[getsmart-l] Justice delayed is justice denied and justice is being denied in your name.

[John O'Gorman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Grant Robertson NFU Ontario Coordinator 
To: National Farmers Union- Ontario Commentary 
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 1:46 AM
Subject: National Farmers Union Ontario Commentary - Justice delayed


 

Justice delayed is justice denied and justice is being denied in your name.

A commentary for the National Farmers Union-Ontario

By Grant Robertson

 

It would not be an understatement to say that when I sat down at my kitchen table recently with a visitor I was not quite prepared at how much I would be shocked by the level of injustice a farm family in southwestern Ontario has endured for close to 3 decades now and the role the government of this province, through all three political parties, has contributed to what amounts to, well let's be blunt, abuse of this family.  What was also truly alarming, as a father, was the seemingly cavalier attitude government officials seem to take to what must be a larger issue than simply what this family faced.

 

Ben and Maria Berendsen have been and are by all accounts good farmers who took care of their livestock and worked hard to make their farm a success.  By all accounts that is, by everyone who had interacted with them but government staff people, who took a defensive position against the Berendsen's seemingly from the start.  

 

In 1981 the Berendsens bought a farm near Teviotdale where they began to build a dairy operation.  Sometime after they began production the Berendsens began to notice their cattle were not thriving, milk production was way off and the cattle did not seem to want to drink from the nearby creek water source.  As any good farmer would, Mr. Berendsen tried a number of strategies to try to turn things around, but the problems got worse.  Despite the growing evidence that something was terribly wrong on the Teviotdale farm government agencies continued to point the finger of blame at the Berendsens.

 

Finally, Mr. Berendsen decided to contact the previous owner of the farm and was shocked to discover many tons of waste asphalt material buried close to the surface and along a creek bed.  The Berendsens sought help from the Ministry of Transportation and the Environment Ministry to find solutions to this problem.  However, after inconclusive tests, assistance was essentially dropped and the government was back to blaming everything on the Berendsens.  

 

In 1994 the Berendsens began legal action against the government.  They have traveled to the Supreme Court and back already just to get the right to sue.  Finally a judge ruled on the case in January of this year.  Ontario Superior Court Judge Silja Seppi ruled in the most damning terms possible that the government failed the Berendsens at virtually every turn.  This is an imperfect analogy of course, but the government's case boiled down to an argument that sort of goes like this - since one French fry does not make you fat a diet of nothing but French fries should be okay for your health.  Judge Seppi ruled time and again that government officials charged with protecting the public interest did not do their due diligence in examining the issues this family was facing.  Government officials concluded, based on no evidence, and sometimes without ever visiting the farm or doing tests, that this was a farm management issue because the levels of dioxins, furans, PCBs, PAHs and chlorinated hydrocarbons was within the acceptable level of the one time test results there was no real problem.  At no time did government officials consider the implications of the cumulative effect of consuming these chemicals on a daily basis and the impact this might have on health.

 

There are three things that make this story even more shocking.  Despite the very damning nature of the court's finding the government has decided to use your tax dollars to appeal the decision of Justice Seppi.  The government seems not to have taken into the account that the water that was contaminated on the Teviotdale property knows no boundaries and has been moving into the water table for close to 50 years.  And perhaps most shocking is the knowledge that this can hardly be the only place in Ontario where long term leaching of contaminants is having a cumulative effect on the health of livestock, wild animals and people.  

 

Politicians in government and in opposition have been all but silent on this issue, even when our tax dollars have been used to continue to deny justice to this family.  As a citizen I will be asking my MPP why - I would encourage you to do the same.

 

 

________________________________________________________________________

Grant Robertson is a senior official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario and a National Board Member of the NFU. Grant and his family farm near Paisley, Ontario.  The author can be contacted at grant at bmts.com

If you have been forwarded this commentary and would like to be added to the distribution list please send an email to grant at bmts.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. 

 

 

 

 

 

The computer system is back and working so thank you to those who contacted me to point out things had gone haywire.
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