Scott Grant

Represented Mr. Scott Grant in his Ontario Labour Relations Board Grievance.

As a combustion and air pollution engineer at the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Mr. Grant spent a large portion of his career analyzing air quality and establishing monitoring standards for dangerous air pollutants in Ontario, particularly in Sarnia aka “Chemical Valley.”

Concerned over the impact of air pollutants on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Scott Grant spoke out about the dangerous chemical levels near Sarnia, and subsequently experienced reprisals including exclusion and lack of promotion in the Ministry.

Mr. Grant and his wife Cathy achieved a settlement through the Ontario Labour Relations Board mediation process.

Walker Aggregates Inc., Duntroon

Represented the Clearview Community Coalition (“CCC”) in its fight to stop a massive 42-million tonne aggregate quarry on the Brow of the Niagara Escarpment. Major issues of concern to CCC included haul route safety and noise. After a 15-month hearing, an unusual split decision (2-1) of the Joint Board approved the quarry but reduced the quarry footprint to preserve sensitive environmental features, including Ontario’s largest colony of the species of Special Concern, the American Hart’s Tongue Fern.

M.A.Q. Aggregates Inc., Grey County

Represented Grey Matters in their fight to stop the proposed 247-acre, 1-million tonnes per year quarry adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment Plan area. Donnelly Law helped prepare the expert evidence of hydrogeologist, Daryl Cowell. The OMB allowed the quarry, but required a larger buffer zone the American Hart’s Tongue Fern, a key component of the case.

Seaton Land Exchange

Successfully negotiated a major land securement agreement with the Ontario Realty Corporation as part of the Seaton Land Exchange, in Pickering Ontario.  Four ancient Huron-Wendat village sites were identified through a Class Environmental Assessment and preserved. In honour of Ms Heather Bastien’s advocacy on behalf of her nation, one of the sites was re-named the “Sebastien” site. Artefacts from the 2.5 hectares (6 acres) site have been firmly dated to the Middle Iroquoian period (A.D. 1275-1325). 

Brimley Progress Development Inc.

Represented a developer owning property adjacent to a major industrial facility. Negotiated a settlement with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (as it then was) and City of Toronto permitting a doubling of the site’s density to four, 40-storey towers adjacent to the Scarborough Town Centre on the proposed new subway extension.

Oak Ridges Moraine Ontario Municipal Board Hearing, Richmond Hill

Successfully represented Save the Rouge Valley System Inc. during a twelve-month OMB hearing. The case was a victory for protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine, with the cancellation of a 5,000 home development on the Moraine and the enactment of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, 2001 and Oak Ridges Moraine Protection Act, 2001.   

Building Kingston’s Future

Represented a coalition of heritage groups in opposition to a proposed 18-storey tower on the historic Capital Theatre (Allen Bros) site located along Kingston’s premier heritage corridor, Princess Street.  Argued three-week case before the Ontario Municipal Board (“OMB”), calling some of Canada’s leading planning, urban design and heritage experts.

Hearing Wraps on Professional Planner's Independence

On March 16, 2018, the conflict of interest case against urban planner Mr. Victor Doyle, RPP MCIP, concluded before the Public Service Grievance Board. Mr. Doyle testified that the “case is about the right of professional planners in the Ontario Public Service to provide independent, expert analysis and advice to decision makers, elected representatives, and the public – without such opinion being manipulated, altered, suppressed or otherwise interfered with by non-professional superiors.”

In June 2017 Mr. Doyle was found in conflict of interest by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for publishing a paper containing publicly available facts about the supply of land and ground related housing in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

As counsel, Donnelly Law argued that Mr. Doyle upheld his duties under the Ontario Public Service Act and his obligations as a Registered Professional Planner in disseminating his paper entitled The Growth Plan and the Greenbelt Plan – Setting the Record Straight (the “Paper”) and engaging in a media interview about it. The Paper debunked industry myths about needing more greenfield land for ground related housing supplies to accommodate projected growth. These myths have finally, hopefully, been put to rest by Mr. Doug Ford’s latest endorsement of the Greenbelt.

Inexplicably and tellingly, the Ministry failed to call the Ethics Executive who made the original finding of conflict of interest and did not provide any written evidence, documentation or notes to explain or defend the finding. Rather, the Ministry proferred a single witness who testified they had no expertise in conflict of interest and had nothing to do with the finding against Mr. Doyle.

The witness’s only attempt to justify the finding of conflict – in which they clearly stated they had no involvement – was that the Paper created a perception of bias among some reasonable people, but then under cross-examination admitted the Paper “may” have only created a “risk” of a perception of bias.

The evidence at the hearing clearly showed that the paper received unanimous support from individuals associated with a wide array of stakeholders including municipalities, conservation authorities, civil society think tanks, environmental and agricultural organizations, and academia.

Despite this case being about conflict of interest – not bias, Donnelly Law subsequently argued in closing submissions that the unsubstantiated allegations of the witness fell well below the standard of evidence expected by Boards for finding bias.[1]

Mr. Doyle testified the sole purpose for releasing the Paper was to refute a public/media communications campaign by elements of the development industry involving inaccurate, selective and/or misleading statements that the Growth Plan and Greenbelt Plan were limiting the supply of land for ground related housing.  The detailed land and ground related housing supply calculations and analysis prepared by Mr. Doyle and his team of Ministry planners clearly showed this to be false and testified that is why industry lost every appeal to the OMB in which it sought more land for ground related housing during Growth Plan conformity exercises.

Mr. Doyle further testified that for several years prior to the release of the Paper, the Ministry suppressed this research and analysis, preventing the factual evidence from reaching the Premier, Cabinet, Ministers, public and the government appointed Advisory Panel (led by Mr. David Crombie) overseeing the Review. The numbers and analysis were therefore also omitted from Planning for Health, Prosperity and Growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe: 2015-2041.

