Category Archives: Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, fighting big wind., legal challenges

This Case is for the People Of Ontario…

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The Residents of Ontario, especially Rural Ontario, owe a great deal of gratitude to SWEAR and the Drennan’s for taking on this Charter Challenge!

MAWT Inc.  Thanks You!!

  A win for them is a WIN for ALL Residents of Ontario!!  

About SWEAR

CaptureSWEAR is a non profit organization dedicated to holding government accountable for the production of safe wind energy. SWEAR believes the government of Ontario did not exercise due diligence when crafting the Green Energy and Economy Act.  A very heavy handed approach was used.  Rural Ontario does not take kindly to this type of governance. The Drennan’s, members of SWEAR stepped forward in 2012 to be the named persons on the lawsuit.

         Although the Drennans’ name is widely known in this case, there is a broader public interest being served.

 “It has taken time to educate the public to the fact that his case is not personal to the Drennans, but the understanding is now clearly there.  This case is for the people of Ontario who want safe wind energy in their communities and beyond. The government says that massive industrial wind turbines are safe.  We, the people, are holding them accountable.”

follow link to read Court Docucments  and to DONATE!

SWEAR

 

Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Wind turbines face Charter suit: Ontario Farmer

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Three citizen groups have been allowed to appeal wind farm projects in court

France Anderson, Ontario Farmer, July 2014

Three West Coast citizens’ wind groups have gotten leave to jointly appeal wind turbine projects under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The three Ontario groups—SWEAR (Safe Wind Energy for All Residents), HEAT (Huron East Against Turbines), and HALT (Huron-Kinloss Against Lakeside Turbines)—which oppose wind farms near Goderich, St. Columban and Kincardine respectively, will be able to jointly appeal the projects by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.*

They will be represented by Falconers LLP, and the appeal to the Divisional Court of Ontario is to be heard November 17, 18 and 19, 2014.

charteThe Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the government’s promise to every man, woman and child in Canada that they will have security to conduct their affairs and lives in relative peace.

 

Falconers, which specializes in human rights and constitutional law firm [sic], is arguing that the provincial government did not exercise due diligence with regard to human health when it crafted the Green Energy and Economy Act.

“The government says that massive industrial wind turbine developments are safe. We, the people, are holding them accountable,” explains Dave Hemingway, the president of SWEAR.

“If this Charter challenge is successful, it will set a precedent and will assist all appeals and legal challenges going forward,” says Gerry Ryan, the president of HEAT.

“This action has the potential to shift the burden of proof from the need to prove direct and serious harm to human health to the need to prove the possibility of harm,” which is “a lower and more reasonable threshold,” says Kevin McKee, the president of HALT.

Falconers is also seeking a conjoined stay of proceedings to halt progress of K2, St. Columban and Armow projects until the appeal is heard.

Hemingway said they hope to know the date for the hearing regarding the stay “relatively soon.”

Meanwhile, the commissioning of the Varna Wind LP Farm by NextEra Energy Canada** is underway. This project comprises 37 GE model turbines that stand 80 meters high and support blades 50.5 meters across. The project on private lands was of Highway 21 along the Lake Huron Shoreline, in the Municipalities of Bluewater and Huron East, has 60 MW total capacity.

unnamed (14)*Editor’s note: Of course, the projects are approved by the Ministry of the Environment. The developers, however, for the projects are: Capital Power/Samsung/Pattern; Veresen; and Samsung/Pattern, respectively.
**NextEra Canada is not a Canadian company; neither is Samsung, Pattern, and Veresen.

For more information on the Charter challenge and to donate funds, please go to SWEAR’s website.

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ERT Appeal, Ontario Wind

Julian Falconer to speak at wind energy town hall

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Paul Morden – Sarnia Observer – April 22, 2014

Noted Canadian lawyer Julian Falconer is set to speak at a May 5 town hall meeting a Plympton-Wyoming citizens group is organizing to rally support for its fight against Suncor Energy’s proposed 46-turbine Cedar Point Wind Power Project.

Falconer, known for his human rights advocacy and involvement in high profile cases like the Ipperwash Inquiry, along with lawyer Asha James from Falconer’s firm, are set to speak at the meeting about Charter of Rights and Freedom challenges of wind energy projects.

“He knows how to make things happen and has quite a reputation,” said Ingrid Willemsen, with the group We’re Against Industrial Turbines – Plympton-Wyoming.

“We’re quite excited he’ll be there.”

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Camlachie Community Centre. Willemsen said group members hope to fill the hall and attract more residents to their cause.

“I think it’s about the only thing the community has left to hope for,” she said.

Suncor has a contract to sell power from its Cedar Point project to Ontario’s electricity grid, and has submitted an application for provincial environmental approval for turbines it plans to build in Plympton-Wyoming, Lambton Shores and Warwick Township.

