Young opponents of the Zorra landfill. Photo by Mark Calzavara.
The Council of Canadians London chapter is campaigning to stop the proposed Zorra landfill near Ingersoll (located about 40 kilometres east of London). The 200-acre site – to be situated in a mined-out portion of a quarry near the Thames River – would receive garbage from all over Ontario.
The Woodstock Sentinel-Review reports, “A group of social action organizations — including Oxford People Against the Landfill, Oxford Coalition for Social Justice, Green Watch and the Council of Canadians — took to the Ingersoll street corners [on December 26] to remind local drivers and pedestrians of the issue. …Roberta Cory of the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians, said she joined the protest Friday because residents have ‘a right to clean air and water’. ‘We believe that a corporation doesn’t have the right to make a profit if they are impinging on people’s clean air and water’, she said. ‘We’re not laying down on this.'”
In April 2014, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke at a rally in Ingersoll and stated, “There are many reasons to fight Walker Environmental Group’s Southwest Landfill proposal, but none more important than water. …It’s a real and present danger to drinking water and groundwater in general.”
The news article adds, “[OPAL] is urging local residents to recycle their Christmas cards by writing their opposition to the proposed landfill on them and either mailing them to Minister of Environment and Climate Change Glen Murray or drop them off at [Oxford] MPP Ernie Hardeman’s office to be forwarded.”
For more on this, please visit the OPAL website and Facebook page.
Further reading
London chapter opposes dump near Ingersoll (June 2014 blog)
“A River Runs Through Us” with Maude Barlow in Ingersoll (April 2014 blog by Mark Calzavara)
First Site 41, now the Zorra landfill (February 2014 blog)
Council of Canadians opposes landfill in Oxford County (December 2012 blog)
