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
Economic Benefits Questioned at OMB Hearing
On the sixth day of the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") hearing regarding the Burl's Creek Event Grounds the OMB heard the opinions of both Mr. Arthur Churchyard, a policy advisor with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs ("OMAFRA"), and Dr. Peter Tomlinson regarding the temporary use by-law proposed for Burl's Creek and the economic impact of the events happening there. Mr. Churchyard's analysis focused at length on Section 2.3.6 of the Provincial Policy Statement, which lays out a number of tests any proposal would need to meet to get a green light from OMAFRA.
“There needs to be an actual land-use argument about whether there is a demand for a site,” Churchyard said. “I would not be able to support this proposed use as being consistent with (Section) 2.3.6.”
Mr. Churchyard challenged Burl's Creek's market analysis in that it did not go far enough to assess the demand for such uses beyond ticket sales for the events and that it did not go far enough to look for alternative sites for such events.
When Dr. Tomlinson took the stand he began his testimony by telling the board the camping and parking being considered under the temporary use by-law were actually a drain on the local economy, when looked at on their own.
“The concerts provide the economic benefits,” he said. “The camping on-site is probably — considered on its own — a negative economic impact ... simply because of the on-site camping penning the attendees in the event grounds, where there are no in-and-out privileges and where they're compelled to buy their food and beverages the organizers bring onto the event grounds.”
The hearing adjourned at the conclusion of Dr. Tomlinson's testimony, with a resumption date to be determined.
Read the news coverage here.
Noise focus of Burl's Creek OMB testimony on Tuesday
Week two of the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") hearing regarding the Burl's Creek Event Grounds opened with the testimony of three lay witnesses called to testify by SaveOro and West Oro Ratepayers' Association ("WORA"). The lay witnesses were followed by John Coulter, an acoustical engineer for SaveOro and WORA.
Read the news coverage here.
Week 1 of Burl's Creek OMB hearing wraps up
Despite assurances and best intentions, the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") hearing into the temporary zoning by-law proposed by Burl's Creek Event Grounds ended its first week of testimony far away from a resolution. Darren Vella, founder of Innovative Planning Services and the land-use planner retained by Burl's Creek, resumed his testimony to close out the Burl's Creek case. His testimony was designed to tie together the evidence given by the proponent's other expert witnesses.
It was assumed Vella would be cross-examined Friday as well, bringing a close to the Burl's Creek case. However, given the length of the Vella's testimony and the depth of the information he was presenting, the session ended while he was still in chief. Given Vella's prior commitments outside of the country next week, accommodating a cross-examination was not going to be simple.
“We keep adding time,” Chair Richard Makuch said. “When I saw this (as) three days ... I'm not pointing the finger at anybody; I'm just saying it was totally unrealistic.”
“I'm the only one in the room who can say 'I agree with you' with a straight face,” Donnelly added.
Read the news coverage here.
Participants tell OMB how they feel about Burl's Creek
Numerous stakeholders got their chance to officially tell the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") just how they feel about the proposed temporary use by-law for Burl's Creek Event Grounds Wednesday night. Participant statements were heard by the board at the conclusion of a marathon session Wednesday, which lasted approximately 12 hours, including lunch and dinner breaks.
Read the news coverage here.
Day 3: First Nation call for more studies of Burl's Creek surfaces at OMB hearing
On the third day of the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") hearing regarding the Burl's Creek Event Grounds arguments surrounding archaeological issues and First Nation concerns continued. The letters from the Huron-Wendat and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport were brought up again Thursday morning, as Paul Racher, the expert archaeologist for the Montagnais Métis First Nation, testified in front of the board.
During cross-examination, Save Oro and West Oro Ratepayers' Association lawyer David Donnelly led Racher through the letters, asking his professional opinion on their contents.
"The potential for disturbance is a risk the nation simply cannot take," Donnelly read from the letter. "Sir, is it clear to you, an archaeologist, that the Huron-Wendat Nation is withholding consent for the temporary use by-law to proceed before the proper archaeological assessments occur?"
"Absolutely," Racher replied.
