<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Hi everyone<br><br>First off, Susan you are absolutely right. We need to talk to other communities to join forces on this one.<br><br>Whether it's gravel pits, water taking permits or smog emissions, the baseline issues creating the largest risk is the absence of data on the large scale. We need to establish a computerized program specifically designed to gather the data on all existing water, quarry and pollution discharge permits (and/or proposed permits) and start realistically looking at risks associated with cumulative impacts on communities.<br><br>In absence of this system at the provincial and federal level, I think the first step we could take is to encourage our own region to take the initiative to gather this data at the local level in order to plan our community and identify risks.
I'm certain this could be funded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green initiatives funding to help build the first model. We are after all, the tech capital of Canada! If we approach the Federation of Canadian Municipalities about establishing this system as part of a larger program registry for all municipalities to record their data we can start to build the solutions we need to see from the ground up.<br><br>Makes sense to me seeing that health care costs are assumed at the Regional level. They have more of an incentive to do this seeing that they (*aka US regional taxpayers) are the ones assuming the externalized costs of pollution. Where problems are identified, we can then reasonably work in solutions to remedy. If we had such data, it would sure make supporting the LRT easier don't you think? <br><br>Lulu<br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times
new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Susan Koswan <dandelion@gto.net><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> gren <all@gren.ca><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thu, April 7, 2011 9:15:12 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [All] Super event!<br></font><br><style><!--
_filtered {font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
_filtered {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
_filtered {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{font-size:10.0pt;}
_filtered {margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{}
--></style><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">It was Lulu. Well done and a big thank you to you for bringing this issue to our attention and organizing it. This is a landmark case that can have very far-reaching impacts on industrial pollution. I’ve sent Justin an email this morning with a few ideas and questions about how we can broaden the support by bringing in other communities affected by industrial pollution. The Aamjiwnaang may be the worst, but they are not alone in being affected by toxic industrial trespass. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Susan K</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p><div><div style="border-width: 1pt medium medium; border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color; padding: 3pt 0cm 0cm;"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "sans-serif";" lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "sans-serif";" lang="EN-US"> all-bounces@gren.ca [mailto:all-bounces@gren.ca] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Louisette Lanteigne<br><b>Sent:</b> April-07-11 12:24 AM<br><b>To:</b> all@gren.ca<br><b>Subject:</b> [All] Super event!</span></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">Hi folks<br><br>I just wanted to send my thanks to all the folks who came out this evening for the Pollution Vs. Human Rights event, I thank John for hosing and I'd like to thank GREN executives for
making this event possible. Our guests gave excellent presentations that touched upon so many issues. Some of the highlights include the following points:<br><br>-There is no expiration on pollution emission permits.<br>-There is no consideration given to cumulative impacts when several permits are issued within the same area.<br>-The province does not keep records on what activities they have permitted. When concerns arise, it's up to each company to present their permit.<br>-The province states they have no jurisdiction on aboriginal lands because it's a Federal Issue.<br>-The Federal government doesn't get involved in emission concerns on reserves because they state it is a Provincial concern.<br>-In cases of illegal dumping, neither the Federal Government nor the Province gets involved because it's on aboriginal lands. This means aboriginal communities are basically left to fend for themselves. This complicates issues regarding who's duty it is to
clean up environmental spills etc.<br>-The placement of factories appears to be situated in a location which exploits the fact the adjacent lands are home to aboriginal communities. (Less constraints because their neighbours downwind are not living on either Federal nor Provincial lands)<br>-The permits are not subject to planning legislation because they are often signed by ministers in processes that exclude public participation. It is literally between industry and government. No public say.<br>-Because lands are designated industrial, there are no planning processes for expansion of projects in these areas. <br>-They have used the Environmental Bill of Rights to secure a request for review but their process has taken two years so far without any tangible results. <br>-Ada Lockridge and Ron Plain are the only two members of the community spearheading this effort. The rest of the community cares of the issue but feel torn by the fact that so much of
the area relies on the refineries for their jobs and pensions. Because many worked for the companies they bought into the corporate rhetoric that everything is fine, that the problems are taken care of. <br>-The processes being done at the refineries adjacent to their reserve, includes the removal of sulfate from gas products. Instead of allowing sulfate to burn out of tailpipes, they simply discharge it into the air in large volumes at this location instead.<br>-The toxicity of the refineries increases during times of power outages because the protective filtration systems won't function without electricity.<br><br>I had taken a couple of group shots of the guest speakers but when I got home, my data card malfunctioned and I lost the photos. I was able to see the photo on my camera but when I tried to copy them it appeared as an empty file then I wasn't able to find them again. None the less, if anyone else took photos that evening, please
forward them along to me. <br><br>Thanks!<br><br>Lulu :0)<br><br><br></p></div></div></div></div></div>
</div></body></html>