Forks of the Credit continues to raise awareness of quarry’s impact

January 6, 2022 · 0 Comments

By Rob Paul

Last month, the Forks of the Credit Preservation Group hosted a Caledon Christmas Market in Alton with over 30 vendors.

It was a way to raise money for the ongoing battle against the proposed Votorantim Cimentos (St. Marys) mega blasting quarry, and was just one initiative that will help them keep momentum into 2022.

The proposed quarry is expected to be over 80-feet deep and up to 800 acres in size over the next 50 years in Caledon which will impact residents through noise, truck traffic, and water.

To help stop the quarry from moving forward, the Forks of the Credit Preservation Group has been fundraising and raising awareness throughout the community.

Diane Boyd, a member of the group, helped to lead the charge on the Christmas market and was ecstatic with the turnout.

“It was well above our expectations; we did not expect to make the kind of money we did,” said Boyd. “The vendors were very pleased. Apparently, it was one of the best markets they’ve participated in, and I think we had over 400 people the first day. We raised almost $8,500 after expenses. I was hoping we’d raise $5,000; we did a big community yard sale in the summer and had a silent auction and raised over $11,000. Quarries are expensive to fight, especially when you’re fighting a huge corporation like the one that owns St. Marys Cement.”

With the success of the market, Boyd is hopeful the Forks of the Credit Preservation Group will host more community events to fundraise.

“It was a great experience and a real group effort,” she said. “It really brought our little community together because new people jumped in and helped, and we had a lot of support from Alton—the West Caledon Aggregate Group was very instrumental. I think we’ll be doing a lot more events. My idea for the next one is a spring fling—similar to what Bethell Hospice does with the Diamond in the Hills—a ladies’ lunch with fashion shows and speakers and big-ticket items on the auction and raffles.”

Knowing how difficult the battle with Votorantim Cimentos will be, continuing to inform those in Caledon of the impacts of the quarry is a must to help drum up more financial support.

“It’s going to take a lot more fundraising, but with two events we’ve already raised around $20,000,” Boyd said. “We’re excited about how well attended it was and how involved people were, and we had an info table talking about the proposed quarry and we got a lot more people signed up for our mailing list so we can get the word out as to how serious this really is for Caledon.”

As for where things currently stand in stopping the quarry, Forks of the Preservation Group President David Sylvester says they’ve teamed up with other community groups and are now in the process of meeting with the Town and Region.

“We’re still awaiting the formal application from Votorantim Cimentos, also known as St. Marys,” he said. “In their last public communications, they said the application will be coming sometime in 2022. In the meantime, we are doing our best with municipal and regional Councillors and planners. We’ve been working with the Town of Caledon planning department; we have an upcoming meeting to review their Official Plan Review details because we would like to see some of the policies strengthened to offer better protection for water and natural resources.

“Water is one of the most vulnerable elements with a massive quarry like this, which excavates below the water table. We’re doing the same thing with the Region of Peel. We’ve partnered with eight other community groups in West Caledon and created a collective of groups called the West Caledon Aggregate Group. As a whole we’re spearheading the effort with the Town and Regional planners.”

As they work with the Town and Region, the group is now gearing up for a campaign to continue to inform people not just in Caledon, but across Ontario says Sylvester.

“We have regular meetings every other week and we’re planning strategy; we’ve just hired a campaign organizer and we’ve hired a planner,” he said. “The fundraising is absolutely vital; we’ll probably end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those are the sort of numbers campaigns like ours have to deal with if it’s a long-term battle that last year’s because an environmental assessment in the short-term is unlikely. Fundraisers and public events also serve to heighten the awareness of these issues within the community. It’s great to generate funds at things like the Christmas market, but it’s also important we spend time with them and explain the issues and register on our website. These fundraisers do more than just make money.”

Once more clear details come out about the quarry in 2022, Sylvester expects an uptick in concern from the Caledon community, because right now there’s a lack of public information on what’s to come.

“When the application is formally submitted in 2022, I think that will be an enormous wake-up call for the community because the reality of this will really hit home,” he said. “If people didn’t know before, once the application is submitted, all the details that aren’t yet public will be spelled out with the parameters being explicitly described in the application. That will generate a big impact in the community, there will be heightened awareness. Additionally, we’re trying to reach a broader audience, tourism is a growing industry and thousands of visitors from the GTA come to Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, the Credit River, the Bruce Trail, and all these other wonderful local assets. So, we’re doing our best to inform and educate these people from the GTA about the impact of this quarry.”