This suppression occurred despite an investigation, report and recommendations by the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario to the Secretary of Cabinet (all of which were accepted), to implement systemic changes in relation to the role of professionals in the civil service (in essence to ensure that the results of research/analysis were not censored by senior non-professionals).

This investigation arose in almost identical circumstances as the current situation where, in 2010, Mr. Doyle was found in conflict by the Ministry for publicly sharing research and analysis that he oversaw regarding development leap-frogging the Greenbelt into Simcoe County. Mr. Doyle testified that the ongoing suppression of the housing supply data/analysis occurred because of blacklisting by the Ministry in response to his challenge of the 2010 finding of conflict.

At the hearing, Donnelly Law also called as an expert Mr. Anthony Usher, Past-President of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (“OPPI”).  In assessing the paper and the responses to it, Mr. Usher concluded that it was “a considered and thoughtful contribution to a critically important public debate”, and that “it contributed significantly to and filled a noticeable gap in that debate”.

Mr. Usher testified it was his opinion the Complainant complied with his Job Description in communicating with the public and media, did not reach his professional ethics and never engaged in conflict of interest activity.

The remedies proposed by Mr. Doyle are eminently reasonable. He seeks:

• His good reputation restored by an Order or Declaration that he did not commit a conflict of interest by disseminating the Paper and a corresponding statement of contrition by the Employer;
• An Order or Declaration that the finding and associated directions were a reprisal for his 2010 Disclosures (regarding his restriction in Simcoe County);
• Recommendations for the Employer to consider and implement procedural improvements in its process and procedures to protect planners from future spurious findings of conflict of interest.

Granting these requests will help address the recommendations of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario (referred to above) in regard to clarifying the role of professionals in the civil service to, in the words of the Commissioner, ensure ”that steps must  be taken to minimize the risk of something like this happening again in the future“ (Office of the Integrity Commissioner Annual Report, 2013-2014).

This in turn will allow Mr. Doyle, the OPPI, civil society and, hopefully, the government to meaningfully pursue additional remedies to address the systemic issues this case has raised including:

• Creation of an Office of the Chief Planner for Ontario– similar to the Chief Medical Officer of Health – where that officer can speak freely, to provide complete, independent, credible, unbiased and factual information - without any fear of reprisal or opportunity for suppression (Note: written evidence included a Statement from Dr. David Mowatt, former Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, supporting for the creation of such an office);
• That the office of the Provincial Development Facilitator be repurposed so that it longer deals with any land specific files/applications; and
• That on leaving the civil service, senior public servants (Deputy/Assistant Deputy Minister) be subject to a 5 year “cooling off” period prior to being allowed to work for private development interests.

There are three critical public interest reasons for granting the relief requested:

• The broader public interest is at risk when professional planners and other government experts are silenced;
• Taxpayers are short changed by having information, research and analysis suppressed – in relation to the ability for this to inform better decisions, getting value for their investment in such experts, and in being able to hold governments to account; and
• Tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure investment, tens of thousands of hectares of farmland (among the best in Canada), and the quality of our environment and human health are put at risk by bad planning decisions.

The Harper government was justifiably criticized for silencing federal climate change scientists. Ontario should not go down the same road with planners, some of whom are our last line of defence against the impacts and costs of continued sprawl.

A decision is expected within the next few months.

[1] In Ottawa (City) and CIPP (Cooper), Re, 2015 CarswellOnt 15658, 124 C.L.A.S. 300, Ontario Arbitration held that there was “no evidence” to support the allegations made by the Employer and therefore the allegations could not be accepted by the member.

Rodney the Oysterman

Negotiated a creative solution for client after his property was negatively impacted by new development. The neighbour's addition created significant shadowing. David Donnelly negotiated the installation of a solar water heater at the expense of the neighbour to benefit the client for lost sunlight.

Big Bay Point OMB Mega-Marina Hearing

Following this contentious three-month OMB hearing, awareness of the need for anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) grew into the current law, the Protection of Public Participation Act, 2014.  We also drafted the forerunner to the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2008.

Skeleton Lake Cottagers Organization

Currently representing cottagers and residents of the Township of Muskoka Lakes opposed to a proposed 200,000 tonnes/annum below water table granite pit and quarry adjacent to the oligotrophic (ultra-sensitive) Skeleton Lake. Donnelly Law organized a four-person expert team and responses to technical deficiencies in the application, and deputed to Council, resulting in a 9-0 Council vote to oppose the re-zoning. According to Mr. Gord Miller, ecologist, the quarry “could significantly alter the character and ecology of the lake”. A three-week LPAT hearing is expected in 2019.

Independence of Land Use Planners Challenged

On February 28, 2018, Donnelly Law will be before the Public Service Grievance Board (the “Board”) arguing one of our most important cases involving the Greenbelt and Places to Grow. Specifically, we will be defending the independence of professional planners in government to speak truth to power, even when government doesn’t like their opinions regarding growth management and urban sprawl in southern Ontario. Here’s the background. Several weeks ago, Victor Doyle RPP MCIP, one of Ontario’s most experienced professional planners and an “architect of the Greenbelt”, begrudgingly left the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

This is a huge loss at a critical time given the release of the new Growth Plan and Greenbelt Plan, the preparation of documents supporting the Plans, municipal implementation of the Plans and the current initiative to Grow the Greenbelt. Mr. Doyle had been at the epicentre of provincial planning in the Greater Golden Horseshoe for almost thirty years, serving 9 provincial governments under all 3 political parties.

Why is he leaving? On June 5, 2017, Mr. Doyle was found to be in “conflict of interest” under the Public Service Ontario Act and re-assigned from arguably one of the most influential planning jobs in North America to a redundant research position investigating driverless cars. He was given an office on an empty floor, stripped of his staff and even denied access to the government computer data server.

