By Ian McKinroy Barrie Examiner October 20, 2009
The Anishinabe Kweag Protest Group is taking its fight to Queen's Park and is hoping Simcoe County's two highest officials will sign on.
In an effort to have all charges dropped against the 17 Site 41 protesters arrested this summer -- including Ina Wood, 76 and Keith Wood, 82 -- the group has launched an online and paper petition to the Attorney General of Ontario, Chris Bentley.
The protest group is hoping Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis and CAO Mark Aitken will sign the petition.
"It's growing really fast," Vicki Monague, one of those arrested, said from her home, yesterday. "We just launched it on Sunday night and we already have 200 signatures."
The protesters are alleged to have prevented construction workers from entering the Elm-vale-area property for several weeks during the blockade, which began in May. Landfill opponents claimed the dump could contaminate local groundwater.
Lawyer Peter Rosenthal, who represents several protesters, has maintained that the charges should be dropped in the public interest to heal wounds in the community, adding it would also save the police, the Crown's office and the defence a lot of time and money.
Rosenthal said the protesters were fighting against an illegal landfill construction.
"We want to start the healing process between the county, its residents and First Nations," Monague said.
"A lot of damage has been done because of Site 41. The community has definitely been fragmented. There is a lot of conflicting opinions right now and we're not getting anywhere as far as waste management alternatives," she said.
"We've got to work together, not only for the residents but for the environment," Monague added.
She applauded Zero Waste Simcoe's meetings with county municipalities to help them learn more about alternative waste management strategies.The group was to meet with Clearview and Ramara township councillors last night and are also scheduled to meet with Oro-Medonte and Tay township councillors, tomorrow evening.
Monague said during full disclosure for each of the 17 cases of those charged, the County of Simcoe is named as a victim.
As a sign of good faith, the Anishinabe Kweag Protest Group has asked two high profile county officials to sign their petition.
"We've approached Warden Tony Guergis and Simcoe County CAO Mark Aitken to sign it, but we haven't heard back from them," she said. "We would like them to publicly endorse the petition and ask for the charges to be dropped."
Monague said construction that was taking place inside Site 41 was never properly approved by Simcoe County council.
"Although a budget was passed, no motion or resolution had ever been passed that allowed more than preliminary work to take place and Site 41 was slated to start receiving waste by the end of September. All protesters charged were working to ensure that Site 41 would never receive waste and ensure the pristine groundwater in the Alliston aquifer would be protected for generations to come."
"There is no way Site 41 would've been stopped if it they hadn't taken the action they did. It was all because of the blockade and putting pressure on county councillors. That's why we got as far as we did," she added.
Monague is encouraging Site 41 opponents to attend a meeting at County of Simcoe meeting on Oct. 27 at 9 a. m.
"We need to show the staff and council at Simcoe County that we are serious about protecting Site 41," she said.
For information about the petition, visit www.stopdumpsite41.com.