Background: CPT's Aboriginal Justice Team is currently accompanying members of the Beausoleil First Nation and local citizens of Simcoe County at the blockade of a garbage dump currently under construction directly on top of a pristine aquifer near Elmvale, Ontario. In 2006, University of Heidelberg Professor William Shotyk, a scientist whose research sets an international benchmark for measuring the effects of human activities on water, tested the water at Dumpsite 41. Dr. Shotyk found that the water is so free of contaminants it is comparable to 5,000-6,000 year-old Arctic ice core sources.

Many area residents fear contamination of the aquifer, the Wye River and Marsh, and, ultimately, of Georgian Bay and the Great Lakes water system. The aquifer is the primary water source for the area.

Five Beausoleil First Nation women initiated a legal encampment on the Parnell family farm across the road from the dump site on 14 May 2009. On 6 July, when the County stepped up work, the women, soon joined by citizens from the surrounding communities, blockaded the site's entrances. An interim injunction to end the blockade was issued by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice July 22nd.

Beausoleil First Nation members and their neighbours remain committed to maintaining the blockade, in spite of the threat of arrests.

For additional information, please see www.stopdumpsite41.ca and www.canadians.org/water/issues/site41.

Take action to protect water for future generations and support the Anishinaabe and their neighbors. Write and call the Honourable John Gerretsen, Ontario Minister of the Environment, asking that he protect Ontario's water by putting an immediate stop to the draining of the aquifer at Site 41, halting the construction of the dump site, and supporting waste management alternatives to the landfill. County residents have suggested that alternatives include waste reduction strategies, upgrading existing landfills in the area, and recycling products currently in older landfills.

Contact Information:

The Honourable John Gerretson                        

Minister of the Environment

Legislative Building                             

Queen's Park

Toronto, Ontario, Canada  M7A 1A1                        

Phone: 416-314-6790

Fax: 416-314-7337

E-mail: minister.moe@Ontario.ca 

Direct additional letters and calls to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis.

Contact Information:

The Honourable Dalton McGuinty

Premier of Ontario

Legislative Building            

Queen's Park

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

M7A 1A1

Phone: 416-325-1941

Fax: 416-325-3745

E-mail via www.premier.gov.on.ca

Warden Tony Guergis

County of Simcoe Administration Centre

1110 Highway 26

Midhurst, Ontario, Canada

L0L 1X0

Phone: 705-726-9300

Fax: 705-725-1285

E-mail: warden@simcoe.ca

A letter written in your own words, even if it is just one statement, is preferable. However, a prepared letter may be found at http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Oceans/TakeAction/StopDumpSite41.asp.