Oneida Nation of the Thames — Oneida Nation of the Thames met with City of Toronto Mayor John Tory via teleconference last week to put forward environmental and management issues caused by the breach of the agreement between the City of Toronto owner of the Green Lane Landfill Site located within 2 km from Oneida Nation of the Thames.
“Overall it was a positive meeting and we took the opportunity to finally discuss all of the negative impacts the Landfill Site is having on our community and why our agreement with the City of Toronto is not being adhered to,” said Oneida Nation of the Thames Chief Jessica Hill. “It took 16 months to get this meeting. Why is the City of Toronto not working with us? It’s a city that tells the world how important the environment and climate change is to them. They are in breach of the Agreement we have. The Mayor was responsive and agreed to meet with us again in two weeks with answers to questions we presented. Some can be dealt with immediately and others will take more time to resolve.”
The Green Lane landfill site, owned by the City of Toronto since 2006 and located in Southwold Township. This privately-owned dump receives daily deliveries of 50 transport trucks full of trash and sewage sludge daily, which adds up to 500,000 tonnes a year.
Oneida Nation of the Thames and the Chippewas of the Thames are parties in this Agreement with the City of Toronto. Both communities are compensated through a community benefit agreement and split 4 per cent of the gross revenue and $4 per tonne from the landfill. Oneida Nation of the Thames is the majority stakeholder and feels the impact first being in closer proximity to Greenlane.
“Not enough was being done so we demanded this meeting. When we tried to raise our concerns with representatives of Greenlane, we were constantly met with arguments, delay tactics and disrespectful attitudes. Our requests for monitoring, for economic and job opportunities, training, procurement opportunities and fair treatment have been ignored by the Greenlane representatives,” said Chief Hill. “We said enough is enough.”
In a recent Oneida Community Environmental survey, 64% of respondents identified the Greenlane Landfill as the number one environmental threat to the community. Oneida citizens reported that the dump is an encroachment on their territory and this highlights the power imbalance between Oneida Nation of the Thames and the City of Toronto. This can best be described as environmental racism and then it becomes a human rights issue.
In the City of Toronto’s Long-Term Waste Management Strategy, it states that Toronto intends to keep Greenlane Landfill operational until 2040 however Oneida Nation will continue to hold the position of immediate closure of the Greenland landfill. Oneida Nation has never been consulted on this and how the City of Toronto intends to manage its current certificate of approval (C.O.A.)
The Oneida Nation represented by Chief Hill, Environmental Portfolio holders Councillors Grant Doxtator and Jason Cornelius and staff presented five priority issues related directly to the Greenlane Landfill, the closure of the Landfill and Terms of Reference, the right to clean water and Oneida’s current Boil Water Advisory, Emergency Planning, Climate Change and Economic and Business Development opportunities.
For more information on the presentation please visit our website.
