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UPDATE: Barlow returns to Tiny Township for Site 41 anniversary

In May 2009, when it was all but certain that the Site 41 garbage dump would proceed, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow stated in a Toronto Star interview, “This dump will not open.”

Due to the efforts of a remarkable group of people, an incredible chain of events then followed.

On August 26, 2009, the Globe and Mail reported, “Environmental activists won a significant victory in the 25-year battle over the construction of a contentious garbage dump in Simcoe County Tuesday after the county council voted to impose a one-year moratorium on the development of Site 41. The Simcoe County Council yesterday voted 22-10 in favour of halting construction. When the result of the vote was announced hundreds of dump opponents in the public gallery and hundreds more waiting outside erupted in applause.” Then on September 22, 2009 at 9:58 am, we were present at Simcoe County Council and were able to report, “Simcoe County council has voted in 93-13 ‘to cease construction and all further development of Site 41.” And on May 26, 2010, the Toronto Star reported, “The province has revoked the operating certificate of approval for Elmvale’s notorious Dump Site 41, just hours after Simcoe County Council voted Tuesday to rezone the landfill for agricultural uses. The decision means the site will be permanently shuttered. The twin moves put an end to more than 20 years of fighting by local activists to scrap the proposed landfill on 20.7 hectares of farmland just north of Elmvale.”

Now, almost two years to the day that the provincial government revoked the certificate of approval for the garbage dump, Maude Barlow will be in Tiny Township on Monday May 28 to mark the anniversary of the defeat of Site 41. Liz Marshall, the filmmaker who documented Barlow’s fight against Site 41 in ‘Water On The Table’ will be there too to capture the visit on film. More soon.

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