The Haudenosaunee Development Institute has agreed not to interfere with dredging work at Chedoke Creek and will receive $50,000 for project monitoring and an additional $7,000 to review previous project studies. Photo credit: Google Maps
On May 24, Hamilton City Council approved a settlement agreement of $50,000 with the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI), an Indigenous group of hereditary leaders that were at odds with the city over the dredging of Chedoke Creek without their “permission.”
The agreement comes after it was revealed that the city would be seeking court intervention to force the Government of Ontario to get involved in the dispute.
A judicial panel was expected to hear the matter on June 13, 2023. However, with the agreement, court intervention was not necessary.
As a result of the settlement, the city now says that they will be able to adhere to the current October 31, 2023 clean-up deadline.
The HDI will receive $50,000 for monitoring of the project and an additional $7,000 to review previous project studies.
In turn, the HDI has agreed not to interfere with the dredging process. They still plan to have a monitor on-site.
Initially, the HDI wanted the city to ask for its consent for the project and at one point reportedly wanted the city to pay almost one million dollars, claiming that they needed $350,000 in compensation plus $585,000 to place multiple individuals on standby to monitor the project at a cost of $15,000 a day.
When that did not happen, and a contractor attempted to begin dredging in the summer of 2022, HDI is said to have staged various interruptions.
The contractor in charge of the clean-up, Milestone Environmental, reported nearly 40 “incidents of disruption,” including “dangerous” intrusions into construction areas.
Equipment had also been stolen from the site. As a result, decontamination had to stop and Milestone said that they could only restart work when a safe workplace could be guaranteed.
The city previously called on the province to get involved in the dispute, asking Ontario’s Environment Minister David Piccini if he would issue a minister’s access order under the Environmental Protection Act.
The Government of Ontario said that such an order was “not appropriate” and that the dispute is up to the municipality to solve. The Minister’s office also said that the city has the proper tools to solve the issue.
Indeed, the city could apply for an emergency court injunction that would allow them to remove protesters if needed.
A court injunction was even suggested by Hamilton Police, but city staff responded that they do not want to go that route unless absolutely necessary because they do not want to harm Indigenous-municipal relationships.
The city was ordered by the Ontario Government to dredge Chedoke Creek, in what will involve the removal of 22,000 tonnes of polluted sediment from the waterway.
The order came after revelations of a sizable four-year sewage leak, dubbed “Sewergate,” that spilled 24 billion litres of untreated water into the creek between January 2014 and July 2018.
The $6-million project was supposed to be completed by December 31, 2022, but was delayed multiple times due to the dispute.
The dredging is scheduled to resume this summer.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
