Bill Bardswick said the water level in the cell was low enough to expose the stone drainage layer. He is the regional ministry director for the west central Ontario region.
Ryan said water levels were required to be no higher than this level when waste was delivered.
Haldimand Against Landfill Transfers chair Anne Vallentin was flabbergasted that this information was not shared with the group of concerned citizens prior to Monday.
While unaware of the ministry’s position and convinced the site was not compliant with requirements, about 20 activists from London, Toronto, Waterloo and Guelph arrived on the road early in the morning on Dec. 8. About 10 HALT members joined them and then as many people from Six Nations arrived.
The Ontario Provincial Police presence began on the road at just after 7 a. m. HALT members later reported that cruisers were parked at 500 metre intervals on Highway 3.
In the mean time, Vallentin thanked people for showing up to support the group’s opposition to garbage delivery and insistence that all approval conditions be enforced by the ministry.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to us,” she said while holding a basket of freshly baked muffins. “We’ve felt like lonely people for a long time.”
HALT member Karen Whittington added, “Local people are turning a blind eye on this.”
One protester said he was participating because drinking water would be poisoned. He declined to provide his name. A Guelph man also refused to identify himself but said, “I believe in the integrity of these people’s struggle.”
OPP aboriginal relations team member Greg Moses advised the crowd that an injunction banned blocking Brooks Road and Highway 3. Then OPP major event liaison team member Dayna Adams read a statement saying OPP expected the injunction to be obeyed. Anyone stopping trucks will be charged with mischief or any other applicable offence, she stated.
Soon after, Haldimand County sheriff John Dobson arrived to serve protesters with notice. He read the injunction issued last year by a Superior Court judge.
After the sheriff finished, Kelly Curley, a member of Six Nations, stepped forward and spoke in a native language. He said he was of the Onondaga nation and did not understand the injunction. He also said issuance of the injunction contravened the Two Row Wampum treaty.
In the mid 1600s, the Haudenosaunee, then Five Nations, struck an agreement with Dutch explorers. A beaded belt was created to illustrate the accord between the two parties. Neither was to interfere with the beliefs, laws or culture of the other while living side by side in North America. The Two Row Wampum embodied respect, peace and friendship between two nations and is recognized by Six Nations as valid in perpetuity.
Curley told the sheriff that under the Two Row, he and others were breaking their own law.
After listening, Dobson fastened the injunction to a stop sign and stapled another copy to a hydro pole.
When a Norfolk Disposal truck turned on to Brooks Road at noon, the driver was stopped by a tight bunch of out of town protesters. Police officers warned them about arrests.
At that time, well over 50 officers were on scene. A paddy wagon was parked down Brooks Roads and two surveillance vans were positioned on Highway 3. The police presence grew over the next two hours.
Eventually a line of officers was standing between the remaining protesters and the truck’s grill. At about 1 p. m., an officer gave people one last opportunity to disperse or they would be arrested.
A Six Nations man standing by a van in the middle of Brooks Road said garbage delivery was a violation and was not welcome in the territory. Under the Two Row and the Nanfan treaties, he said Six Nations people had a right to be there.
Before the first arrest was made, protesters and HALT members were urging the truck driver to back up. Several people reported that he wanted to leave. The driver declined to speak to reporters.
Melissa Elliott of Six Nations asked OPP to bring ART officers to the scene. She also told police that the driver wanted to back out.
“We’re trying to keep the peace right now,” she said. “The driver wants to leave to diffuse the situation.”
OPP had arrested four people by that time and did not want the driver to leave.
Const. Paula Wright was asked by reporters why the driver was not allowed to leave. She said she was not aware of that situation and added that police are open to all dialogue.
Six Nations member Wes Elliott was stopped in the middle of the road. He told a reporter that he wanted to make a right hand turn on to Highway 3 but the truck was in his way.
Around 2:30 p. m., the truck driver told an officer that his boss wanted him to leave. The officer conferred with someone on his cell phone and then officers stopped traffic so the driver could back out on to Highway 3. After it moved, Elliott said he was glad it left and then he too turned on to the highway.
During the protest, OPP charged four people with mischief. They are [M.], 26, of London, [A.], 28, of Toronto, and [E.], 21 of Kitchener. [D.], 24, of Kettleby was charged with mischief and disguise with intent. He was wearing a bandana over his face.
Prior to his arrest, [D.] was asking officers who was in charge. He wanted to speak to that person about the driver’s wish to leave. An officer came toward him, announced he was in charge and then stated that the man was under arrest. Three officers grabbed the man and pushed him onto to the trunk of a car and then took him back to the paddy wagon.
In her press release, Wright reminded citizens that the right to peaceful demonstration and protest does not include unlawful activity. “The OPP will not tolerate criminal behaviour,” she added.
Later Vallentin said she was aghast with the monitoring of HALT members while the landfill operator is allowed to do whatever he wanted. Trust is very eroded, she indicated.
“If you want to show us you can operate this properly, why not show us you can operate it properly,” she stated in frustration.
She also expressed deep disappointment in the overdone and expensive police presence deployed to Brooks Road where people with legitimate concerns were gathered. Government operates in silos and as such, the environment ministry does not have enough funds to enforce conditions at the landfill, Vallentin noted.
“But when it comes to police force, there doesn’t appear to be a limit,” she added.
On the morning of Dec. 9, three trucks made their way toward Edwards Landfill. Two got stuck on the mud road section of Brooks Road and one arrived at the dump via Brooks Road.
According to Ryan, the drivers took a wrong turn. If trucks delivered waste using this route, they would be in noncompliance of a defined truck route set out in the dump’s approval certificate.
Ryan said the truck that made it into the dump contained construction and demolition waste was turned away with the full load.
“While not a requirement of the approval, the first layer of waste in the landfill should be free of any material that may pierce or otherwise damage the liner system,” he stated.
Once receiver Brahm Rosen commences operation of the site, the ministry will require it to operate in accordance with approval certificate requirements, he said
This includes resumption of environmental monitoring, participation in the public liaison committee, commencement of decommissioning of historic waste, paying the wages of a ministry full time environmental inspector assigned to the site and updating required financial assurance.
Ryan also said the ministry received information showing the liner is not leaking. Data indicated that water levels in the new cell have progressively decreased in line with the amount of water pumped out of it. The receiver had water levels measured as required through a recent agreement with the ministry.
In a press release issued by HALT on Dec. 8, the group asked that the ministry commence immediate enforcement action against the receiver if he brings in waste while not in compliance with all conditions of the certificate of approval. The group also called upon environment minister John Gerretsen to personally take immediate steps to stop waste delivery until a long list of unresolved issues are addressed to the satisfaction of the community.
Vallentin found it deplorable that their letter to Gerretsen was passed on to Bill Bardswick, director of the ministry’s West Central Region. He was asked to respond.
Bardswick stated that he has asked the chair of the public liaison committee to call a meeting in January and has told the receiver he is expected to participate.
“Based on this information, the ministry has no further objections to land filling operations,” he stated. A valid certificate of approval is in place for the site, he added.
HALT asked supporters to contact Gerretsen. His phone number is 416- 314-6790, fax 416-314-6748 and email john.gerretsen@ontario.ca.The group also suggested people contact Ontario ombudsmen Andre Morin by phone at 1-800-263-1830 , by fax at 416-586- 3485 or by email at info@ombudsman.on.ca
Confrontation 
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