Investigation continuing into Garden River dumping

Garden River First Nation leaders and community members remain concerned over the illegal dumping of construction debris in the territory.

“We became aware in late fall of 2018 through individuals who came forward that there was possibly illegal dumping taking place in our First Nation. It came to our table in or around January 2019 and since then we’ve gotten this out to the public,” said Karen Bell, Garden River First Nation acting chief, speaking to SooToday.

The dumping has led to an ongoing, active investigation, conducted by the Anishinabek Police Service Garden River detachment, Bell said.

Bell said it is believed companies from outside the GRFN territory who have employed dump truck operators have dumped construction and demolition debris on the community’s land.

“An environmental report from an engineering firm we deal with came back, indicating the debris was dumped with hydrocarbons and materials containing asbestos,” Bell said.

“The report also indicated the contamination is stable, is not spreading, does not pose a danger to human health, but if we were to start digging this up to take it away and relocate it, we may disrupt the vegetation and the soil that’s there, so we’ve left it where it’s at because we’ve been told that’s the safest place to keep it for now, but the investigation is ongoing and we just want to make sure the First Nation is safe and healthy and we are making every effort to identify the companies or persons responsible and hold them accountable for what they did unbeknown to us.”

Bell said the debris has been dumped in places “off the beaten path, so not many people may have seen the coming and going of these dump trucks.”

Bell said this is not only an illegal and environmental concern, but also harmful to Garden River’s relationship to Sault Ste. Marie and/or other surrounding communities, assuming the dumping was done by people outside the First Nation territory.

“This could be detrimental to the relationship we’ve been trying to develop with the city of Sault Ste. Marie and other communities. To have this waste dropped off in our community has put a big scare into our members because now we have contaminants in the ground. We don’t have a firm figure of how much contamination is actually under the ground and all the locations it could have been dumped in. This was done without our knowledge and approval.” 

“Now we have a whole trust issue again. We don’t have suspects yet…(but) we do believe it was done by companies who had done demolition work in the city of Sault Ste. Marie looking for a place to dump this stuff off,” Bell said.

“I certainly hope they find the perpetrators because we have to make them accountable for what they did.”