The courts should order the City of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøto consult with First Nations bands before the city is allowed to operate a St. Thomas-area garbage dump, said a local native leader.
The courts should order the City of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøto consult with First Nations bands before the city is allowed to operate a St. Thomas-area garbage dump, said a local native leader.
Chief Randall Phillips, of the Oneida Nation of the Thames, said his band has made an application to divisional court arguing that the certificate of approval granted to the Green Lane landfill should be set aside until consultations take place.
The city has signed an agreement to purchase the Green Lane landfill, now owned and operated by a local family, for $220 million. The sale is expected to close in late March.
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The Oneida application said the city and province, which has granted the landfill a certificate of approval, “failed to consult with and accommodate” the band on the operation of Green Lane.
The band’s 2,200-hectare reserve is located along the southern banks of the Thames River, about 24 kilometres northwest of St. Thomas and about two kilometres west of the landfill site.
Phillips said he’s had several conversations with º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøMayor David Miller, but no meaningful consultation about his band’s worries that the dump will pollute water and air in the vicinity.
The risk of environmental damage will increase once º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøstarts sending its trash there, he said.
“We wanted to talk to the City of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøas the proponent of Green Lane to address these concerns,” Phillips told a news conference.
“The City of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøofficials say they have no obligation, no responsibility to sit down and talk with us.”
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“When we asked them to do so they said no, so now we feel that our only other choice is to force them to do so before the operation of that plant starts.”
Phillips, who was supported by other Indian leaders, said his band has never wanted º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøto dump its trash at Green Lane.
But if that’s going to happen, Phillips said, he wants to negotiate an agreement with the city that will protect air and water, and will establish rules for what happens if something goes wrong.
The dump has been operating since 1979, but the province revised its certificate of approval last year when the city negotiated an agreement to buy Green Lane and ship garbage there. The Oneida should have been consulted then, Phillips argued.
The Oneida have lived on their current land for many years, he said.
“º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøwill have a very short-term investment with regards to its occupation of that land, and then they will leave. We will still be there, and we want to ensure that any impacts from the operation of this mega-dump will be taken care of.
“We are hopeful the courts will see there is an obligation on both the proponent and the ministry to ensure that meaningful consultations take place.”
No court dates have been set.
The city issued a brief statement saying that it would not comment because the matter is before the courts, but that it is “committed to operating the landfill as a good neighbour.”