The concern of the Huron-Wendat, Montagnais Métis and other like-minded individuals, such as Racher, is the compaction of the soil from camping and parking could damage any artifacts found underground, particularly in such a rich archaeological area as Oro-Medonte Township. Regardless, Racher said, most lands in the province are presumed to house archaeological artifacts until proven otherwise.
Read the news coverage here.
Land use, First Nation concerns on display during Day 2 of Burl's Creek OMB hearing
On the second day of the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") hearing regarding the Burl's Creek Event Grounds archaeological issues and First Nations concerns were explored by Chief Keith Doxsee representing the Montagnais Metis First Nation, and David Donnelly, counsel for SaveOro and West Oro Ratepayers' Association ("WORA"). Under cross-examination, Jamie Lemon, who prepared a Stage 1 archeological assessment for Burl's Creek, said both the Huron-Wendat Nation and Ministry of Tourism, Sport and Culture wrote in separate letters dated May 19 saying the temporary zoning by-law should not go forward until after a Stage 2 assessment is complete.
Mr. Dave Hogson, an agrologist for Burl's Creek, and Mr. Gord Miller, former Environmental Commissioner for Ontario and econologist for SaveOro and WORA, also took the stand.
A significant portion of David Donnelly's cross-examination of Hodgson was based on the latter's change of opinion regarding the type of buffer required via a minimum distance separation zone. Hodgson had previously considered a Type A buffer, which is substantially larger than a Type B buffer. Hodgson's opinion changed because he didn't consider the events occurring on the subject lands as “high intensity” recreational use.
Miller disagreed with Hodgson's classification. “The density is far in excess of what you see in any normal campground situation,” Miller said. “All this is on the highest impact of camping, as it were. This is hardly camping in a normal sense of the word. This is an intensive use of the land more akin to a box store parking lot than camping.
Read the news coverage here.
Lengthy opening day at Burl's Creek OMB climaxes with tense cross examination
On Tuesday May 24, 2016 the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") hearing on the temporary use by-law application for Burl's Creek Event Grounds begun. The hearing began with Burl's Creek calling Mr. Henry Regelink, an Oro-Medonte farmer, Sgt. Guiseppe Pileggi, an OPP Officer summonsed by Burl's Creek, a brief introduction by Mr. Darren Vella, a land-use planner for Burl's Creek, and Mr. Peter Thoma, a land economist and market expert.
Most notably, Mr. Thoma had told the board it was not reasonable to put the Wayhome and Boots & Hearts festivals anywhere else besides Burl's Creek. He came to this realization by both examining other concert festival sites in the province, including Canadian Tire Motor Sports Park in Clarington and Downsview Park in Toronto.
Mr. David Donnelly didn't think Thoma had looked hard – or far – enough. If the majority of the concert goers were coming from points south of the Holland Marsh, he said, why have them travel so far north?
“It would have been actually more convenient for people to come to a festival in King City than it would be all the way up here in Orillia?” Donnelly opined. “That's where they live.”
The cross-examination of Thoma was at times tense, with the land economist often appearing unamused with Donnelly's line of questioning.
Read the news coverage here.
Private Prosecution of Republic Live Continues
Donnelly Law represents a private informant in a private prosecution, now against Republic Live Inc. only, for charges related to the WayHome Music and Arts Festival and Boots and Hearts Music Festival. We appeared in court on Monday, March 14, 2016. Read the Orillia Packet and Times article here. The next scheduled court appearance is April 11, 2016.
David Donnelly Speaks at Simcoe County Greenbelt Townhall
David Donnelly was invited to speak at a meeting sponsored by the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition and AWARE Simcoe, along with Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman, Liberal Barrie MPP Ann Hoggarth, Conservative MPs John Brassard (Barrie-Innisfil) and Alex Nuttall (Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte), and Oakville Mayor Rob Burton. Lawyer David Donnelly noted that, according to land economists at the provincial Ministry of Municipal and Housing, Ontario has designated enough land to accommodate its projected employment and residential needs until 2041.
“There is no danger of running out of developable land,” Donnelly said. So the logical conclusion is that “we need to protect what we have in a natural cover state.”
Read about the event and discussion here.