Also scheduled to address the town hall meeting are Ben Lansink, a real estate appraiser and consultant, who will speak about the impact of turbines on property values, and Carmen Krogh, one of the authors of an article published in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine on the health impacts of wind farms.

Willemsen said the view of turbines going up along Highway 402, just east of Lambton County, is showing local residents what’s on the way to their communities, and may spur more opposition to wind projects.

“A lot of people have not involved themselves because they don’t know how it’s going to affect them,” she said. “They haven’t seen them, right close.”

As well as awaiting provincial environmental approval for its Cedar Point project, Suncor has taken the Town of Plympton-Wyoming to court over several of its bylaws aimed at wind turbines.

Earlier this month, Suncor officials met with town council after the judge hearing the case asked the two sides to explore the possibility of a settlement.

Mayor Lonny Napper said Tuesday councillors were still waiting to hear back from the town’s lawyer before responding to Suncor.

Willemsen said she remains hopeful Suncor’s wind project can be stopped.

“They need to jump through the hoops, just like any other project, and the longer it’s delayed, the better our chances,” she said.

See original article here: http://www.theobserver.ca/2014/04/22/julian-falconer-to-speak-at-wind-energy-town-hall

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Corruption, fighting big wind., Government corruption, Government Misrepresentation, legal challenges, Ontario Wind

Abuse of Power – Letter to Ministry of the Attorney General

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Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ERT Appeal, How to Fight Big Wind..., Ontario Wind, Property Rights

The Human Cost of the Green Energy Act

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Garth Manning – November 17,  2013 – Toronto Sun

In 2009, the Ontario government, seeking to appear green, expropriated our property rights and democratic freedoms with its Green Energy Act (GEA).

The GEA removed the power of municipal politicians to represent their constituents in green energy matters and imposed 550 meters as a regulated setback in an attempt to protect rural citizens from industrial wind developments.

Many governments also fell in line with the worldwide movement to appear green, led by wind energy developers.

But not all governments had the good fortune of hearing firsthand from people already adversely impacted elsewhere by wind turbines near their homes, as was the case for Ontario.

And yet the Ontario government proceeded.

Unlike the costly Ontario process of appealing a wind project, Alberta has a different approach.

There, appeals to Environmental Review Tribunals are substantially subsidized by the developer.

By order of the Alberta Utilities Commission, developers pay a portion of appellant costs in advance, according to need.

In stark contrast, in Ontario, where turbines are much closer to rural neighbourhoods, each local or regional group must raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover all legal costs for each appeal and to challenge not only the wind company but also the Ontario environment ministry.

To defend their rights, Albertans and Ontarians are up against exceedingly well-funded, corporate lawyers and government-paid lawyers.

Toronto human rights lawyer Julian Falconer argues that the GEA and the government’s approval of wind projects “implicates their right to security of the person” as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights, in view of potential health impacts.

These health impacts were noted on Oct. 17, 2013 when the Ontario government’s Research Chair for Renewable Energy Technologies and Health at the University of Waterloo reported a statistically significant correlation between proximity to industrial wind turbines and sleep deprivation, tinnitus and vertigo.

The government of Ontario has been widely criticized, even by its own agencies, for its roll out of the GEA four years ago. Ontario’s Auditor-General reported in 2011 that a cost-benefit analysis was never done and there was no impact study of the effects on property values, tourism and health.

Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner and Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal opposed the effect of industrial wind turbines on wildlife at Ostrander Point.

Economists, health care providers, mayors, and those affected have consistently made their views known, but concerns have fallen on deaf ears.

Around the world, politicians have succumbed to corporate promises of “quick and easy” methods to save the planet from greenhouse gases.

Ratepayers pay the costs on their monthly hydro bills at ever-increasing government-set rates that include massive subsidies to multinational energy companies on the wind bandwagon.

This is heading toward a global scandal.

Governments don’t bother with cost-benefit analyses because most of the costs don’t show on their own books.

The result is much costlier electricity and no net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

But human costs are massive, including the loss of fundamental rights and freedoms, loss of our right to a good night’s sleep and good health, lost market value of homes, and loss of the right to enjoy non-industrialized rural landscapes.

So citizens are taking this high-priced battle to the courts where they hope our beloved Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms can protect us and our democracy.

