Stop the Mega Quarry in Melancthon Township or Life Will Suffer
Submitted by Guest on Fri, 2011-05-20 09:23
By Danny Beaton,
Turtle Clan Mohawk
I am honored to be asked by the farmers of Melancthon/Mulmur Townships to join them in their struggle to protect their water and farmland from the proposed Mega Quarry by the Highland Company privately backed by Boston multi billion dollar hedge fund. As a native/indigenous man of the Turtle Clan Mohawk Nation I have had a chance to listen to many community citizens of Dufferin County to learn of the concerns to the threat to farmland and clean water supply.
Since hearing the concerns of farmers and citizens I have had a chance to view the document and research by the Suzuki Foundation. Also taking into consideration the location of this Mega Quarry is near the headwaters of at least many major rivers flowing: the Grand River, Pine, Nottawasaga, Saugeen, Noisy, Boyne, and the Mad River. Beneath these rivers lay the pure flowing aquifers that are a drinking source to surrounding towns and cities for at least a million people. Second to the issue of fresh water supply is the quality of soil available to the farmers of the area.
This type of soil for growing is called Honeywood silt loam and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture has asked the Township of Melancthon to classify the region under Specialty Crops Area, a designation that would afford the land the highest priority of being protected for ongoing crop production. Looking at the scope of such a mega quarry open mine pit in the heartland of farming country and its impact on production of a food supply for our future generations seems odd even insane to me to put it mildly. In fact, the development of this mega quarry is negative and a serious problem to society and farmland as it is not a positive business.
A positive business would not destroy productive agricultural land or activity that sustains life and people. The quarry is so negative it would alter the headwaters of at least 5 rivers which many species depend on: fox, coyote, wolf, beaver, lynx, rabbit, deer, ducks, geese, turkey, pike, pickerel, trout, salmon, turtles, salamanders, snakes, and many others who rely on these rivers and expect us to be their voice as is the duties of us Human Beings.
It is obvious to many that this quarry would create a wasteland and dust in a rural farmland setting. It can poison the drinking water for our children and our children’s children and their children, so we must think of protecting their future and our elders say we must think Seven Generations ahead! This is our way of life, our way of life must not be changed for profit and your way of life must not be changed for profit. Profit is not supposed to destroy drinking water; profit is not supposed to destroy prime farmland.
If we poison our food supply we will have to eat it, if we poison our water we will have to drink it, but our children will have to as well and are they supposed to suffer from our mistakes, our neglect our negativity against life. Is this kind of crime allowed to happen in the history of our civilization with all the lawyers, police, army and justice in Canada? We need laws and agendas enforced to protect life! Who will protect Mother Earth and her Blood? We cannot eat Limestone or drink mud! We need our fresh water supply protected!!!
The researchers for David Suzuki’s Foundation are professional scientists who specialize in data and facts about life. Are we supposed to ignore the facts from scientists; are we suppose to ignore the warning of our farmers; are we supposed to ignore the citizens of Ontario?
Are we supposed to ignore the native people who have an understanding and connection to Mother Earth?
The hole that will be dug to extract the product for China and Boston etc… will be 20 stories deep and possibly 7500 acres wide, one of the largest open pit mines in Canada. Will Ontario allow such a monster to rape and kill life? As a native environmentalist I urge the Assembly of First Nations and Chiefs of Ontario to get involved in this struggle now and demand a stop to this development and all mega projects on the farmlands of Ontario and water supply!
As a Human Being on this sacred journey of life I ask Minister Linda Jeffery and Honorable Dalton McGuinty to stop this mega quarry before things escalate because this project goes against life!
When the people look into the sacred treaties of the Great Iroquois and Ojibwa Nations you will see that we were promised fresh water and game as long as the grass grows and the sun shines. The quarry will be an attack on our relations and our way of life. We should not make the land unreal. Limestone will not feed our unborn, limestone will not produce a rich food supply for our families in the future, and this mining will be a form of eco-genocide!
These are my thoughts, my prayer is for life, we belong to Mother Earth and Mother Earth is terribly wounded. Our old elders, chiefs and Clan Mothers are saying over and over we must protect her! My uncle taught me a great lesson in life and that lesson he said ‘‘is if you are awake you cannot deny the truth, everything is alive and everything has a Spirit, our Relatives and Relations are our allies ‘’
For Mother Earth and My Ancestors