Local resident Debbie Gordon sought a judicial review in the matter of the abandoned Thane Smelter contaminated sites in the town of Georgina, Ontario. Laura Bowman and Ian Miron, lawyers working for Ecojustice, are represented Gordon and filed the case on her behalf in April 2015 (Gordon v. Director, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change et al.)
Although the Thane Smelter operation was abandoned in 1997, a large (and illegal) pile of aluminum waste products containing numerous harmful contaminants remained on the site.
The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change issued a clean-up order for the smelter site in 2000, but the owner failed to remove the waste from the site. Gordon requested a Ministry investigation in 2002 and later participated in a public liaison committee for over three years looking for options to remove the waste in cooperation with the Ministry. Over the years, the Ministry repeatedly promised that the site would be cleaned up. Then in 2014, without consulting the Town of Georgina or local residents, and despite repeatedly recognizing the waste stored illegally on the site as a threat to the environment, the Ministry secretly revoked the clean-up order.
For approximately 14 years, the owners failed to remove the waste. During this time, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has also failed to remove the waste or to enforce orders requiring that the owners do so.
In late 2016, this case was settled.
