Hamilton: Major Threat to Red Hill Valley - 2003
- Read the full story
- at the Star: Police make 14 arrests at Red Hill protest - Nov 7..2003
- Oct.31 at the Star: 4 arrested in protest over expressway
Nov 7th from E Marion
 So it took all day but everyone is out. Starting early this morning as people gathered to offer support to each of the Red Hill Defenders as they came up from the holding cells in the basement. Lots of people there for them. People came and left all day, if they had to do other things, but even as the last defender was finally brought up(court staff lost a file for several hours), that courtroom was full for that one person. Defenders wanted to be there for the people who had suffered the handling of court system and to let them know the esteem they were held in.
 The children's Protest in front of city hall was so good for the Red Hill Defenders, those who could be there and those who were still awaiting release. The kids were absolutely wonderful. And in full voice. The response from the passing traffic was so strong and given the sneering and lecturing we have taken in the Spectator and from CHTV
 it made our hearts sing.
 I really wish I did not have to tell you some of the sad things but...
 -The longhouse was not respectfully dismantled as promised but was crushed and run over by a huge shovel. That of course makes one fear for the manner in which the sacred fire(burning since August 17) was treated. Police were making rude comments about the sacred fire within earshot of Red Hill Defenders.
 -The destruction of trees and animals who were too young or injured to run continued through the night with huge floodlights to guide the destroyers.(Suggests they are scared silly by the likelihood of a win for Valley candidates on Monday.)
 -The last two removed from the Longhouse were females who tell me that the police made efforts to pull their clothing while carrying them and expose parts of their bodies, hurt their arms by bending and twisting
 and leaving no marks, accused one of intentionally causing the other pain. The two females were attached to each other and the Longhouse. They were carried out Rosedale entrance-away from the media-by 7 male officers and one female.
 Activists from outside the city arrived today at the courthouse and supported by distributing flyers they brought with them and will be back for future activism on Red Hill.
 This weekend you can help by working for an anti-expressway candidate in your ward. Check with Friends or CAGED to find out who they are. Or work for David Chistopherson for mayor. Monday we can kick ass!
 Need a Home for a Dog?
 CAGED member has had a request from a man who wants to adopt a dog that has been rescued. So isn't this the type of thing we could do well? Call me if you can help put a rescued dog into the care of someone who trusts us to help animals. 905-526-8188
 I have some nifty Red Hill flyers that a CAGED member has made and delivered to me for you to drop by and pick up and get them out anywhere as you move around Hamilton this weekend. Put them up in bus shelters or anywhere as they are not attributed to anyone feel free to put them where you can.  Indymedia has taken off on this issue and now that Red Hill defenders have made this happen animal activists can use it for the other issues - deer in Gore Park is the next campaign. Big hug to everyone and Red
 Hill Defenders Rule! Elaine
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Major Threat to Red Hill Valley

From: "Don McLean" <don.mclean@cogeco.ca>

Over the past three days, the City of Hamilton and a private company have fenced off a very large area of forest on the face of the escarpment west of Mt. Albion Road. The area includes several thousand trees and represents perhaps the finest forested area in the path of the proposed expressway. It includes a portion of the Bruce Trail and the main valley recreational trail. The fenced area appears to correspond exactly with the path of the proposed expressway. Many of the trees have been painted with “X”s or otherwise marked. Cutting trees here would likely be a first step to allow blasting of the escarpment to begin. The fencing and threat to trees appears consistent with the following “update” issued in late August by the City’s project director, Chris Murray:

“Further, a request for quotations was issued for advance tree clearing north of Mud Street and

west of Mount Albion Road along the escarpment face. The timing reflects the permitted window

of opportunity to remove vegetation without impacting migratory birds and the southern flying

squirrel. Staff is continuously working with our wildlife specialists to ensure that any concerns are

mitigated.”

While no contracts for construction have even been put out for tender for this area (unless this is being done secretly by the city), it is quite possible that actual tree cutting may start very soon. We will try to keep you informed. The escarpment crossing is Stage 7 of the expressway implementation plan released last March. No work has been done at this point on any of stages 3, 4, 5 or 6.

The migratory bird restrictions apply from May to July. The restrictions on the flying squirrels are in February and March, and again in June and July. Therefore there is not even the slightest excuse for tree cutting to take place in advance of the city council elections on November 10. If it proceeds, it would appear that this provocation is designed to threaten the integrity of the elections process and try to make irrelevant the campaigns of anti-expressway candidates who are contesting nearly every seat on council.

Friends of Red Hill has issued a notice to the media. It is reprinted at the end of this update.

Salmon Run and Rescue Underway

The annual fall migration of Chinook Salmon is underway in Red Hill Creek. Students from Churchill High School and members of Friends rescued more than 15 of the big fish earlier today. They netted the salmon in the pools below the concrete channel at Queenston Road, and ran them past this obstacle, reviving and releasing them further upstream. The run began yesterday and may continue through the weekend and possibly beyond, depending on the receipt of more rain.

For Immediate Release – October 17, 2003

Expressway Tree Cutting Threatens Integrity of Hamilton Civic Elections

The main issue in the Hamilton city council elections is the controversial Red Hill Creek Expressway which would remove over 44,000 trees from Hamilton’s largest park. Now, just three weeks before the November 10 vote, city officials appear determined to try to end the 50-year debate over the expressway by clearcuting thousands of the oldest trees in the path of the road. Over the past three days, fencing has been erected around the planned clearcut along the face of the Niagara Escarpment, even though construction in this area is not scheduled for several months.

Last August, public opposition to the expressway stopped an earlier attempt to start tree removal in another part of the valley when several hundred people blocked construction vehicles near Greenhill Avenue in Hamilton’s east end. Around the same time, citizens of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy occupied the construction site. The aboriginal people have since constructed a traditional longhouse on the site and are now heading into the eleventh week of their occupation.

Candidates opposed to the expressway are running for 13 of the 15 council seats up for grabs on November 10, and stand a reasonable chance of securing control over the council. Local media have identified the expressway as the major issue in the campaign. The acknowledged frontrunner for the mayor’s job, David Christopherson, opposes the expresssway. His main opponent is Larry DiIanni, the chairperson of the city’s Expressway Implementation Committee.

DiIanni and the majority of the current council maintain that the expressway is “a done deal”, but the project has stalled in the face of the aboriginal protests and missing provincial and federal approvals. The city has been trying for over 16 months to obtain an authorization from the federal fisheries department to relocate and reconstruct 7.6 kilometres of Red Hill Creek. The city also requires a permit from the province to push the expressway through a closed toxic landfill.

Clearcutting on the escarpment is part of Stage 7 of the 15-stage expressway implementation plan. It would be followed by blasting operations that would open an 80 metre by 15 metre cut in the face of the escarpment – the largest road cut in the history of the escarpment. The cut would extend back nearly half a kilometre into the  escarpment, a provincially significant landform designed in 1990 as a World Biosphere Reserve. The city has also not obtained a permit for this blasting work. Instead it is relying on a 16-year-old permit for the expressway project that didn’t contemplate any cuts in the escarpment face.

“The preparation for the clearcutting is clearly intended to influence the November 10 elections”, said Don McLean, chair of Friends of Red Hill Valley. “Apparently some people at the city are willing to play nasty games with the democratic process in hopes of convincing people that it’s too late to vote for the anti-expressway candidates who are poised to replace them.”

For more information, contact

Friends of Red Hill Valley

Don McLean, Chair (905) 664-8796

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