A Review of the ILO Protest Protocol - Froc
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:48 pmFebruary 19, 2008
“There seems to be no end in sight to the ILO problem here in the Qu’Appelle Valley close to Lumsden. Babco has more cattle than ever on their land and the RM seems to be doing nothing to stop it.
Anyway, I am enclosing the ‘how to’ on what we did in the hopes that it may help someone else through this quagmire.”
Best regards, Myra Froc
=======================================
A Review of the ILO Protest Protocol – February 2008
By Myra Froc, Lumsden, SK
If this has not already been done, ask the Rural Municipality (RM) to call an information meeting on the proposed development. They are not obligated to do so, but it makes them look irresponsible if they do not. Insist that all councillors and the reeve attend. Ask the RM to invite government representatives from SAF, SERM, SWA and DFO to attend. RMs typically hire rural planners to help them make these kinds of decisions. The applicant will also be presenting his case at the meeting. Ask how you will be protected from this development and who will clean up the mess if the applicant decides to drop the operation.
Read the RM bylaws and know the rules. The applicant has most likely looked at the rules as well and will most likely be conforming to them. Make notes on how you would like to have the bylaws amended while they are fresh in your mind. In some but not all cases, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will have to be done before activity can proceed. Check provincial regulations.
Contact your MLA immediately and ask if he/she knows about the development.
Get water chemistry tests done on your wells and obtain permission from adjacent landowners to the site to install pieszometers (20-30 foot/2” diameter) down to the water table. These can be checked frequently for contamination.
Get a sitemap of the RM and know exactly where the proposed ILO will be located. This map will be useful to you in other ways because it will have the names of all landowners on it. This becomes your mailing base.
Read the nuisance laws in the province and know that there are very few ways to launch a complaint against an operation that is up and running. You must do everything in your power to stop activity before it is operational.
Do some research and prepare a presentation for the RM information meeting. Be sure to include “big picture” issues such as environmental pollution concerns and saving people’s lives from groundwater contamination. Secondary issues like odour, noise, traffic, dust, vermin, flies, the incompatibility with country residential developments and the like don’t really influence those who are making the decisions. It is important to remember that you live in the country and are expected to put up with a certain amount of that. Listen respectfully to other presentations. Use visuals and handouts where possible. Be aware that ILOs do not create employment for a lot of people, nor do they generate a bigger tax base for the RM.
Attend the RM public information meeting and make a presentation on “big picture” items. Share your own farming background, if possible, and preface the discussion with the phrase “I am not against the family farm and traditional farming practices.” You will be judged on what you say and how you respond to other people. You do not want to be called a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) who is against any kind of development just because it influences you. Take good notes of all proceedings and who is in attendance.
At the public information meeting, make connections with people who are voicing their opposition to the application and make arrangements to meet within a few days of the information meeting. Phone other people you think might be interested.
At your first neighbourhood meeting, make introductions and have a discussion on why people are interested in fighting this development. These statements will become the backbone of your mission statement. Then, using a whiteboard, make a list of the tasks that will have to be done immediately and over the course of a year or two. Ask volunteers or groups of volunteers to take on certain portfolios. Make a list of immediate tasks. Also ask people to contact others that might be interested in joining the group. Set the date for the next meeting. For the first 12 weeks, you will need weekly meetings. After that, you will need meetings every two weeks or on an “as needed” basis. Create a contact list of phone numbers and emails. Some meetings will have to be done by conference call. Find out who knows who and has friends in government departments.
Environmental Liaison – This is an important group. Its job is to contact an engineering company as quickly as possible and/or university professors that can give you advice on hydrogeology, geotechnical analysis, water chemistry and environmental pollution. This is not likely to be without charge. This committee will make presentations and maintain contact with professional experts.
For contacts, go to:
http://www.planetfriendly.net/ecoportal.html
http://www.natureconservancy.ca/site/Ne ... le&id=5284
http://www.sierraclub.ca/
Legal Liaison – Appoint someone to maintain contact with a municipal lawyer and/or a litigator. Legal advice can become very costly, but is well worth the expenditure; however ask about hourly rates at the beginning and ask if they expect you to pay a retainer fee (usually $5000). Ask legal counsel to proof and edit any presentations, flyers and media releases/interviews before you send them out. Be prepared to defend defamation suits if you have made media releases. A law suit is one way the developer will try to keep you quiet even though you have a democratic right to protest and what you have been saying about the proposed development is in the public interest. Saying the word “Walkerton” or “Chernoble” can be inflammatory and consequently you should just stick to the facts and avoid making any comparison to other cases.
RM Liaison – Ask and pay for the photocopying of the weekly additions to the application file at the RM office, which is well worth the effort and expenditure. Also find out when the monthly council meetings are and what is on their agendas. Attend those meetings which discuss the ILO application. Send letters or emails to the RM on research or matters of interest pertaining to the application. Organize a phoning committee to call councillors and ask them their opinions on the development, especially prior to an election.
SAF (Sask Ag & Food) Liaison (Government agency - Agriculture)– Be aware that there are a number of SAF hoops to jump through before approval is given. Find out who the project manager is in charge of the file and call or email bi-weekly. It is important to put the pressure on and let them know that you are watching. You won’t be able to influence the outcome, but at least they will know you are keeping track of their progress. Ask what the project manager’s credentials are and who is on the project team. Do not trust that SAF will do the right thing for the environment. They have a political agenda which is rural diversification and encouraging economic development in cash-strapped rural communities. Write letters to the minister of this department.
