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.
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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
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From: Council of Canadians
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
July 16, 2009
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