Chippewas chief presses Georgina for stance on Upper York Sewage Solution

Will provide clarity on 'glaring issue': Chief Donna Big Canoe

Yorkregion.com
March 7, 2019
Heidi Riedner

Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation Chief Donna Big Canoe wants Georgina Council to take an official position on the region’s Upper York Sewage Solution.

If approved, the $685-million project that would provide additional servicing for the more than 150,000 new people and jobs projected for Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury by 2031, would dump more than 40 million litres of treated wastewater per day into the Lake Simcoe Watershed.

Big Canoe referred to the “glaring issue” in a Jan. 28 letter to Mayor Margaret Quirk, which was included on the agenda for the March 6 meeting of town council.

“As a respected ally, who declares a friendship with our First Nation and acknowledges the Chippewas territory to where the Town of Georgina is situated, we ask that you take an official position on the Upper York Sewage Solution”, which would “provide clarity” on how the two governments could work together moving forward on an issue that affects both communities, Big Canoe wrote.

Hailed by the region and the area’s conservation authority as the most advanced in Canada and well beyond anything already being done on the lake -- which is also home to 15 other sewage plants that have been dumping effluent into the lake for decades -- the project has never passed the smell test with area residents, including the Chippewas of Georgina Island.

More than 35,000 people signed a petition initiated by the Chippewas last year, which rejects the UYSS project as it stands over several issues, including potential long-term effects of the sewage plant drastically changing the way of life for island residents and, more specifically, concerns around pharmaceutical and personal care products in the water.

While the project has been in a holding pattern waiting for provincial approval of its Environmental Assessment, Big Canoe says efforts to pursue alternative options and mitigation with the province and the region over several issues raised to date have not been successful.

Stating the project would infringe upon Georgina lsland's hunting and fishing rights and harm the environment and already vulnerable drinking water, Big Canoe said the few attempts to follow duty-to-consult requirements have been “inadequately executed”, with little interest in First Nation input.

“Georgina lsland is a First Nations community with constitutional Indigenous rights that may be impacted by this development such as health, fishing, hunting and harvesting rights, among others,” Big Canoe said, adding the First Nation has always been willing to move forward, but the impacts to their rights and managing pollution have been “explicitly off the table” with the region and province to date.

While council (with the exception of Regional Coun. Rob Grossi, who was absent) unanimously voted to send letters to the province and Chippewas stating it “shares the concerns” expressed by Georgina Island First Nation, it stopped short of taking an official stance either for or against the project.

“Our position is one of sharing their concerns,” Quirk said, adding she spoke to Big Canoe and informed her the town wants to be of assistance to help them get the answers they are seeking and push the province to follow through on its duty to consult.

“There are certain things that maybe we need to get more clarification on if we are going to have this discussion again in the future,” she added.

As a result, staff were directed to compile a comprehensive timeline of town actions back to 2011, including any reports, resolutions and bylaws, as well as any information the Chippewas may have regarding a review of the environmental assessment, prior to any further discussion at the council table.

It will also ask the region for an update on the pilot project at the Keswick treatment plant that used the same filtration membranes proposed for the UYSS.

In terms of how the town and the band can work together, council voted to initiate a forum including municipalities around the lake, the Chippewas of Georgina Island, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, Simcoe County, the regions of York and Durham and the province.

The intent would be to address the health of Lake Simcoe in regard to all the water treatment plants discharging into it, which includes the Keswick and Sutton plants, while achieving the legislated goals contained within the Lake Simcoe Protection Act.

That would address "an overall solution", rather than a "pigeonhole" one just focused on York Region, Coun. Dave Neeson said.