SWA Liaison (Prov. Government Agency - Water) – Contact the director of Sask Watershed Authority and ask what advice they have offered to SAF; ask Nolan Shaheen (director) about the results of drilling logs and/or water chemistry tests. Ask if the applicant has applied for a permit for the water source for his herd. Ask how the water sources will be protected.
SERM Assessment Liaison (Prov. Government Agency - Environment) – Find out who is project manager of the environmental assessment department at SERM and call this person. David Powell is currently the manager in charge of ILO applications; his training is in the area of landscape architecture. There may be another civil servant who is looking after the applicant’s proposal.
DFO Liaison (Federal Government Agency of Fisheries and Oceans) – If the development is close to lakes or streams, contact your local federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ask if clearance has been obtained for this kind of development. Vegetation will not mitigate the effects of manure runoff into lakes and streams. If DFO feels that a lake will be infected, they will immediately shut down activity on a development.
Political Liaison – This group should consist of a few people who can call, visit and email MLAs and Ministers. It is useful if the people in this group have political affiliations. Talking to politicians will not get you any answers but it will delay the SAF decision and make various government departments know that you are watching. Contact opposition parties. Attend political functions and raise awareness about the unsuitability of the development. Write letters and send emails. Regular and persistent contact with your politicians is required.
Dept of Justice Liaison – This is someone who can press for access to legal documents in SAF files through the Freedom of Information Act. They will initially deny all requests because of sensitive “third party information”. The only third party information in these documents is likely to be the applicant’s name, address and land location. You may have to use a lawyer to press for access, or ask the RM to obtain the documents in the ILO files in SAF departments. Be aware that the Deputy Minister of SAF will reply on Justice Letterhead in order to make you feel as though you are at a dead end. Keep pressing for access to the file.
Media Liaison – This should be someone who can contact the media sensibly and articulately, set up TV, radio, newspaper and media interviews and press releases, create flyers and distribute them to postal outlets and mailboxes in the RM. Ensure that legal counsel reviews all public documents before they are sent out. Start a petition and arrange for the collection of signatures (check out the legal requirements for the creation of a petition). Contact other environmental groups that can carry your petition. The Sierra Group of Canada offers moral support, does letter writing, and provides information. There are many others that will help you. Phone people in the community who may want to write letters on your behalf. Contact local First Nations who may object to the land being used in this way. Write letters to the editor for publication in your local newspaper as well as in the larger newspapers. Contact other RMs who may be supportive. Ensure that legal counsel reviews all public documents that are sent out and advises what you can and cannot say in your interviews. Media attention needs to be started immediately.
Treasurer – Someone who can ask for donations from your group members and others, do the banking, pay bills and keep track of expenditures and income.
Research Liaison – Have a few people do Internet and other research and report it on a weekly basis. Government information brochures are useful and can be downloaded or purchased to add to your file. Watch the comings and goings at the proposed site, take photographs and keep track of dates when activity is observed.
Check CEPA guidelines:
http://www.canadian-forests.com/environ-groups.htm
http://www.chamber.ca/cmslib/general/En ... %20Act.pdf
Meetings Coordinator – Get someone who can coordinate the meetings and set dates by phone or email and arrange for the agenda to be made as well as leading the meeting. Refreshments and snacks are a nice touch to the meetings. It is important that you eat together and have some fun, because otherwise, meetings become a chore. Rotate meeting locations. Door prizes, like the big zucchini giveaway, cow ornaments or gift certificates are a lot of fun! Some parts of this process have to remain light because as you get further and further into it, the burden becomes so heavy and so stressful that you have to find some way of alleviating the pressure, such as via social events.
The agenda is usually the same but it is important to remain upbeat at each meeting:
- reports of work completed by liaison committees
- new business
- next actions to be taken
- next meeting date, time and location
Secretary – Ask someone who can keep a binder full of all the letters, email, research, legal documents, maps, visuals, photographs, presentation scripts, contact lists and other correspondence and have it available at all meetings for quick and easy reference. This file also needs to be backed up electronically and a copy filed at the lawyer’s office. The secretary also takes the minutes at the meetings, keeps all electronic documents in a file, sends or delivers letters on behalf of the group. Obtain contact numbers, addresses, email addresses of MLAs, Ministers, RM Councillors, protest group members, environmental groups. Keep the members’ contact list of phone numbers and emails updated and distributed to all members.
Webmaster – Someone to maintain a blog and/or website.
Create a name for your group and a clear mission statement. It should be a positive name without the word ANTI or STOP in it. You want to be seen as a group that is working towards a common goal for the good of the community, not just in the sake of self interest. Community perception is everything. “Friends of….” is a welcoming name.
Create a website and/or a blog:
https://www.blogger.com/start
http://members.freewebs.com/
Get engineering and technical advice from engineers, hydrogeologists, geological engineers and university professors who are experts on water contamination and aquifers. This can also be costly, but will give you the “smoking gun” that you need to defeat the application. Obtain well records from neighbouring landowners and SWA. Have an engineer interpret well drilling records and get a draftsperson to create a cross section of the subsurface soils to show the depth and extent of the aquifers. Ask an engineer or hydrogeologist on whether the water bearing soil layers are likely to be continuous throughout the neighbourhood. It is important to do this so that you can show that there is potential for the contaminants to move towards wells through the groundwater. Taking a look at existing well logs and pieszometers is less expensive than hiring a company to do the drilling. High Importance.