Subsequently, Mr. Doyle filed a grievance with the Public Service Grievance Board (the “Board”) asking that the Board rescind the “conflict of interest” finding. Donnelly Law is asking to Board to withdraw this finding and recommend systemic changes so that planners are free to express their independent opinions (provided of course no confidential information is disclosed).

What was Mr. Doyle’s so-called “conflict”? On May 7, 2017 he disseminated publicly The Growth Plan and the Greenbelt Plan – Setting the Record Straight a paper refuting spurious claims by the development industry that Ontario was running out of developable land (greenfields) for ground related housing and that this shortage was the cause of dramatic increases in housing prices.

In fact, Mr. Doyle’s paper showed there were upwards of 125,000 ha (over 300,000 acres) of land approved for urban use and yet we have only used about 20% of it by the end of 2016. This represents an over-supply of land to accommodate growth to 2041. David Crombie called the Paper an excellent piece of “ground-truthing”; the Neptis Foundation wrote, “Bravo – somebody had to do it.”

Industry spokespeople in the media were using the claims of a land supply shortage as the pretext for asking the Government to compromise its strategic Growth Plan, and possibly the Greenbelt.

The Ministry, in its legal arguments against Mr. Doyle, also cite an interview Mr. Doyle gave to Jeff Gray of the Globe and Mail as a source of the conflict of interest, which Mr. Doyle believes is the true source of the disciplinary action against him.

This is odd, as his Job Description lists as a primary responsibility “Frequent contact with stakeholders, including: … the general public and the media… to explain, resolve or exchange information regarding land use planning.”

The Ministry isn’t even alleging the paper’s dissemination is a true conflict i.e. there is no allegation of an outside business relationship.

Instead, the Ministry is alleging he broke arbitrary rules designed to stifle his professional opinion critical of the development industry’s misuse of greenfield land supply statistics.

This is the second time Mr. Doyle was found in conflict of interest – the first being in 2010 when he shared his professional views on the ill-conceived Simcoe Strategy – which were also subject to media coverage.

As a result of the 2010 finding, he was removed from his position of Manager of Community Planning – Central Ontario where he oversaw planning applications for most of the Greater Golden Horseshoe including reviews of numerous, large-scale developments involving tens of thousands of acres in Simcoe County, which were subsequently approved for development. The proposals were opposed by Environmental Defence, Campaign Lake Simcoe, Ontario Nature, and other environmental organizations[note]Continuing to Promote Sprawl in Simcoe County Campaign: Lake Simcoe’s Response to the Proposed Simcoe Amendment to the Growth Plan, Environmental Defence et al, 10 January 2014. [note]http://donnellylaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Environmental-Defence-Growth-Plan-Simcoe-Amendment-EBR-Response.pdf[/note]. Simcoe has been referred to as the "Wild West" of development in Ontario.[note]“The county is the "Wild West" of development in Ontario, says Rick Smith, executive director of Toronto-based Environmental Defence.” Phinjo Gombu, Sprawl Hits Above the Belt, The Toronto Star, 10 March 2007. https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/03/10/sprawl_hits_above_the_belt.html[/note]

It is the opinion of Mr. Tony Usher, Past-President of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (“OPPI”), that Mr. Doyle’s release of the paper was not a conflict of interest, and more importantly, Mr. Doyle had an ethical duty as a professional planner to speak freely and openly with the public and media about critical decisions affecting land use planning, environmental protection, transit, housing and urban sprawl. Mr. Usher is being called as an expert witness.

We all support the fight to preserve the independence of scientists in the federal government and their right to speak freely. On Wednesday February 28, 2018, we will have a hearing on whether the planners that control environmental protection, farmland preservation and urban growth expansions in Ontario are truly independent from the influence of bureaucrats, politicians and industry. The conflict of interest finding against Mr. Doyle has already had a “chilling effect” on provincial planners.

A Board decision is expected sometime this Spring.

Friends of Grand Trunk Ravine Inc.

Successfully represented a residents’ association opposed to a 31-unit, low density, sub-division on the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal held: the proposed zoning by-law amendment and draft plan of subdivision do not maintain an ecological corridor connecting the MacMillan Estate Woodlot and Patterson Woodlot key natural heritage features and thereby do not protect natural heritage features and areas for the long term or restore ecological functions or the diversity and connectivity of natural features on the Moraine.

Friends of the Fraser Wetlands Inc.

Successfully represented the Friends of Fraser Wetlands Inc. and Curve Lake First Nation. The clients were in opposition to an application for a 60-lot condominium development on a property with 6.2 km of untouched shoreline on Stony Lake, adjacent to two Provincially Significant Wetlands.  At a three-week hearing, the application was denied.

Victor Doyle

Successfully represented Mr. Victor Doyle, MES, MCIP, RPP, before the Public Service Grievance Board. Mr. Doyle is widely considered to be the “architect of the Greenbelt”, but was transferred to a redundant, meaningless research position after speaking with the media about the real numbers behind Ontario’s available land supply. In its October 26, 2018 decision the Board confirmed that the “independence and impartiality of professional advice is a critical part of the service that citizens have a right to expect from their public servants”.

Charges Laid Against Burl's Creek for 2016 Concerts

Burl's Creek Event Grounds Inc. ("Burl's Creek"), Republic Live Inc., and four other companies were each charged with four offences for the 2016 concert season. This is the second year in a row Burl's Creek has been charged for using Agricultural/Rural land for non-permitted uses. Burl's Creek, Republic Live Inc. and the others will be back in Orillia Provincial Court May 8, 2017 after the first appearance on March 8, 2017. Burl's Creek et al. each face zoning and licensing charges for the Wayhome Festival and Boots and Hearts Festivals.

You can read local news coverage on the charges here.

Éloge funèbre: Heather Bastien

** Éloge funèbre ** L’héritage de Heather Bastien dans le territoire traditionnel des Hurons-Wendats

Une grande amie pour nous tous et une aînée remarquable, Mme Heather Bastien, est décédée la semaine dernière. L’Ontario a perdu l’un de ses plus grands champions du patrimoine culturel autochtone.

