"Wessuc Spreading Sewer Sludge Again"

The cat and mouse game between Wessuc Inc. and the Men's Fire continues. The workers from Wessuc were at it again, spreading sewage sludge on a farm on Cockshutt Road last Thursday. A long hose snaked to the back of the property and the workers had already emptied a truck load of sludge on the property, when Dick Hill of the Men's Fire told them to stop, pack up, and go home.

"They're trying to spread sludge again, and they aren't going to do it," said Hill. "I talked to Chief Montour and he said don't let them dump it."

With Hill and two other members of the Men's Fire on the scene, a Wessuc worker shut off the pump and stood in front of the equipment, snapped a cell phone photo of Hill and engaged in a stare down.

When Hill started questioning the worker, he said with a smirk, "I'm not supposed to talk to you," When Hill asked, "What was so funny," he responded, "I can't say."

Hill then asked, "How many loads did you dump so far," The response was, "I can't tell you," Again smiling the Wessuc worker asked Hill, "Where were you yesterday?" This last question was delivered with the smug satisfaction that his employer had been able to out-fox the Men's Fire for at least a few hours.

Two members of the Aboriginal Liaison Team were next on the scene. They huddled with the Wessuc workers and the property owner and an animated conversation took place. The Wessuc workers then started to pack-up for the day.

Heather Manley of the O.P.P's Aboriginal Liaison Team then approached Hill and told him Wessuc was done for the day, even though they would have like to apply three more truckloads of sludge on the property.

Manley said, "Just so you know there's ongoing discussions and high level meetings going on with the Ministry of the Environment. We acknowledge and respect that both the Elected Chief and the Confederacy has concerns about this issue. We're trying to mediate this as a go between. We know it is an issue of concern. All the other municipalities are coming together to discuss the issue."

The next day, this was news to Elected Chief Bill Montour. "I wish there were high-level talks but all we get is nothing. After the Middleport incident I put Scott Cavan from Mr. Bentley's office on notice. I want some information how this can happen. I phoned Brant Country administration. They said they had no control over that; the Ministry of the Environment controls it. I phoned an individual in Guelph who was supposed to be handling this and I got no return on that."

"So this next incident came over at Burtch. I sent a text to Bentley's office again, saying there has got to be something done about this, it's going to cause some severe problems if we don't. I advise you to get a hold of the Ministry of the Environment to see what we can do about it. Bruce Lester in Bentley's office in Brantford is trying to scratch around and find some resolution to this. I don't know what is going to happen, I'm waiting for him to call me back. I told him we're not going to be supportive of putting this stuff on the Grand River tract."

"I grew up on a farm, we used pure manure for fertilizer for land enrichment. This isn't pure manure, this is a toxic mess of human waste, human disease, toxic cleaning fluids, old medicines, paints, whatever people dump down the sinks becomes part of this soup. When you put chemicals together, anyone that has studied chemistry knows there is going to be another chemical reaction."

"We addressed this at the Oxbow (another site where Wessuc spread biosolids on farmland). This company is still doing it," said Montour. "It's a lot of work for the company, but they created the problem. We're not doing this just for Six Nations, but for Caledonia and Cayuga, everyone in the Grand Watershed. Our stance is no more dumping. We're here to protect our territory," said Montour.

"So they're calling it bio-solids. I think that's just a cover up." Asked about the Men's Fire stopping Wessuc, he said, "I support that."