Get legal counsel. Invite legal counsel (municipal and/or litigation specialties) to your first or second meeting to answer questions and plan strategy, discuss injunctions and what is feasibly possible to prevent the development. You may not place an injunction on a development unless it can be proved that there is potential for harm. Ask counsel to answer questions and to advise on precedents in previous cases. Ask counsel to attend some RM meetings with you. You may be asked for a retainer. Legal advice will be costly but well worth the expenditure in order to protect yourselves. High Importance.
Educate all group members on what the issues are, using brief presentations, emails, blogs and a website. Everyone will take a role in this as different people will have different levels of expertise. Ultimately, everyone in the group should be able to speak knowledgeably about the issues because they will be asked about them.
Get access to the RM file and have it photocopied. Ask for new additions to the file on a weekly basis. This becomes costly but is essential for documentation and for seeing what the applicant is sending to the RM.
Make contact with your neighbourhood RM councillor/politician and find out his/her opinion on the application. Try to get this person on your side.
Ask group members for donations for the action. Start off with $100 per family. This initial donation will tell you who is committed and on your side. You will need more cash injections as the protest continues.
Visit or call all neighbours within the area of the proposed development so that you can invite others to your meetings and also get an indication of who is against the development. Ask people in the community to send letters, emails or make phone calls to your local politicians to voice their disapproval. Be careful what you say to people because some of it goes directly back to the applicant.
Take photographs of the applicant’s and adjacent land, to show the existence of ponds, lakes, springs, streams running through the property, surface water in the spring and the numbers of animals in the herd. These photographs can be added to your records and are handy when you are trying to illustrate a point.
Make a map of the neighbouring area with the locations of wells and residences. Have your engineer analyze well data and have a draftsperson draft a cross section of the land using the information from SWC drilling logs.
Call or email government departments to get more information on the application. Download government pamphlets and documents dealing with ILO approval.
Write letters or emails to the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of SAF, the Minister of SWC, the Minister in charge of Rural Revitalization and the Premier. Continue these letters monthly. Answer any responses to you to keep up the dialogue. Be persistent.
Do a legal search to find out who are the major shareholders of the ILO corporation and find out whether they have enough assets to post a bond or have any assets that can be seized in the event of an environmental disaster. In some cases, the shareholder will be the applicant’s wife who may or may not hold assets.
Check the CARDS/ ACAAFS grants for ILO developments: http://www.sccd.sk.ca/acaafs/projects/pastfunded.php
Insist that SAF require the applicant to obtain a geotechnical engineering report. SAF project managers are sometimes reluctant to request this because of the high cost associated with the work; however, they should not be relying on test pits dug near the surface of the site to interpret the suitability of the site.
Make presentations and send information to other environmental groups in the area as well as other special interest groups like country residential developments. Ask other groups to send letters to the RM to voice opposition to the ILO. These groups can be very helpful to you to maintain the pressure.
Contact ex-MLAs who have had some responsibility in the environment portfolio. They can advise you on other internal government contacts.
Attend government presentations on matters that pertain to this type of development. Contact other environmental groups like Sierra Club for moral support and to help with a letter writing campaign.
Arrange to have your group placed on a council meeting agenda and make another presentation to council. Make presentations to RM councils in the immediate area to advise them of the development. They are usually not aware of what is happening in the area adjacent to them.
Offer to have your geotechnical engineering representative take SAF and SERM officials with the RM council on a tour of the adjacent land to point out topography, streams and to show soil types and dangerous manure spread areas. Government officials will likely not accept, but at least they will know that you have expertise on your side.
Obtain the applicant’s geotechnical engineering report. When it goes into the file and is tabled at an RM council meeting, it becomes public domain. Ask for a third party engineer’s review of the report. High Importance.
Check the credentials of the writer of the report. If E.I.T. is indicated after the writer’s name, you can be assured that this is a junior engineer who is not yet a fully fledged member of the professional association. An engineer should have P.Eng. after his/her name and a hydrogeologist should have a P. Geo. designation.
The report should tell you how the site was assessed. If the environmental site rating is “geologically sensitive”, the ILO should not be placed there. Ask for the water chemistry report from SWA. This may tell you whether the site is already contaminated because of an existing operation and is good evidence to further your case. Ask about the credentials of all civil servants who work on the file. Do not assume that they are qualified to give opinions or make judgments on environmental and/or geotechnical issues.
Contact Dr. Peter Levitt (UofR) or some other university expert to make a presentation on water chemistry and runoff to the RM council. He has done extensive research on river systems, lakes and aquifers in the province and can tell how nitrates, nitrites and e-coli get into the water supply. Nitrites in water from manure can cause ‘blue baby’ syndrome, which is fatal. E coli contamination can cause death. Water quality is a pet issue for him.
Find out if the applicant has a good source of available water for his/her herd, and how the heavy use of this source might affect the availability and quality of water for everyone else. See RM of Moosomin decision 2006 where the deciding factor against the applicant was an inadequate water supply: http://www.stopthehogs.com/communities/moosomin.htm
Have your lawyers research legal databases for other precedent setting cases.
Write monthly letters to the RM council. Attach informational items such as precedent setting cases or any other good pieces of research. Make sure they get to the RM office one week before the monthly council meeting.
Phone and visit other community members for support, especially science teachers that head environmental projects. It is useful if some group members can sit on coffee row or go to the hockey rink occasionally to hear community news regarding the project as well as to dispel any rumours. Contact other community environmental watchdog groups and make presentations.