Après des décennies de négligence et de destruction résultant du développement urbain dans le sud de l’Ontario, les efforts que Heather a déployés, avec Luc Lainé, un conseiller juridique et quelques archéologues dévoués ont eu pour effet de protéger des douzaines d’importants villages et de lieux de sépulture wendats.

De plus, quatre lois de la province de l’Ontario ont été réformées par suite directe de ses démarches pour faire reconnaître les droits des Autochtones.

Après avoir pris sa retraite dans la soixantaine avancée, Heather s’est rendue avec ses sœurs à Midland, en Ontario, en 1999, pour visiter le territoire traditionnel de sa nation, les Hurons-Wendats. Elle n’était jamais allée en Ontario. Un dépliant de Parcs Canada à Sainte-Marie-au-Pays-des-Hurons l’a piquée au vif : il y était dit que les Hurons étaient une ethnie disparue.

Ce que peu de gens savaient, c’est que le peuple huron-wendat, lorsqu’il a été refoulé du sud de l’Ontario en 1650, avait laissé derrière lui un vaste patrimoine de villages, de lieux de sépulture, de sites sacrés, de toponymes et d’artefacts. Avec l’explosion du développement sur l’ensemble de l’ancien territoire des Hurons-Wendats, quelque 8 000 sites culturels autochtones patrimoniaux ont été détruits; de ce nombre, 2 000 étaient d’une importance considérable. Pour la plupart, c’étaient des sites hurons-wendats.

Tout cela a changé en 2001. Heather était invitée à une cérémonie au bord de la rivière Rouge, où se trouvait autrefois une communauté huronne-wendate florissante; c’est là qu’on nous a présentés.

La société immobilière Ontario Realty Corporation, une organisation gouvernementale, avait donné un terrain au Conseil des cimetières catholiques pour leur permettre d’aménager un cimetière de 50 000 lopins, adjacent à un important village wendat du 14e siècle, appelé « site Milroy ». Heather voulait savoir pourquoi les Hurons-Wendats n’avaient pas été consultés et comment il serait possible que tant de travaux d’excavation ne désacralisent pas le lieu voisin d’ensevelissement de masse ou « ossuaire » de ses ancêtres, qui n’avait pas encore été découvert.

Les organismes Environmental Defence et Save the Rouge, ainsi que la nation huronne-wendate ont uni leurs forces pour intenter une remarquable poursuite privée du gouvernement de l’Ontario en vertu de la Loi sur les évaluations environnementales pour n’avoir pas consulté les Premières Nations.

Le gouvernement a soutenu lors du procès que l’opinion d’un consultant en archéologie, qui était passé en auto près du site en compagnie d’une femme mohawk, constituait une consultation suffisante. Le juge a bien ri, mais il ne riait plus quand notre témoin clé, le commissaire à l’environnement Gord Miller, a déclaré au tribunal que le gouvernement de l’Ontario avait enfreint la loi. La condamnation que nous avons obtenue ensemble créait un précédent; le Globe and Mail a dit de cette affaire que c’était une victoire marquante pour le peuple huron-wendat et les droits des Premières Nations au Canada.

Les Hurons-Wendats et leur héritage étaient enfin légalement reconnus en Ontario.

Ce qui a suivi, c’est un raz-de-marée d’avis aux Hurons-Wendats, signifiés en vertu de la Loi sur les évaluations environnementales, de nouveaux projets qui menaçaient des villages et des lieux de sépulture hurons-wendats à travers le sud de l’Ontario.

Les promoteurs et d’autres Premières Nations qui craignaient de perdre des terres et de l’autorité sur des sites autochtones ont lancé une contestation juridique du nouveau statut des Hurons-Wendat. La cause a obligé Heather, alors âgée de plus de 70 ans, à témoigner au nom de sa nation dans une autre cause historique, à Seaton, en Ontario. Heather et Luc Lainé avaient négocié avec le gouvernement de l’Ontario un accord de conservation du patrimoine décisif, qui allait assurer la protection de quatre importants sites hurons-wendats d’un seul développement urbain, un accord d’exploitation d’une importance capitale (jamais vu, ni avant ni depuis). Le tribunal était d’accord avec tout ce que Luc et Heather avaient fait et, qui plus est, que les Hurons-Wendats étaient les seuls habilités à conclure l’accord concernant leurs sites. C’était une nouvelle victoire, le tribunal ayant reconnu à l’unanimité l’intérêt légitime des Hurons-Wendats pour la documentation de leur patrimoine archéologique en Ontario.

Le 7 décembre 2005, l’Ontario Realty Corporation a remis à Heather Bastien un certificat attestant qu’un site wendat en Ontario porterait désormais le nom de la famille Bastien, soit le Site Sébastien, dans la ville de Pickering. Cet honneur a été conféré en remerciement pour l’importante contribution de Heather à la conservation et la protection des sites et des ossuaires trouvés partout en Ontario.

Après la cérémonie, les médias ont cité Jim Butticci, porte-parole de l’Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), qui avait dit : « Nous sommes d’avis que c’est un événement important dans la relation continue que l’ORC établit avec la communauté des Premières Nations. Le fait même que nous l’ayons nommé Sébastien est très significatif » [traduction].

La désignation de sites autochtones du nom d’archéologues, de propriétaires de terrains ou de presque n’importe quoi était une tradition de longue date en Ontario, jusqu’à ce que Heather et Luc y mettent fin. Les lieux de sépulture et les sites de villages portaient généralement des noms comme « Seed-Barker », « Milroy », « Teston Road » ou « Park » (d’après un parc à roulottes avoisinant). Heather s’est fait une mission d’attribuer respectueusement de nouveaux noms à des sites autochtones anciens et nouveaux.

