Franco-Ontarian Bonnie Pauzé, a resident of the municipality of Tiny, is delighted to see her fight for the protection of the water on her land — the purest in the world, according to some experts — being transported to Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Nearly 500 people have so far signed a petition calling on the Canadian government to protect upland waters in Simcoe, the county that encompasses the township of Tiny, to allow research into their qualities. These waters are under threat from aggregate mining, say area residents. Although the petition does not specify it explicitly, several people want one of the three levels of government to interrupt the extraction of aggregates at the Teedon quarry, near the home of Bonnie Pauzé, for at least five years, while analyze the water.
The petition was authorized by local Conservative MP Adam Chambers. “The fact that the deputy of the region authorizes it is even better,” launches Ms. Pauzé. The MLA authorizing a petition need not be from the petitioner’s constituency. A petition must collect at least 500 names in order to be presented in the House.
“Politicians have more to gain if they can say they have the purest water in the world in their constituency, than say they have aggregate quarries,” says Bonnie Pauzé. “It would allow us to be known around the world,” she continues.
“If we could close the Teedon quarry, that would be great,” exclaims Beth Brass Elson, a member of the Beausoleil First Nation, who advocates for water protection. While First Nations in northern Ontario don’t have access to clean drinking water, that water is used to wash aggregate, she notes.
Incomplete studies
Renewable resources specialist Michael Powell is part of the group of experts seeking to better understand the region’s water quality. The petition, says the University of Alberta professor, is “extremely important.” “She adds gasoline to the tank,” he adds. Halting mining at the Teedon quarry, less than a kilometer from Bonnie Pauzé’s home, would allow full access to French’s Hill, a wooded hill that would act as a natural filter for the water.
The Dufferin Aggregates company, which operates the Teedon quarry, wishes to expand its operations, which would encroach on the hill. The case will be heard by the Ontario Planning Tribunal in January 2023.
But Michael Powell assures that the research could still take place if the aggregation continues in the career. The results obtained in the context of the research — for which the researcher and his team will soon submit a request for funding to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada — could, however, be altered.
Hydrogeological research has been carried out by private firms on behalf of companies such as Dufferin Aggregates to obtain extraction permits. But Michael Powell believes that these reports do not demonstrate that the extraction would not have an impact on the quality or quantity of water in the municipality of Tiny.
In his petition to the House of Commons, petitioner Erik Schomann — an activist from Tiny — proposes, among other things, that the federal government use the Canada Water Resources Act to protect the water source. According to Mark S. Winfield, a professor of environmental sciences at York University, the law does not directly prevent the protection of water from an aggregate extraction project.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.