Try to speak to the applicant to discuss alternatives to manure spreading, like composting, spreading in safer areas, etc. in order to make this a win-win situation. You are unlikely to get an interview, but you must be seen to be trying.
Call or interview councillors, especially before elections, so that they can tell you what their views are on ILOs in the RM. Do more listening than talking. Gently put forth your viewpoint. There is a fine line between influencing and harassment. When you speak with councillors, listen carefully to what they are telling you and be respectful when you make comments or ask questions.
Put out media releases. Use factual information only and always have the releases commented on by your lawyers before distribution. Fax the media releases to the local media. Do not overuse this privilege.
Make up a flyer and take it to the post office for mailing. Use factual information only and remember that less is more. Counter any flyers that the applicant puts out by restating your opinion in a follow up flyer with a minimum of words.
Start a petition. Make sure that the petition form is worded correctly and that it has room for printed names and addresses as well as signatures.
Make another presentation on your findings to the RM council. Use photos, cross-sections, maps and charts to make your presentation very visual. A picture is worth a thousand words. Attend presentations made to RM council by the applicant and take good notes.
Give interviews to TV, radio, and the press. Preface every comment or reply with the statement: “We are not against traditional farming and the family farm.” Global is the most accommodating TV station, and CBC radio has some informative programs that would like to showcase your cause.
Update your blog weekly and your website monthly or as needed.
Make presentations to other stakeholder groups like environmental groups, wildlife associations, lake and watershed protection groups, country residential groups in the RM, the local Sierra Club and to the surrounding RM councils that may have more traffic on their roads due to the development.
Phone to arrange meetings with Ministers and MLAs and members of the Opposition. Meet with Minister of SAF Minister of the Environment. Send frequent letters and responses to their letters.
Government of Saskatchewan at: http://www.gov.sk.ca/about-government/
Be prepared for defamation suits against you even though your purpose is not to defame, but to protect the public health and welfare of the community and of the environment. Ask the group secretary to obtain the documents in the file that are necessary to prepare for your statement of defence. The more you can hand your lawyer, the less time and money it takes to prepare a statement of defence.
Use the Freedom of Information Act to get access to secret SAF government files through the Justice Department. High Importance. Be persistent. Don’t be intimidated by the Deputy Minister of SAF using Justice letterhead. Sometimes a lawyer will be able to accomplish things you can’t and don’t be afraid to use one to ask for this information, repeatedly, if necessary. Ask the RM to request certain documents because it is easier for them to get access than you. Once a document has been tabled at an RM meeting, it goes into the application file where it becomes public domain and is easy for you to access.
SAF will try to put off a decision for as long as possible, in order to cool off public opinion, but prepare yourself for the eventual SAF approval. There has never been an ILO application denied by SAF in the province. Ask the RM to invite the project manager of SAF in charge of the application decision to an RM meeting to explain their reasoning for granting the approval. Once this is done, do not waste any further time with that department. Instead put your efforts in and focus totally on the RM council, but know when to back off of the pressure on the council. They are just ordinary people like you who have taken on a job that no one else wants to do. Help council do its work by finding pertinent information for them and send it in letters. State frequently that you have confidence in them that you know they will make the right decision for the safety of the community. However, remind them that they have a fiduciary and moral responsibility to do the right thing.
After SAF approval, attend RM meetings where the ILO is indicated to be on the monthly agenda. Ask council what advice their lawyers are giving them. Usually, RM lawyers will advise abstaining from voting for those councillors living on adjacent land to the ILO. RM legal counsel also advises that they do not advise the applicant in any way or encourage re-application with changes.
If the application is denied by the RM, the applicant may try to reapply with a few changes as suggested by SAF. Ask the RM to make some quick revisions to the bylaws with an order-in-council either with a presentation. This will put additional hurdles in the applicant’s way. Or, ask council to place a moratorium on ILO development until the bylaws can be rewritten.
The applicant may decide to take the decision to the court of appeals. There is legal precedent for these kinds of appeals to be unsuccessful (see RM of Moosomin, 2006). Judges typically like to leave these kinds of decisions in the hands of RM councils and will not find for the applicant unless there is obvious bias on the part of the RM. RM councillors must perform their duties in an unbiased manner all the way though the process.
To be honest, in spite of all the objections against an ILO in your community, the only one that carries any weight is the environmental and public safety concern. Pressure needs to be applied to all levels of government, but in the end, it all comes down to this one issue.
Know that you are in for a long, tough battle that may last a few years. You will become very tired of this, you will spend a lot of time and money on it, and all members in your group will experience fatigue, ridicule and even mudslinging at many points during the process. Some neighbours may move away. Many people will not believe your scientific evidence, compelling though it may be, and many will get a distorted view of it. Some members of the community will not want to talk to you because they see you as anti-farming or anti-progress. You may come to be viewed as “the radical fringe”.
Be aware that this kind of action is very divisive in the community and that there is no real winner even if you do get a vote in your favour because people with money can and do flout authority and some have enough money to keep things tied up in court for years.
It is important to maintain your integrity at all times, but be tenacious about your goal and never underestimate the power of team work. Be sensitive to public opinion and perception about you, but don’t let that deter you. Remain firm in your resolve and leave no stone unturned to help you reach your goal. Most of all, support one another and give frequent thanks to members who are working hard towards preventing this development.
You might think that a small group would have very little influence on huge corporations and big government, but you CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Archimedes said, “Give me a lever and I can move the world!”