Le jeudi 28 mars 2013, à Wendake, au Québec, on remettait à Mme Heather Bastien la Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Élizabeth II. La médaille lui était présentée par l’Association nationale des anciens combattants autochtones pour le travail de commémoration de sites culturels patrimoniaux hurons-wendats qu’elle avait fait en les renommant d’après des anciens combattants hurons-wendats, comme Marcel Bastien et Fernand Lainé, qui avaient été si mesquinement traités à leur retour de la guerre.

Mais la plus grande victoire de Heather et Luc est peut-être la préservation de Skandatut, avec le rapatriement et la réinhumation de 2 000 squelettes hurons-wendats dans un ossuaire à Vaughan (Ontario), à proximité. Skandatut est le site d’un très grand village du 15e siècle dans la ceinture de verdure de l’Ontario qui aurait servi à une époque de capitale huronne-wendate. Un promoteur demandait un permis d’exploitation afin de détruire le site pour faire place à de nouvelles maisons et avait entrepris l’excavation du site.

Une autre poursuite en justice a eu lieu, ainsi qu’une incroyable campagne de sensibilisation et d’éducation du public dirigée par Heather, Luc et Environmental Defence. En fin de compte, le chef national Shawn Atleo de l’Assemblée des Premières Nations a écrit au premier ministre Dalton McGuinty, disant que Skandatut était un site historique et archéologique d’une grande importance internationale et en demandant la préservation au nom de tous les peuples des Premières Nations.

Le premier ministre l’a entendu, il a donné un ordre de cessation des travaux sans précédent en vertu de la Loi sur le patrimoine de l’Ontario. Heather et Luc sont allés à Toronto de très nombreuses fois dans le cadre d’une négociation dirigée par la province, dont le point culminant fut la création d’un parc de 10 acres, au cœur duquel se trouve Skandatut.

À cette époque de l’histoire de l’Ontario, les lieux de sépulture autochtones étaient systématiquement déterrés, sans consentement, à des fins d’études ou pour faire place à des projets de développement. La Loi sur les cimetières de l’Ontario n’exigeait pas, lorsqu’un lieu de sépulture était découvert, qu’un avis soit donné aux descendants légitimes, c’est-à-dire la nation autochtone la plus étroitement apparentée sur le plan culturel, mais plutôt que la Première Nation la plus proche (sur le plan géographique) en soit avisée. En août 2005, par exemple, lorsque les travaux d’un chantier routier ont ouvert un ossuaire sur le chemin Teston, à Vaughan, le gouvernement a fait appel à un représentant de la nation Anishnawbe pour diriger la réinhumation. Pendant des décennies, personne ne s’était occupé des sépultures des Hurons-Wendats. Heather et Luc ont entrepris de modifier les lois sur les lieux de sépulture autochtones et l’appartenance culturelle.

Ils ont été confrontés à leur plus grand défi lorsqu’ils ont appris que l’Université de Toronto entreposait depuis longtemps (sur la rue Huron, imaginez) des milliers d’ossements que des archéologues avaient trouvés dans des ossuaires partout en Ontario. Les restes de près de deux mille ancêtres hurons-wendats étaient entreposés, tout emmêlés par type d’ossements, dans des boîtes de rangement de documents portant des mentions comme « crânes », « fémurs », « dents », etc., griffonnées sur les côtés des boîtes.

Quand Heather est entrée pour la première fois dans l’aire d’entreposage, l’accablement s’est emparé d’elle. Pour aggraver les choses, l’Université de Toronto a commencé par revendiquer la propriété des ossements, maintenant qu’elle avait le droit de continuer à faire des expériences scientifiques sans consentement. Une nouvelle poursuite judiciaire a été engagée, avec Heather et Luc à la barre pour les Hurons-Wendats. Avec une persévérance, une patience et une conviction irrésistibles, ils sont arrivés graduellement à persuader l’Université de Toronto et la Fiducie du patrimoine ontarien. Un site a été trouvé pour la réinhumation des ossements sur la rive opposée à Skandatut de la rivière Humber, le long du sentier « Toronto Carrying Place Trail » [chemin de portage de Toronto], maintenant appelé Ossuaire Thonnakona.

En mai 2012, dans le but de finaliser l’accord de réinhumation Thonnakona, Heather et une délégation de la nation huronne-wendate se sont rendus à Miami, en Oklahoma, pour conclure un accord sur les sites ancestraux avec la Première Nation des Wyandottes, séparée de celle des Wendats en 1650.

Un jour de septembre 2013, sous un ciel ensoleillé, les restes des ancêtres ont été portés en terre dans une cérémonie qui a duré toute la journée. L’Ossuaire Thonnakona et le Skandatut protégé depuis peu seraient pour toujours liés et protégés dans le premier paysage réservé du patrimoine culturel de l’Ontario.

Lorsqu’on lui a demandé ce que signifiait pour elle la préservation de Skandatut et de l’ossuaire, Heather a répondu en remerciant la province de l’Ontario :

« Nous avons créé un paysage du patrimoine culturel préservé en permanence dans la ceinture de verdure. La préservation de Skandatut, notre ancienne capitale et cimetière, est un legs considérable pour toutes les nations. » [traduction]

Dans le cadre de cet héritage, Heather et Luc ont déterminé qu’il était prioritaire de mettre un terme à des décennies d’indifférence et d’hostilité à propos de sites anciens entre les trois Premières Nations fondatrices de l’Ontario. Heather, Luc et l’équipe juridique ont assisté à plusieurs assemblées générales annuelles de l’Assemblée des Premières Nations, où des réunions entre les Hurons-Wendats, les Haudenosaunees et les Anishnawbes ont abouti à la signature d’un protocole d’entente pour la création du Cercle des Premières Nations fondatrices, indiquant clairement que, lorsqu’un village ou un lieu de sépulture est menacé, les droits et les responsabilités sont cédés à la Première Nation la plus proche parente sur le plan culturel.

