The Barrie Examiner reports this morning that, “(As of Friday), it is day 12 of the Site 41 landfill site blockade and the waiting game has begun. Thursday, the OPP warned that if they continue to block the entrances they could be charged with intimidation and mischief; both Criminal Code offences.”
“The Anishnabe women who set up a camp site across the road in May have been prepared all along to be arrested. The farmers — who daily reinforce their ranks — are just as adamant in their determination to shut down the project.”
“But they have mixed feelings about being arrested; their concern is evident in their faces and by the questions they ask. Mark Calzavara, a regional organizer for the Council of Canadians, circulated among them offering advice about what to expect if the police come and they are arrested. He makes the point that deciding to be arrested is a tough choice; a choice that could mean having a criminal record. The point strikes home, especially with the farmers; most of whom have probably never even had a parking ticket.”
“The protesters know that eventually the police will come. Will they come on the weekend? Or will they wait until Monday? No one is sure. But there is one thing many protesters agree on: Whatever happens here in the coming days will occur with the compliments of Premier Dalton McGuinty.”
A man sporting a Royal Canadian Legion hat says, “He’s ignoring the people. We fought for peoples’ right to protest. If he’s prepared to have seniors and farmers and these women from Christian Island arrested . . . he will have to live with that on his conscience.”
To write Premier McGuinty and ‘help save the world’s purest water from being turned into a dump site’, please respond today to the Council of Canadians action alert at http://canadians.org/action/2009/10-July-09.html.
Our media release ‘OPP threatens arrests at Site 41, protesters will not yield’, can be read at http://canadians.org/media/water/2009/16-July-09.html.
Today’s Barrie Examiner article can be read http://m.thebarrieexaminer.com/article.aspx?a=1661773.