“There seems to be no end in sight to the ILO problem here in the Qu’Appelle Valley close to Lumsden. Babco has more cattle than ever on their land and the RM seems to be doing nothing to stop it.
Anyway, I am enclosing the ‘how to’ on what we did in the hopes that it may help someone else through this quagmire.”
Best regards, Myra Froc
=======================================
A Review of the ILO Protest Protocol – February 2008
By Myra Froc, Lumsden, SK
If this has not already been done, ask the Rural Municipality (RM) to call an information meeting on the proposed development. They are not obligated to do so, but it makes them look irresponsible if they do not. Insist that all councillors and the reeve attend. Ask the RM to invite government representatives from SAF, SERM, SWA and DFO to attend. RMs typically hire rural planners to help them make these kinds of decisions. The applicant will also be presenting his case at the meeting. Ask how you will be protected from this development and who will clean up the mess if the applicant decides to drop the operation.
Read the RM bylaws and know the rules. The applicant has most likely looked at the rules as well and will most likely be conforming to them. Make notes on how you would like to have the bylaws amended while they are fresh in your mind. In some but not all cases, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will have to be done before activity can proceed. Check provincial regulations.
Contact your MLA immediately and ask if he/she knows about the development.
Get water chemistry tests done on your wells and obtain permission from adjacent landowners to the site to install pieszometers (20-30 foot/2” diameter) down to the water table. These can be checked frequently for contamination.
Get a sitemap of the RM and know exactly where the proposed ILO will be located. This map will be useful to you in other ways because it will have the names of all landowners on it. This becomes your mailing base.
Read the nuisance laws in the province and know that there are very few ways to launch a complaint against an operation that is up and running. You must do everything in your power to stop activity before it is operational.
Do some research and prepare a presentation for the RM information meeting. Be sure to include “big picture” issues such as environmental pollution concerns and saving people’s lives from groundwater contamination. Secondary issues like odour, noise, traffic, dust, vermin, flies, the incompatibility with country residential developments and the like don’t really influence those who are making the decisions. It is important to remember that you live in the country and are expected to put up with a certain amount of that. Listen respectfully to other presentations. Use visuals and handouts where possible. Be aware that ILOs do not create employment for a lot of people, nor do they generate a bigger tax base for the RM.
Attend the RM public information meeting and make a presentation on “big picture” items. Share your own farming background, if possible, and preface the discussion with the phrase “I am not against the family farm and traditional farming practices.” You will be judged on what you say and how you respond to other people. You do not want to be called a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) who is against any kind of development just because it influences you. Take good notes of all proceedings and who is in attendance.
At the public information meeting, make connections with people who are voicing their opposition to the application and make arrangements to meet within a few days of the information meeting. Phone other people you think might be interested.
At your first neighbourhood meeting, make introductions and have a discussion on why people are interested in fighting this development. These statements will become the backbone of your mission statement. Then, using a whiteboard, make a list of the tasks that will have to be done immediately and over the course of a year or two. Ask volunteers or groups of volunteers to take on certain portfolios. Make a list of immediate tasks. Also ask people to contact others that might be interested in joining the group. Set the date for the next meeting. For the first 12 weeks, you will need weekly meetings. After that, you will need meetings every two weeks or on an “as needed” basis. Create a contact list of phone numbers and emails. Some meetings will have to be done by conference call. Find out who knows who and has friends in government departments.
Environmental Liaison – This is an important group. Its job is to contact an engineering company as quickly as possible and/or university professors that can give you advice on hydrogeology, geotechnical analysis, water chemistry and environmental pollution. This is not likely to be without charge. This committee will make presentations and maintain contact with professional experts.
For contacts, go to:
http://www.planetfriendly.net/ecoportal.html
http://www.natureconservancy.ca/site/Ne ... le&id=5284
http://www.sierraclub.ca/
Legal Liaison – Appoint someone to maintain contact with a municipal lawyer and/or a litigator. Legal advice can become very costly, but is well worth the expenditure; however ask about hourly rates at the beginning and ask if they expect you to pay a retainer fee (usually $5000). Ask legal counsel to proof and edit any presentations, flyers and media releases/interviews before you send them out. Be prepared to defend defamation suits if you have made media releases. A law suit is one way the developer will try to keep you quiet even though you have a democratic right to protest and what you have been saying about the proposed development is in the public interest. Saying the word “Walkerton” or “Chernoble” can be inflammatory and consequently you should just stick to the facts and avoid making any comparison to other cases.
RM Liaison – Ask and pay for the photocopying of the weekly additions to the application file at the RM office, which is well worth the effort and expenditure. Also find out when the monthly council meetings are and what is on their agendas. Attend those meetings which discuss the ILO application. Send letters or emails to the RM on research or matters of interest pertaining to the application. Organize a phoning committee to call councillors and ask them their opinions on the development, especially prior to an election.
SAF (Sask Ag & Food) Liaison (Government agency - Agriculture)– Be aware that there are a number of SAF hoops to jump through before approval is given. Find out who the project manager is in charge of the file and call or email bi-weekly. It is important to put the pressure on and let them know that you are watching. You won’t be able to influence the outcome, but at least they will know you are keeping track of their progress. Ask what the project manager’s credentials are and who is on the project team. Do not trust that SAF will do the right thing for the environment. They have a political agenda which is rural diversification and encouraging economic development in cash-strapped rural communities. Write letters to the minister of this department.