Il y a encore un dernier projet à signaler. En 2010, Heather et Luc ont entrepris une collaboration avec Yap Films, la chaîne de télévision History et la firme de consultants en archéologie ASI pour la production d’un film au sujet d’un artefact particulièrement remarquable trouvé sur le site d’un village du 16e siècle, à Stouffville, en Ontario, parfois appelé le « Manhattan » des sites de villages hurons-wendats. L’excavation du site Mantle a révélé la présence d’un morceau d’un outil de fer basque, qui avait été curieusement enterré dans une maison longue antérieure au contact direct avec des Européens dans la région des lacs Ontario et Érié. Le film qui en est résulté, intitulé « Curse of the Axe » [la malédiction de la hache], mettait en vedette Luc et Heather qui animaient l’expérience de se retrouver face à face avec les ancêtres. Le film a été vu maintenant par plus de trois millions de personnes autour du monde, prolongeant d’autant la portée des Hurons-Wendats dans la conscience nationale et internationale.

Heather a non seulement fait changer les opinions au sujet des droits des Autochtones, elle a aussi fait changer la loi de quatre manières différentes. Premièrement, la consultation des Premières Nations directement concernées est maintenant obligatoire en vertu de la Loi sur les évaluations environnementales. Deuxièmement, la Loi sur les cimetières a été reformulée pour que la Première Nation la plus rapprochée sur le plan culturel soit avisée lorsqu’un lieu de sépulture est perturbé. Troisièmement, en vertu de la Loi sur l’aménagement du territoire de l’Ontario, la politique 2.1.6 de la Déclaration de principes provinciale dit maintenant que « les paysages du patrimoine culturel d’importance sont conservés ». Enfin, les « Normes et directives à l’intention des archéologues-conseils » sous le régime de la Loi sur le patrimoine de l’Ontario exigent maintenant la consultation des Premières Nations avant que l’excavation d’un site soit autorisée.

Ces réformes législatives extraordinaires résultent d’une collaboration dirigée par Heather et Luc et leurs nombreux amis en Ontario, notamment le cabinet d’avocats Donnelly Law, l’organisme Environmental Defence, la firme de consultants en archéologie Archaeological Services Inc., Jacques Huot, Andrew Stewart, Ph. D., le cabinet d’avocats Gilbert’s LLP, des organisations de défense des droits des femmes et des Autochtones. En tout, Heather et Luc ont enrôlé près de 100 professionnels, avocats, archéologues, scientifiques, médias et politiciens dans leur quête de justice pour le peuple huron-wendat.

Lorsque Heather a finalement « pris sa retraite » en tant qu’agent de liaison du patrimoine culturel huron-wendat, en 2013, elle avait participé à l’évolution de 53 dossiers au cours d’une douzaine d’années de défense et de promotion des droits et des intérêts des Hurons-Wendats, presque entièrement à titre bénévole.

Elle serait très fâchée contre moi si je vous donnais l’impression que son travail est terminé. Les ossements de quatre-vingt-dix-sept ancêtres hurons-wendats servent à des expériences à l’Université d’État de la Louisiane et le conseiller juridique de l’université refuse de les rendre. Ces ossements ont été volés dans un ossuaire à Oshawa, en Ontario.

Le site Web de la ville de Toronto dit toujours que notre région était occupée par des Iroquoiens, au lieu de préciser qu’il s’agit du fier peuple huron-wendat. Cette formulation irritait Heather et elle disait, pour me taquiner, « essaie donc d’appeler un Irlandais mangeur de patates ».

Enfin, comme l’exige la loi, des avis de projets qui menacent des sites de Premières Nations sont donnés à des populations locales, aux autorités en matière de conservation, à des conseils scolaires, à Hydro Ontario, aux services publics de gaz et d’électricité, au câblodistributeur Rogers et à d’autres fournisseurs d’infrastructures de communication, et la liste continue.

Le règlement exige seulement d’aviser la Nation huronne-wendate d’un projet qui menace vos sites ancestraux, et je cite le règlement : « si la première nation se trouve sur une réserve dont une partie est située dans un rayon d’un kilomètre de la zone visée par le plan de lotissement proposé ». Pour les projets réalisés en Ontario, cela veut dire que l’avis n’est JAMAIS donné aux Hurons-Wendats. Cette disposition est profondément raciste et insultante pour les Premières Nations et doit être corrigée.

Maintenant, j’entends la voix de Heather : « Assez parlé de moi, David, dis-leur seulement que le travail est loin d’être terminé ».

Alors, je lui répondrai : « C’est vrai, Heather, mais toi et Luc avez remis les Hurons-Wendats sur la carte dans votre territoire traditionnel. Les droits et les responsabilités des Hurons-Wendats ont été rétablis en ton nom; ton travail est terminé ».

Merci, Heather.

R.I.P. Heather Bastien, 1932-2017

Allocution faite à : l’église Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Wendake (Québec) Par : David Donnelly, M.E.S. LL.B. Date : 4 février 2017

Eulogy: Heather Bastien

** Eulogy ** Heather Bastien’s Legacy in the Traditional Territory of the Huron-Wendat

A great friend and Elder to all of us, Mme Heather Bastien, passed away last week. Canada lost one of its greatest Aboriginal cultural heritage champions.

Together with Luc Laine, legal counsel and a few dedicated archaeologists, Heather’s efforts resulted in the protection of dozens of significant Huron-Wendat villages and burials, after decades of neglect and destruction by urban development in southern Ontario, the Traditional Territory of the Huron-Wendat.

In addition, four laws in the province of Ontario were reformed as a direct result of her campaigning for indigenous rights and recognition.

After retiring in her late 60’s, Heather traveled with her sisters to Midland, Ontario in 1999 to visit the ancestral homeland of her Nation, the Huron-Wendat. She had never been to Ontario. Her curiosity was piqued by a Parks Canada pamphlet at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons declaring the Hurons “extinct”.

