Indigenous artifacts found on site of controversial Burlington quarry expansion
The company will do a larger survey in the spring, but will start cutting down trees in the meantime
Archaeological crews have found Indigenous artifacts at the site of a controversial Burlington quarry expansion, and opponents are hoping it gives them extra ammunition to get the expansion killed altogether.
Meridian Brick's expansion near a busy Tyandaga neighbourhood involves chopping down 9,000 trees over several years, and removing precious habitat for at least three endangered species.
But this latest snag is different. An archaeological assessment this summer uncovered remnants of six Indigenous hand tools made of Onondaga limestone, says a fall report from ASI, a consultant hired by the quarry company.
Meridian Brick will do a more in-depth archaeological assessment — known as a stage three assessment — in the spring, said Patrick Kelly, Meridian Brick spokesperson.
If that uncovers more artifacts, the province requires a further assessment, which involves developing plans to protect the area, say guidelines from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. That doesn't mean the expansion would stop, necessarily, but the company may have to develop around it.
Meridian Brick still plans to begin its tree cutting in the early 2018 in an area away from the archaeological find. The tree cutting will also begin in the midst of an in-depth survey to see if endangered salamanders live there.
The land in question has deep Indigenous roots.
The property, the ASI report says, "was acquired by the British" from the Mississaugas in 1784. The area is also subject to a Mississaugas of the New Credit water claim. That claim, says Mississaugas of the New Credit, comes with a duty to consult with them.
The First Nation heard about the project second hand, said Deanna Dunham, Mississaugas of the New Credit spokesperson, in an email. This week, it reached out to Meridian Brick directly.
The first contact was through the consultant, she wrote. That's when the First Nation learned "a number of environmental and archaeological studies had already been completed without our knowledge or involvement."
The consultant also notified the Missisaugas of the New Credit of the stage three assessment, she said, but "notification does not constitute consultation."
The Indigenous artifacts are the latest chapter in a project some fear will harm the local air quality and environment. The company says it's addressing those concerns. The province first approved its expansion plan in 1972, before many of the houses were built in the upscale Tyandaga neighbourhood.
The Tyandaga Environmental Coalition (TEC) asked the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario on Nov. 16 to halt the expansion as well as aggregate extraction there, said David Donnelly, lawyer for TEC. The province has 60 days to respond.
By all accounts, the expansion will displace at least three endangered species.
American columbo and eastern flowering dogwood trees will be replanted or replaced with younger nursery stock, Kelly said. And the habitat for the mottled duskywing butterfly — the New Jersey tea plant — will be replanted nearby in hopes the butterfly follows.
There's also the issue of salamanders. The company says it's spotted more than 90 salamanders on the property, but none are the endangered Jefferson salamander, a nocturnal creature so rare that some who research it have never seen a live one.
This year, TEC volunteers say they found two Jefferson salamanders on a property bordering the quarry. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is doing a more thorough salamander survey that will stretch into summer 2018, Donnelly said.
"I would be shocked if there weren't Jefferson salamanders on the (quarry) property."
As for the 9,000 trees, Kelly said, they'll be cut down in phases over the next few years. As trees are felled, the company will plant even more seedlings in older areas of the quarry.
Donnelly said that doesn't cut it. It will take years for forest to develop again.
"When you clear cut trees and you strip the soil, you're taking away the biota or the critical elements of life," Donnelly said. "All the dead matter, the debris, the bugs and bacteria that live in the soil.
"It takes hundreds of years for the forest life to support salamanders. As for the return of rare and endangered species, that doesn't occur for scores of years, or maybe never."
People are upset about the quarry expansion, said Mayor Rick Goldring. But Meridian Brick isn't breaking any laws.
The company has a licence to expand dating back to 1972, and the province approved its site plan in 2010.
Goldring is heartened that Meridian Brick will do "progressive rehabilitation," he said.
As for TEC, "I am empathetic, and I am supportive and pleased that the Tyandaga Environmental Coalition will be appealing this to the environmental commission of Ontario. I think that's an appropriate action."
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