SWA Liaison (Prov. Government Agency - Water) – Contact the director of Sask Watershed Authority and ask what advice they have offered to SAF; ask Nolan Shaheen (director) about the results of drilling logs and/or water chemistry tests. Ask if the applicant has applied for a permit for the water source for his herd. Ask how the water sources will be protected.
SERM Assessment Liaison (Prov. Government Agency - Environment) – Find out who is project manager of the environmental assessment department at SERM and call this person. David Powell is currently the manager in charge of ILO applications; his training is in the area of landscape architecture. There may be another civil servant who is looking after the applicant’s proposal.
DFO Liaison (Federal Government Agency of Fisheries and Oceans) – If the development is close to lakes or streams, contact your local federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ask if clearance has been obtained for this kind of development. Vegetation will not mitigate the effects of manure runoff into lakes and streams. If DFO feels that a lake will be infected, they will immediately shut down activity on a development.
Political Liaison – This group should consist of a few people who can call, visit and email MLAs and Ministers. It is useful if the people in this group have political affiliations. Talking to politicians will not get you any answers but it will delay the SAF decision and make various government departments know that you are watching. Contact opposition parties. Attend political functions and raise awareness about the unsuitability of the development. Write letters and send emails. Regular and persistent contact with your politicians is required.
Dept of Justice Liaison – This is someone who can press for access to legal documents in SAF files through the Freedom of Information Act. They will initially deny all requests because of sensitive “third party information”. The only third party information in these documents is likely to be the applicant’s name, address and land location. You may have to use a lawyer to press for access, or ask the RM to obtain the documents in the ILO files in SAF departments. Be aware that the Deputy Minister of SAF will reply on Justice Letterhead in order to make you feel as though you are at a dead end. Keep pressing for access to the file.
Media Liaison – This should be someone who can contact the media sensibly and articulately, set up TV, radio, newspaper and media interviews and press releases, create flyers and distribute them to postal outlets and mailboxes in the RM. Ensure that legal counsel reviews all public documents before they are sent out. Start a petition and arrange for the collection of signatures (check out the legal requirements for the creation of a petition). Contact other environmental groups that can carry your petition. The Sierra Group of Canada offers moral support, does letter writing, and provides information. There are many others that will help you. Phone people in the community who may want to write letters on your behalf. Contact local First Nations who may object to the land being used in this way. Write letters to the editor for publication in your local newspaper as well as in the larger newspapers. Contact other RMs who may be supportive. Ensure that legal counsel reviews all public documents that are sent out and advises what you can and cannot say in your interviews. Media attention needs to be started immediately.
Treasurer – Someone who can ask for donations from your group members and others, do the banking, pay bills and keep track of expenditures and income.
Research Liaison – Have a few people do Internet and other research and report it on a weekly basis. Government information brochures are useful and can be downloaded or purchased to add to your file. Watch the comings and goings at the proposed site, take photographs and keep track of dates when activity is observed.
Check CEPA guidelines:
http://www.canadian-forests.com/environ-groups.htm
http://www.chamber.ca/cmslib/general/En ... %20Act.pdf
Meetings Coordinator – Get someone who can coordinate the meetings and set dates by phone or email and arrange for the agenda to be made as well as leading the meeting. Refreshments and snacks are a nice touch to the meetings. It is important that you eat together and have some fun, because otherwise, meetings become a chore. Rotate meeting locations. Door prizes, like the big zucchini giveaway, cow ornaments or gift certificates are a lot of fun! Some parts of this process have to remain light because as you get further and further into it, the burden becomes so heavy and so stressful that you have to find some way of alleviating the pressure, such as via social events.
The agenda is usually the same but it is important to remain upbeat at each meeting:
- reports of work completed by liaison committees
- new business
- next actions to be taken
- next meeting date, time and location
Secretary – Ask someone who can keep a binder full of all the letters, email, research, legal documents, maps, visuals, photographs, presentation scripts, contact lists and other correspondence and have it available at all meetings for quick and easy reference. This file also needs to be backed up electronically and a copy filed at the lawyer’s office. The secretary also takes the minutes at the meetings, keeps all electronic documents in a file, sends or delivers letters on behalf of the group. Obtain contact numbers, addresses, email addresses of MLAs, Ministers, RM Councillors, protest group members, environmental groups. Keep the members’ contact list of phone numbers and emails updated and distributed to all members.
Webmaster – Someone to maintain a blog and/or website.
Create a name for your group and a clear mission statement. It should be a positive name without the word ANTI or STOP in it. You want to be seen as a group that is working towards a common goal for the good of the community, not just in the sake of self interest. Community perception is everything. “Friends of….” is a welcoming name.
Create a website and/or a blog:
https://www.blogger.com/start
http://members.freewebs.com/
Get engineering and technical advice from engineers, hydrogeologists, geological engineers and university professors who are experts on water contamination and aquifers. This can also be costly, but will give you the “smoking gun” that you need to defeat the application. Obtain well records from neighbouring landowners and SWA. Have an engineer interpret well drilling records and get a draftsperson to create a cross section of the subsurface soils to show the depth and extent of the aquifers. Ask an engineer or hydrogeologist on whether the water bearing soil layers are likely to be continuous throughout the neighbourhood. It is important to do this so that you can show that there is potential for the contaminants to move towards wells through the groundwater. Taking a look at existing well logs and pieszometers is less expensive than hiring a company to do the drilling. High Importance.