What few people knew then was that when the Huron-Wendat people were driven from southern Ontario in 1650, they left behind a rich legacy of villages, burials, sacred sites, place-names and artifacts. As development exploded across their former territory, approximately 8,000 Aboriginal culture heritage sites were destroyed, 2,000 were significant. Most of these sites were Huron-Wendat.

In 2001, all that changed. Heather was invited to a ceremony by the Rouge River, once a thriving Huron-Wendat community, where we were first introduced.

The Ontario Realty Corporation (a government agency) had given a piece of land to the Catholic Cemeteries Board to allow them to build a 50,000-plot cemetery adjacent to a significant 14th century Wendat village, known as the “Milroy Site”. Heather wanted to know why the Huron-Wendat weren’t consulted, and how so much digging could possibly avoid the desecration of the nearby but undiscovered mass burial or “ossuary” of her ancestors?

Environmental Defence, Save the Rouge and the Huron-Wendat Nation came together to launch a remarkable private prosecution of the Ontario Government for failing to consult First Nations under the Environmental Assessment Act (“EA Act”)

At trial, the government argued an archaeological consultant driving a Mohawk woman by the site was sufficient consultation. The Judge laughed at that one, but didn't laugh when our star witness, Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller, told the court the Ontario government had broken the law.? Together, we obtained a precedent-setting conviction, and the case was written up in the Globe and Mail as a “landmark victory” for the Huron-Wendat people and First Nations rights in Canada.

Finally, the Huron-Wendat and their legacy was legally recognized in Ontario.

What followed was a tidal wave of notices to the Huron-Wendat under the EA Act of new projects that threatened Huron-Wendat villages and burials all across southern Ontario.

A court challenge of the new status of the Huron-Wendat was launched by developers and other First Nations, fearful of a loss of land and authority over Aboriginal sites. The case forced Heather, by now well into her 70s, to testify on behalf of her Nation in another landmark case in Seaton, Ontario. Heather and Luc Laine had negotiated a breakthrough heritage conservation agreement with the government of Ontario that would see four significant Huron-Wendat sites protected from a single urban development, a momentous development agreement (not seen before or since). The court agreed with everything Luc and Heather had done, and further that the Huron-Wendat had the sole authority to make the agreement concerning their sites. Another victory was secured in which the court unanimously recognized the Huron-Wendat interest in their archaeological record in Ontario.

On December 7th, 2005, the Ontario Realty Corporation remitted to Heather Bastien a certificate certifying that a Wendat Site in Ontario would, from now on, be named for the Bastien Family, that is the Sébastien Site in the City of Pickering. This honour was given as a word of thanks for her great contribution to the conservation/protection of sites and ossuaries found across Ontario. After the ceremony, the media quoted ORC spokesman Jim Butticci, who said, "We feel this was an important event in the ongoing relationship ORC is building with the First Nations community. The very fact we named it Sebastien is very significant”. The naming of Aboriginal sites after archaeologists, landowners or almost anything was a long-standing tradition in Ontario, until Heather and Luc put a stop to it. Burials and village sites commonly had names such as “Seed-Barker”, “Milroy”, “Teston Road” or “Park” (named after a nearby trailer park). Heather made it her personal mission to respectfully re-name new and old Aboriginal sites.

On Thursday March 28, 2013, Mme Heather Bastien received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in Wendake, Quebec. The Medal was presented by the National Aboriginal Veterans Association for Heather's work in commemorating ancient Huron-Wendat cultural heritage sites by re-naming them after Huron-Wendat veterans, such as Marcel Bastien and Fernand Laine, who had been treated so shabbily upon their return from war.

Perhaps Heather and Luc’s greatest victory was the preservation of Skandatut and the repatriation and re-burial of 2,000 Huron-Wendat skeletons at a nearby ossuary in Vaughan Ontario. Skandatut is a very large, 15th century village site in Ontario’s Greenbelt that would have served at one point as the Huron-Wendat capital. A developer sought a development permit to destroy the site to make way for new homes, and had begun to dig up the site.

What followed was another court case, and an incredible public education and awareness campaign led by Heather, Luc and Environmental Defence. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo ultimately wrote Premier Dalton McGuinty, calling Skandatut an “internationally significant site of high historical and archaeological significance”, and asked for its preservation in the name of all First Nations people.

The Premier listened, issuing an unprecedented “Stop Work Order” under the Ontario Heritage Act. Heather and Luc traveled to Toronto many, many times as part of a provincially-led negotiation that culminated in the successful creation of a 10-acre park, with Skandatut at its heart.

At this time in Ontario history, Aboriginal burial sites were routinely dug up without consent for academic purposes, or to make way for development. The Ontario Cemeteries Act did not require notice to the rightful descendants when a burial was discovered i.e. the most closely culturally affiliated Nation, but rather allowed notice to the “closest geographic” First Nation. For example, in August 2005 when a roadwork crew tore open a 400-person Huron-Wendat ossuary on Teston Road in Vaughan, the government called in an Anishnawbe person to conduct the re-burial. For decades, no one cared about Huron-Wendat burials. Heather and Luc set about changing the laws on Aboriginal burials and cultural affiliation.

They met their greatest challenge upon learning the University of Toronto had been storing (on Huron Street, if you can imagine) thousands of bones dug up by archaeologists from Huron-Wendat ossuaries across Ontario. Nearly two thousand Huron-Wendat ancestors were stored in banker’s boxes, all jumbled together by bone type, with titles like “skulls”, “femurs”, “teeth”, etc. scribbled on the sides of the boxes.

When Heather first entered the storage area, her heart sank. To make matters worse, at first the University of Toronto claimed ownership over the bones, and maintained a right to continue to perform scientific experiments without consent. Another court case was initiated, with Heather and Luc in the lead for the Huron-Wendat. Gradually, with overwhelming perseverance, patience and conviction, both the University of Toronto and the Ontario Heritage Trust were won over. A site was found for the re-burial across the Humber River from Skandatut, along the Carrying Place Trail, which is now known as the Thonnakona Ossuary.

