Heather Wright/The Independent

Legal fights and a blockade are among the things Dresden residents and their supporters are considering after the passing of Bill 5.

That bill allows York1 Environmental to move forward with its plan for a construction and soil waste recycling facility and to rebuild the dump between the Lambton County Line and Dresden. The provincial government just one year ago agreed with residents and politicians in both Chatham-Kent and Lambton that the company would need a full Environmental Assessment of the project since it became a dump long before strict standards for landfills.

Wednesday, the Ontario PC government pushed through Bill 5, disappointing the community and politicians.

But, as Stefan Premdas, the head of Dresden CARED – a community group formed to stop the project – said “the fight is not over. The fight is just beginning.”

Premdas, in a video on social media, said Dresden CARED is appealing for the federal government to step in and order a federal impact assessment of the project. It’s a call echoing that of the Walpole Island First Nation.

The Environmental Defence is ready to bring the Bill 5 fight to the courts. Phil Pothen, Counsel and Ontario Environment Program Manager says legal experts say the powers in the new legislation can be used for any purpose and applied to laws with no direct connection to mining or nation building infrastructure – the government’s logic for the sweeping powers.

“Starting with the Dresden Dump, Environmental Defence will oppose the most egregious individual abuses of Bill 5 powers. However, just like this government’s Greenbelt removals, we remain steadfast in working with our allies to ensure that Bill 5 is repealed as quickly and completely as possible,” Pothen said in a news released.

Meantime, Water Wells First Founder Kevin Jakubec believes there is another way to get the government’s attention and turn the tide on Bill 5. 

“I put the call out to blockade access to the Dresden landfill, to stop York1 from accessing that site,” he says. While it is clear there will be court action, particularly to uphold the Indigenous right to informed consent of projects on their lands, Jakubec says, “Civil disobedience is necessary.

“It’s the time now to bring in direct action – direct action in form of blockades, even if Premier Ford doesn’t like that. That’s what’s now necessary.”

Jakubec, who was part of a blockade of the North Kent Wind site near Dresden in 2017, hopes the community will “access roads being blocked by people who are concerned about not just Dresden, but also Wallaceburg and Walpole, everyone that’s along Sydenham River that would be exposed to leachate contamination risk. 

“I’m hoping that the entire community in North Kent will come out.

“I hope to see what we had before in Chatham-Kent with the community support of those and from people afar who are worried about their environmental rights… I’m hoping that this, this location, will now become a center protest location against Bill 5 and York1,” Jakubec said.

Meantime, Chatham-Kent council will discuss its next actions Monday.

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