Get legal counsel. Invite legal counsel (municipal and/or litigation specialties) to your first or second meeting to answer questions and plan strategy, discuss injunctions and what is feasibly possible to prevent the development. You may not place an injunction on a development unless it can be proved that there is potential for harm. Ask counsel to answer questions and to advise on precedents in previous cases. Ask counsel to attend some RM meetings with you. You may be asked for a retainer. Legal advice will be costly but well worth the expenditure in order to protect yourselves. High Importance.
Educate all group members on what the issues are, using brief presentations, emails, blogs and a website. Everyone will take a role in this as different people will have different levels of expertise. Ultimately, everyone in the group should be able to speak knowledgeably about the issues because they will be asked about them.
Get access to the RM file and have it photocopied. Ask for new additions to the file on a weekly basis. This becomes costly but is essential for documentation and for seeing what the applicant is sending to the RM.
Make contact with your neighbourhood RM councillor/politician and find out his/her opinion on the application. Try to get this person on your side.
Ask group members for donations for the action. Start off with $100 per family. This initial donation will tell you who is committed and on your side. You will need more cash injections as the protest continues.
Visit or call all neighbours within the area of the proposed development so that you can invite others to your meetings and also get an indication of who is against the development. Ask people in the community to send letters, emails or make phone calls to your local politicians to voice their disapproval. Be careful what you say to people because some of it goes directly back to the applicant.
Take photographs of the applicant’s and adjacent land, to show the existence of ponds, lakes, springs, streams running through the property, surface water in the spring and the numbers of animals in the herd. These photographs can be added to your records and are handy when you are trying to illustrate a point.
Make a map of the neighbouring area with the locations of wells and residences. Have your engineer analyze well data and have a draftsperson draft a cross section of the land using the information from SWC drilling logs.
Call or email government departments to get more information on the application. Download government pamphlets and documents dealing with ILO approval.
Write letters or emails to the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of SAF, the Minister of SWC, the Minister in charge of Rural Revitalization and the Premier. Continue these letters monthly. Answer any responses to you to keep up the dialogue. Be persistent.
Do a legal search to find out who are the major shareholders of the ILO corporation and find out whether they have enough assets to post a bond or have any assets that can be seized in the event of an environmental disaster. In some cases, the shareholder will be the applicant’s wife who may or may not hold assets.
Check the CARDS/ ACAAFS grants for ILO developments: http://www.sccd.sk.ca/acaafs/projects/pastfunded.php
Insist that SAF require the applicant to obtain a geotechnical engineering report. SAF project managers are sometimes reluctant to request this because of the high cost associated with the work; however, they should not be relying on test pits dug near the surface of the site to interpret the suitability of the site.
Make presentations and send information to other environmental groups in the area as well as other special interest groups like country residential developments. Ask other groups to send letters to the RM to voice opposition to the ILO. These groups can be very helpful to you to maintain the pressure.
Contact ex-MLAs who have had some responsibility in the environment portfolio. They can advise you on other internal government contacts.
Attend government presentations on matters that pertain to this type of development. Contact other environmental groups like Sierra Club for moral support and to help with a letter writing campaign.
Arrange to have your group placed on a council meeting agenda and make another presentation to council. Make presentations to RM councils in the immediate area to advise them of the development. They are usually not aware of what is happening in the area adjacent to them.
Offer to have your geotechnical engineering representative take SAF and SERM officials with the RM council on a tour of the adjacent land to point out topography, streams and to show soil types and dangerous manure spread areas. Government officials will likely not accept, but at least they will know that you have expertise on your side.
Obtain the applicant’s geotechnical engineering report. When it goes into the file and is tabled at an RM council meeting, it becomes public domain. Ask for a third party engineer’s review of the report. High Importance.
Check the credentials of the writer of the report. If E.I.T. is indicated after the writer’s name, you can be assured that this is a junior engineer who is not yet a fully fledged member of the professional association. An engineer should have P.Eng. after his/her name and a hydrogeologist should have a P. Geo. designation.
The report should tell you how the site was assessed. If the environmental site rating is “geologically sensitive”, the ILO should not be placed there. Ask for the water chemistry report from SWA. This may tell you whether the site is already contaminated because of an existing operation and is good evidence to further your case. Ask about the credentials of all civil servants who work on the file. Do not assume that they are qualified to give opinions or make judgments on environmental and/or geotechnical issues.
Contact Dr. Peter Levitt (UofR) or some other university expert to make a presentation on water chemistry and runoff to the RM council. He has done extensive research on river systems, lakes and aquifers in the province and can tell how nitrates, nitrites and e-coli get into the water supply. Nitrites in water from manure can cause ‘blue baby’ syndrome, which is fatal. E coli contamination can cause death. Water quality is a pet issue for him.
Find out if the applicant has a good source of available water for his/her herd, and how the heavy use of this source might affect the availability and quality of water for everyone else. See RM of Moosomin decision 2006 where the deciding factor against the applicant was an inadequate water supply: http://www.stopthehogs.com/communities/moosomin.htm
Have your lawyers research legal databases for other precedent setting cases.
Write monthly letters to the RM council. Attach informational items such as precedent setting cases or any other good pieces of research. Make sure they get to the RM office one week before the monthly council meeting.
Phone and visit other community members for support, especially science teachers that head environmental projects. It is useful if some group members can sit on coffee row or go to the hockey rink occasionally to hear community news regarding the project as well as to dispel any rumours. Contact other community environmental watchdog groups and make presentations.