In May 2012, in order to finalize the Thonnakona burial agreement, Heather and the Huron-Wendat Nation travelled to Miami, Oklahoma to reach an accord over ancestral sites with the Wyandotte First Nation, separated from the Wendat in 1650.

One day in September, 2013 under a sunny sky, the ancestors’ remains were laid to rest in a day-long ceremony. The Thonnakona Ossuary and the newly protected Skandatut would be forever linked and protected in Ontario’s first dedicated cultural heritage landscape.

When she was asked what preserving Skandatut and the ossuary meant to her, she said in giving thanks to the Province of Ontario:

“We created a permanently protected cultural heritage landscape in the Greenbelt. Preserving Skandatut, our ancient capital and burial ground, is a great legacy for all Nations."

As part of this legacy, Heather and Luc made it a priority to stop decades of indifference and hostility over ancient sites between Ontario’s three Founding First Nations. Heather, Luc and her legal team travelled to several Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assemblies, where meetings between the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishnawbe eventually led to a Memorandum of Understanding being signed to create the “Founding First Nations’ Circle” clearly ceding rights and responsibilities to the “closest culturally effected First Nation”, whenever a village or burial is threatened.

There is one final project of note. In 2010, Heather and Luc began a collaboration with Yap Films, History Television and ASI to produce a film about a particularly unique artifact found at a 16th century village site in Stouffville, Ontario, sometime referred to as the “Manhattan” of Huron-Wendat village sites. The Mantle site excavation yielded a piece of a Basque iron tool that was curiously buried in a long-house that pre-dated direct contact with Europeans in the lower Great Lakes. The resulting film, “Curse of the Axe,” featured Luc and Heather as they animated the experience of coming face-to-face with the ancestors. The film has now been viewed by more than three million people around the world, further extending the reach of the Huron-Wendat into the national and international consciousness.

Heather did not just change people’s minds about aboriginal rights, she also changed the law in four different ways. First, consultation with directly affected First Nations is now mandatory under the Environmental Assessment Act. Second, the Cemeteries Act was re-written so that the “most closely culturally affiliated” First Nation is notified whenever a burial is disturbed. Third, under Ontario’s Planning Act, Policy 2.1.6 of the Provincial Policy Statement now says “Significant cultural heritage landscapes shall be conserved.” Finally, the “Standards and Guidelines for Consultant Archaeologists” under the Ontario Heritage Act now requires consultation with First Nations before a site can be excavated.

This extraordinary record of law reform was a collaboration led by Heather and Luc, and their many friends in Ontario, including Donnelly Law, Environmental Defence, Archaeological Services Inc., Jacques Huot, Dr. Andrew Stewart, Gilbert’s LLP, a number of women’s and Aboriginal rights organizations and many others. In all, Heather and Luc enlisted close to 100 professionals, lawyers, archaeologists, scientists, media, and politicians in their pursuit of justice for the Huron-Wendat people.

Heather was finally “retired” as the Huron-Wendat Cultural Heritage Liaison in 2013. In her dozen years of advocacy, she was involved in 53 files, serving almost entirely as a volunteer.

She would be very cross with me if I left you with the impression her work is done. Ninety-seven ancient Huron-Wendat ancestors’ bones are being experimented upon at Louisiana State University, and the university legal counsel is refusing to hand them back. The bones were stolen from an ossuary in Oshawa, Ontario.

The City of Toronto website still says our region was occupied by “Iroquoian people”, instead of the proud Huron-Wendat people. That phrase bothered Heather, and she used to tease me, “try calling an Irishman ‘potato eater’”.

Finally, Notice of projects that threaten First Nation’s sites are given, as required by law, to local residents, conservation authorities, school boards, Ontario Hydro, gas and electric utilities, Rogers Cable and other telecommunication infrastructure providers, and the list goes on.

You must only notify the Huron-Wendat Nation of a project that threatens your sites if, and I quote the Regulation, “The First Nation is located on a reserve any part of which is within one kilometre of the area covered by the proposed plan of subdivision.” For projects in Ontario, this means Notice is NEVER given to the Huron-Wendat. This is profoundly racist and an insult to First Nations that needs to be fixed.

Now I hear Heather’s voice, “That’s enough about me David, just tell them our work is far from done”.

And so I will answer, “That’s true Heather, but you and Luc put the Huron-Wendat back on the map in your Traditional Territory. Huron-Wendat rights and responsibilities have been restored in your name, your work is done”.

Merci, Heather.

RIP Heather Bastien, 1932-2017

Delivered at: Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Church, Wendake PQ Delivered by: David Donnelly, MES LLB Date: February 4, 2017

Burl's Creek Hearing Wraps Up

The Burl's Creek hearing wrapped up on January 19, 2017. The Orillia Packet and Times published an article on all parties' closing submissions: http://www.orilliapacket.com/2017/02/16/closing-arguments-submitted-in-omb-hearing

David Donnelly on Greenbelting Halifax

David was recently invited to Halifax to speak about greenbelting Halifax. Condemning mushrooming suburban growth as a “great failed experiment,” Toronto-based attorney David Donnelly is joining forces with the Our HRM Alliance to push for a full-on greenbelt around Halifax.

Our HRM Alliance says that a greenbelt would both preserve local ecosystems and redirect growth to downtown cores, suburban main streets and rural areas across Halifax Regional Municipality.

“The planner in me says: get the true cost-accounting of urban sprawl and then your decision is easy. Let people live downtown and in existing settlement areas and save taxpayers a lot of money,” Donnelly told the Chronicle Herald.

Read the full article here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1433531-ending-urban-sprawl-can-make-you-happier-says-expert