Donnelly Law Client: SaveOro and West Oro Ratepayers' Association
On Tuesday, July 14, Oro-Medonte Council denied Burl's Creek Event Grounds’ special event permit application to allow camping and parking on mostly prime agricultural land. Council did, however, issue a special event permit for the 92-acre concert site. David attended a rally against the special event, organized by SaveOro, reminding residents the proposed special events on prime agricultural land are illegal.
Read more here: http://www.orilliapacket.com/2015/07/14/large-festivals-will-have-to-be-restricted-to-92-acres
Donnelly Law Client Featured in Radio Canada Story
Donnelly Law represents Ms Gillian Evans and Mr. David Toyne, residents of Upper Cold Creek in Vaughan, Ontario. On May 22, 2015, Radio Canada covered Ms Evans and Mr. Toyne's appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board, where they are seeking an appropriate buffer to protect the ongoing operation of their multi-generation family farm from residential development adjacent to the farm. Read about it and watch the video here.
Greenbelting Halifax: One Step Closer to Reality
On November 17, 2014, Halifax Regional Municipality (“HRM”) issued a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) for a qualified firm to “go beyond the conventional parks planning approach” to develop HRM’s Greenbelting and Open Spaces Priorities Plan. Donnelly Law will review the Greenbelting RFP to ensure HRM Staff is ambitious with its plan to protect and connect HRM’s natural heritage, cultural landscapes, open spaces, and agricultural lands. Our HRM Alliance, a group of organizations from the Halifax area, envisions a Greenbelt that establishes a permanent development boundary around Halifax to control sprawl, reduce servicing and infrastructure costs, connect green spaces and provide public access to the coastline. Over the past several years, David Donnelly and Donnelly Law have been supporting the terrific work of Our HRM Alliance and the Halifax Ecology Action Centre (“EAC”) in advocating for the establishment of a Greenbelt for Halifax.
As part of the Greenbelt planning exercise, David Donnelly and Bruce Lourie (President, Ivey Foundation) were invited to deliver the 2011 Carmichael Lecture, the premier civic discussion of policy and urban design for Halifax. David has also presented at Our HRM Alliance workshops, sharing his experience on establishing Ontario’s Greenbelt Plan, which will mark its 10th Anniversary next year.
David Donnelly Comments on Development in Midhurst
Development plan divides Simcoe County village
RACHEL MENDLESON / TORONTO STAR
In a rural village in Simcoe County, concerned residents have turned the municipal election into a referendum on growth, and to some extent, the province’s efforts to limit sprawl in the fertile farmland north of the protected Greenbelt.
[...]
However, according to environmental lawyer David Donnelly, who has been involved in a number of land-use battles in Simcoe County, the special rule is “one of the most extreme examples in Ontario of ministerial discretion being used (to) bypass planning laws designed to limit urban sprawl.”
“The Midhurst special rule is like hitting the jackpot in a lottery, when the government only sold one ticket,” he said.
Read the recent article in the Toronto Star found here
Donnelly Law Clients Host Meeting to Bring Awairness About Fill
Local activists fight “tsunami of soil” at Tottenham Airfield
Wendy Gabrek
The New Tecumseth Times
July 23, 2014
On Tuesday, July 15th the group ‘New Tecumseth, Caledon, King – Citizens for Clean Water’ (or NTCK–CCW, formerly the Tottenham Citizens for Clean Water) held its first General Meeting at the Tecumseth Pines Community Centre.
The event was well attended – with standing room only – and focused on the quality of fill being dumped at the site of the Tottenham Airfield Corporation (or TAC), owned by John Bailey of Brownfield Developments of Toronto, on Hwy. 9 just east of Tottenham Road, and adjacent to Tecumseth Pines on protected Oak Ridges Moraine, Linkage II, land.
Read the whole article here
Ontario Court of Appeal Rejects Appeal, City of Burlington Can Enforce Fill By-law and Protect the Environment
Burlington Airpark Inc. (“Airpark”) is the owner and operator of the Burlington Executive Airport, an aerodrome, located in the City of Burlington within the Protected Countryside Area of the Greenbelt Plan and adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area. For over five (5) years, Airpark has been bringing substantial quantities of fill onto their property to build up their runway.
