Public Commons

• Dumping garbage in Christie Pits park

Part of Municipal Strike 2009

Boris Steipe, a neighbour to Christie Pits Park, told the story of garbage dumping in the park during the strike. He told stories and asked questions about how laws and policies were used to further and support the dumping in parks. Boris talked about his move to Canada about 10 years ago. At the time, he and his family saw Canada as a solidly democratic country in which to make their home. Over the past several years, however, he has observed a marked lack of democracy in Toronto. In his experience, the way the government works is not transparent and only superficially adheres to the rule of law.

He said that his attitude has changed and he has little trust for city officials - staff or elected councillors. In his view, his elected councillor "let his constituents stand out in the rain" during the strike, and other councillors did nothing to help. Two days before the strike, the city councillor said that Christie Pits Park would not be used for dumping. He noted that neither Dufferin Grove Park nor Trinity Bellwoods Park were used as dumps during the strike. He admired the community spirit and efforts of the Korean community who banded together to remove the garbage from their businesses.

He noted that the two city-funded environmental groups with a mandate to respond to the environmental concerns caused by the dumping - the Toronto Environmental Alliance and CAPE - made no statements or findings about the dumping.

He talked about the health and environmental concerns about the leachate from the dump at Christie Pits and at other local parks including Campbell Park. He noted that the effluent from the dump in Sunnyside Park leaked into storm sewers 50 meters from the lake.

Boris recounted the difference in what happened in Christie Pits during the 2002 city strike, as compared to 2009. In 2002, garbage was dumped along the park paths, but there appeared to be no city staff monitoring the dumping. The 2002 strike lasted only 9 days, after which the Medical health Officer declared a health emergency and the government legislated the striking city workers back to work.

The 2009 was a marked change from 2002 in a number of ways. The 2009 strike was the first time that the city sprayed the park-dumped garbage.

Boris raised a number of questions about the laws and policies that governed garbage dumping in parks during the strike.

1. Why did councilllors decide to dump garbage in parks alternative sites could have been used?

2. Was it legal to dump garbage in the parks? What law allowed the Ministry of the Environment to grant temporary permits for the dumping?

3. Under what legal authority did Orkin (the contractors who sprayed the garbage dumps in parks) conduct the assessment to decide whether or not to spray the garbage?

4. What other legal means were available to get rid of garbage during the strike?

5. Did the Ministry of the Environment or the Medical Health Officer have any legal duties to stop the leachate from the garbage dumps in the city parks?