Photo: Hanlon Creek protestor

The Hanlon Creek Business Park occupation came from a long campaign to protect this land. Many of us are long-term Guelphites who have worked for years toward social justice and environmental protection. We are dedicated to healing this land and our human community, but there comes a time when we also have to stop destructive acts.

The HCBP is proposed for a 675-acre piece of land in the south end of the city. The City of Guelph is the primary developer, proposing 367 acres of buildings and parking lots, 69 acres of roads, and 74 acres of storm water management ponds. Of developable land, 85 per cent would be covered by impermeable surfaces. In the centre is what many regard as an old-growth forest, a sensitive native ecosystem containing some of Wellington County’s oldest trees. There are no confirmed tenants for the proposed business park

While differing on tactics, groups such as the Wilderness Committee, the Sierra Club, the Ontario Public Interest Research Group’s Speed River Project, Wellington Water Watchers, the Guelph Council of Canadians, and the Guelph Urban Forest Friends have also identified problems with the proposed business park. Downstream from Guelph, the Hoskanigetah of the Grand River, the traditional decision-making body from Six Nations, has allied with the occupiers against the proposed business park. It has ordered the city to “cease and desist the development,” due to risks to our shared watershed.

This land, like most of southern Ontario, is suffering from death by a thousand cuts. Eighty per cent of the wetlands in southern Ontario have been destroyed, and less than one per cent of old-growth forest remains. Individual developments are rationalized as having insignificant impacts, but taken together, sprawl is killing this land.

We occupied the site because the political system has failed us and is failing to protect the land. Guelph Mayor Karen Farbridge proclaims we have “ignored the democratic process.” But beyond providing abundant scientific evidence contradicting the city’s plan, we and others have attended every possible public meeting, written letters, met with city staff, the Grand River Conservation Authority, the Ministry of Natural Resources and local politicians, and had standing-room-only town hall debates – yet the city still wishes to bulldoze ahead. Occasionally these processes establish piecemeal improvements, yet the project itself is never up for debate. This enables politicians to tout their “public process,” while ignoring more fundamental concerns.

Ironically, the most significant improvements to the business park proposal occurred only because the city was forced twice into court. In 2006, the city was taken to the Ontario Municipal Board, which imposed 75 conditions, though only three have much environmental significance. The other 72 simply address traffic, costs, lighting, fences and such.

The second time was our work stoppage, where both us and the cty filed applications for injunctions. We exposed the ministry’s opposition to the business park due to faulty salamander surveys, and how the city ignored the ministry and tried forcing the project through.

So, when Farbridge says, “A handful of protestors have held the city hostage and ignored democratic processes,” we’re confused. Hundreds of people participated in the occupation, with untold more offering support. Of the 32 days work was stopped, 25 were the result of court orders and ministry deliberation. Did the courts and the Ministry of Natural RTesources also hold the city “hostage?”

The city constantly tells us the business park is a “done deal.” But if democracy is to have integrity, the process should be amenable to such large concerns, and nothing should ever be a “done deal” – especially when the land remains intact. A dump site in Simcoe County is just one example where council recently voted to cancel the project.

Many people begin activism with some faith in the system. Many more lose that faith after pouring too much of their lives into a system designed to fail us. What was interesting about the occupation was that many people came in support who aren’t at all “activists,” but were excited and moved by our actions. The occupation arose because we’re sick and tired of watching our planet literally fall apart while those in power pass responsibility back and forth, and we found we are far from alone. Business as usual has to end, climate scientists warn with increasing urgency. That land could host wildlife habitat, community gardens, urban farms, orchards, seed banks, and learning facilities – precisely the antidote to mounting challenges of climate change and peak oil. But if this City keeps holding onto an industrial park as a solution, then we’re in for serious trouble.

We need radical change in how we think, how we relate to each other and to the land, and how we live, and we can’t rely on anyone else for this. We need courage, honesty, love, empathy, and action. The occupation is a beginning of a more organized, empowered and urgent collective defence of this earth. You are more than welcome to join us.

Sam Ansleis and Matt Soltys were among the group that occupied the proposed site of the Hanlon Creek Business Park this summer. More writings of their group can be viewed at HCBPoccupation.wordpress.com.