Try to speak to the applicant to discuss alternatives to manure spreading, like composting, spreading in safer areas, etc. in order to make this a win-win situation. You are unlikely to get an interview, but you must be seen to be trying.
Call or interview councillors, especially before elections, so that they can tell you what their views are on ILOs in the RM. Do more listening than talking. Gently put forth your viewpoint. There is a fine line between influencing and harassment. When you speak with councillors, listen carefully to what they are telling you and be respectful when you make comments or ask questions.
Put out media releases. Use factual information only and always have the releases commented on by your lawyers before distribution. Fax the media releases to the local media. Do not overuse this privilege.
Make up a flyer and take it to the post office for mailing. Use factual information only and remember that less is more. Counter any flyers that the applicant puts out by restating your opinion in a follow up flyer with a minimum of words.
Start a petition. Make sure that the petition form is worded correctly and that it has room for printed names and addresses as well as signatures.
Make another presentation on your findings to the RM council. Use photos, cross-sections, maps and charts to make your presentation very visual. A picture is worth a thousand words. Attend presentations made to RM council by the applicant and take good notes.
Give interviews to TV, radio, and the press. Preface every comment or reply with the statement: “We are not against traditional farming and the family farm.” Global is the most accommodating TV station, and CBC radio has some informative programs that would like to showcase your cause.
Update your blog weekly and your website monthly or as needed.
Make presentations to other stakeholder groups like environmental groups, wildlife associations, lake and watershed protection groups, country residential groups in the RM, the local Sierra Club and to the surrounding RM councils that may have more traffic on their roads due to the development.
Phone to arrange meetings with Ministers and MLAs and members of the Opposition. Meet with Minister of SAF Minister of the Environment. Send frequent letters and responses to their letters.
Government of Saskatchewan at: http://www.gov.sk.ca/about-government/
Be prepared for defamation suits against you even though your purpose is not to defame, but to protect the public health and welfare of the community and of the environment. Ask the group secretary to obtain the documents in the file that are necessary to prepare for your statement of defence. The more you can hand your lawyer, the less time and money it takes to prepare a statement of defence.
Use the Freedom of Information Act to get access to secret SAF government files through the Justice Department. High Importance. Be persistent. Don’t be intimidated by the Deputy Minister of SAF using Justice letterhead. Sometimes a lawyer will be able to accomplish things you can’t and don’t be afraid to use one to ask for this information, repeatedly, if necessary. Ask the RM to request certain documents because it is easier for them to get access than you. Once a document has been tabled at an RM meeting, it goes into the application file where it becomes public domain and is easy for you to access.
SAF will try to put off a decision for as long as possible, in order to cool off public opinion, but prepare yourself for the eventual SAF approval. There has never been an ILO application denied by SAF in the province. Ask the RM to invite the project manager of SAF in charge of the application decision to an RM meeting to explain their reasoning for granting the approval. Once this is done, do not waste any further time with that department. Instead put your efforts in and focus totally on the RM council, but know when to back off of the pressure on the council. They are just ordinary people like you who have taken on a job that no one else wants to do. Help council do its work by finding pertinent information for them and send it in letters. State frequently that you have confidence in them that you know they will make the right decision for the safety of the community. However, remind them that they have a fiduciary and moral responsibility to do the right thing.
After SAF approval, attend RM meetings where the ILO is indicated to be on the monthly agenda. Ask council what advice their lawyers are giving them. Usually, RM lawyers will advise abstaining from voting for those councillors living on adjacent land to the ILO. RM legal counsel also advises that they do not advise the applicant in any way or encourage re-application with changes.
If the application is denied by the RM, the applicant may try to reapply with a few changes as suggested by SAF. Ask the RM to make some quick revisions to the bylaws with an order-in-council either with a presentation. This will put additional hurdles in the applicant’s way. Or, ask council to place a moratorium on ILO development until the bylaws can be rewritten.
The applicant may decide to take the decision to the court of appeals. There is legal precedent for these kinds of appeals to be unsuccessful (see RM of Moosomin, 2006). Judges typically like to leave these kinds of decisions in the hands of RM councils and will not find for the applicant unless there is obvious bias on the part of the RM. RM councillors must perform their duties in an unbiased manner all the way though the process.
To be honest, in spite of all the objections against an ILO in your community, the only one that carries any weight is the environmental and public safety concern. Pressure needs to be applied to all levels of government, but in the end, it all comes down to this one issue.
Know that you are in for a long, tough battle that may last a few years. You will become very tired of this, you will spend a lot of time and money on it, and all members in your group will experience fatigue, ridicule and even mudslinging at many points during the process. Some neighbours may move away. Many people will not believe your scientific evidence, compelling though it may be, and many will get a distorted view of it. Some members of the community will not want to talk to you because they see you as anti-farming or anti-progress. You may come to be viewed as “the radical fringe”.
Be aware that this kind of action is very divisive in the community and that there is no real winner even if you do get a vote in your favour because people with money can and do flout authority and some have enough money to keep things tied up in court for years.
It is important to maintain your integrity at all times, but be tenacious about your goal and never underestimate the power of team work. Be sensitive to public opinion and perception about you, but don’t let that deter you. Remain firm in your resolve and leave no stone unturned to help you reach your goal. Most of all, support one another and give frequent thanks to members who are working hard towards preventing this development.
You might think that a small group would have very little influence on huge corporations and big government, but you CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Archimedes said, “Give me a lever and I can move the world!”