In the spring of 2013, the City of Burlington issued an order to Airpark to comply with fill by-law 6-2003. The City of Burlington by-law 6-2003 states:
"No person shall place or dump fill on or alter the grade of any lands in the City without having first obtained a Site Alteration Permit. A person applying for a Permit must certify that the fill contains no contaminants within the meaning of the Environmental Protection Act. An applicant for a permit must submit a Control Plan, certified by an Ontario professional engineer. The City may also require random testing of any fill before it is placed on the site or removed on it."
The City of Burlington had concerns with the amount of fill deposited, adverse drainage effects from the imposition of gradient and slope changes, and possibility for contamination by pollutants entering area groundwater.
Airpark refused to comply with City of Burlington by-law 6-2003 arguing that they fell under federal jurisdiction and thus were not obligated to comply with municipal by-laws.
In the fall of 2013 the City of Burlington filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice requesting:
a)An order determining Burlington’s rights under the Municipal Act 2001, SO 2001c. and the Constitution act, 1867 to enforce by-laws relating to fill operations at an aerodrome operated by the respondent;
b)A declaration that Burlington’s by-law 6-2003 is valid and binding upon the respondent in respect to its activities at the airport; and
c)An order requiring the respondent to comply with the by-law forthwith.
The Ontario Superior Court held that municipal by-laws regarding fill do not intrude onto Parliament’s core jurisdiction over aeronautics and are thus applicable. In Justice Murray’s November 13, 2013 decision he states at paragraph 19:
"There is little doubt that the runway construction must comply with the federal specifications relating to slopes, surfaces of runways, runway shoulders and the slopes and strength or runway shoulders. However, requiring Airpark to use clean fill regulated by the municipality for the benefit of other residents in the municipality will not be permanently reflected in the structure of the finished product in the sense meant by Justice Beetz. The by-law is not an attempt by the municipality to regulate slopes or surfaces of runways, runway shoulders or the slopes and strength of runway shoulders. While regulating the quality of fill may have an impact on the manner of carrying out a decision to build airport facilities in accordance with federal specifications, such regulations will not have any direct effect upon the operational qualities or suitability of the finished product which will be used for purposes of aeronautics."
On June 11, 2014 the Superior Court of Justice heard argument regarding the appeal from Burlington Airpark Inc. of the decision of Justice Murray of the Superior Court of Justice. Donnelly Law attended the hearing.
The Superior Court decision in the Burlington Airpark Inc. matter was rendered on November 13, 2013 by Justice Murray. In his decision, Justice Murray states that compliance with the Burlington by-law will not impair federal aeronautics power or create an operational conflict between the provisions of the by-laws and federal aeronautics power. The appeal raised the question whether the City of Burlington fill by-law is a significant and serious intrusion into Parliament’s core jurisdiction over aeronautics.
Burlington Airpark Inc.’s lawyer, Mr. Peter Wells, presented his case addressing the following main points:
1.Justice Murray failed to properly apply inter-jurisdictional immunity;
2.Making the City of Burlington By-law applicable to the Airpark would effectively prevent or control the airport construction which is outside of the jurisdiction of the municipality.
Mr. Wells then argued a motion for leave to adduce additional evidence. This evidence was deemed to be irrelevant to the issue before the Court and was dismissed.
Once Mr. Wells completed his submission to the Court, the court recessed for 10 minutes. Upon returning, Counsel for the City of Burlington, Mr. Ian Blue, was informed that the Court did not need to hear oral submission from him but merely wanted to ask him one question. Justice Simmons asked Mr. Blue what the intention of the by-law was. Mr. Blue answered that the intention of the City of Burlington has always been the monitoring of fill on the site with respect to contamination. The City of Burlington has not nor is it interested in regulating the slopes grade or other aspects of the construction of the Airpark runway.
The Court recessed for another 10 minutes and returned with its final decision. The decision was rendered orally by Justice McPherson who first thanked counsel for their helpful and well written facta. Justice McPherson rendered an oral decision stating that the Court did not agree with Mr. Well’s argument and would uphold the decision of Justice Murray dismissing the appeal.