— Manning is the Chairman of the County Coalition for Safe and Appropriate Green Energy (CCSAGE), Prince Edward County, Ontario

Original Article Here: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/15/the-human-cost-of-the-green-energy-act

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Government Misrepresentation

The Incredible Similarities between Wynne Power & Wind Power

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Hockey Fight Wynne

1. They both have a total disregard for democracy.
2. They both garner acceptance through “favours”, or money.
3. They are both guilty of incredibly high levels of greed and waste.
4. They both brag about what they can do, but neither of them can prove any net benefit, for
their “efforts”.
5. They both travel in circles that are continually being accused of extreme corruption.
6. They are both fond of back room deals, deleted e-mails, lack of transparency, nondisclosure,
and secrets.
7. Neither of them do the job they were intended to do, but both are costing us far more than
they should be, even if they were producing at 100% capacity.
8. They are both treating the rural residents in Ontario, with utter disdain
9. They are both willing to cause physical harm to people, all the while denying it, to avoid
accountability.
10. They are both notorious for telling lie after lie, after lie.
11. They are both willing to destroy our environment, while pretending to “help” the global
warming “problem”.
12. They are both pushing the faux-green energy scam, based on the unproven theory, that
CO2 is responsible for global warming.
13. They are both in complete denial of the physical, psychological, financial, social, disaster,
that the wind scam has turned out to be.
14. They both point the finger of blame for the damage they are doing, at anyone but
themselves.
15. They are both willing to pay off one segment of the population (cities/towns), in order to
convince them, to turn a blind eye to the abuse of the other segment,(rural areas).
16. They both use climate fear mongering, to push their useless agendas.
17. They have both survived up till this point….because people can be gullible, and they have
taken the word of these wind pushers, without first doing their homework, and
researching the truth.
18. They are both heavily invested financially, in the windscam, and would hate to see it fail,
even if it bankrupts our province.
19. They are both bold and brash enough to push themselves onto the rural people and
communities that do NOT want them.
20. We need to run them both out of the province, before they run our economy into the
ground! SUPPORTERS OF WIND, ARE SUPPORTED BY WIND….always follow the
money trail.

By Shellie Correia –  October 21, 2013

Canada Wind, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Government Misrepresentation, Ontario Wind, Property Rights, Uncategorized

Wynne, We Have Spoken and are NOT Willing Hosts!! 402 Protest Rally!

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As far as the eye could see…..over 30 kilometres of Tractors, Vans, Cars, Trailers and Pickups shutdown highway 402 delivering a message to Kathleen Wynne and her Turbines! It was raining and chilly….but that didn’t stop the Protestors who decked out their cars with messages including “Children Suffering” and “Ontario is a Dictatorship”.

People united from as far as the Niagara Region to Kindardine in a show of solidarity in the fight against this corrupt liberal government. Police were out in full force to ensure the protestors stayed in line. The procession took off right at 10am as planned and shut the highway down for over 3 hours! The Mothers Against Wind Turbines attended the rally in convoy, with Eagles, Bats and Turbines all decorating the vehicles.

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At the end of the line, speakers came out and talked in the rain to the crowd of anti-wind warriors. Speakers included Esther Wrightman, MPP Lisa Thompson, MPP Lisa McLeod and Local Mayors; all of which focused on the truths of democracy, soaring energy poverty and human rights issues in Ontario. The only Liberal in attendance was some “lackey” who was of no significant importance. Talks concluded with a rendition of “Blowing in the wind” which the crowd all sang together.

Will Wynne listen, or will our message blow with the wind? Only time will tell….
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Canada Wind, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Children Affected, Government Misrepresentation, Health, Ontario Wind, Uncategorized

ERT: This isn’t a hearing – By Esther Wrightman

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Shout outs to Esther, an amazing mother who is standing up for Ontarians, Democracy and Justice for ALL!

This was originally posted on OWR.

Canada Wind, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Government Misrepresentation, Ontario Wind

Everyone – Esther Needs Us on Tuesday! The Liberal ERT’s are a FARCE!

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Dear everyone,

 

I have spent months (since Aug 1) organizing the appeal of the Adelaide 38 turbine wind project to the Environmental Review Tribunal, that was approved in my township. Days on end (I had to quit working at the plant nursery), at the computer, the phone, from 6 in the morning til 10 at night. Appeals, witness statements, piles of disclosure, scheduling, motions upon motions….it just goes on and on. Incredibly intense. Like nothing I’ve ever done before. But I had a wonderful group of generous witnesses – brilliant, supportive people who put their ALL into this appeal. For this, I felt really humbled.

 

What happened was this: on a Thursday evening (Oct 10) a pile (foot high, I kid you not) of motions was dumped on me by NextEra and the Min of Environment – all aimed at eliminating almost every single witness I had carefully brought into the appeal. Amazingly, or maybe not, none of these motions overlapped with each other— NextEra chewed away at a specific list of witnesses, while the MOE ate up the rest. You’d think they would have some similar motions if they weren’t ‘working together.’ I was to respond by Tuesday (Oct 15) to this stack of papers. At the hearing I was able to get a whole whopping ONE day extension where I fought by teleconference for 3 of my witnesses. Two and a half hours on the phone; one hour of me speaking.

 

Yesterday evening, a day after the motions were heard, an order was issued that said I lost every motion. This really shouldn’t be a surprise to me or anyone (even the lawyers say we can’t win with the ERT anymore), but the reality of the ‘appeal process’ is pretty damn clear now. Something is rotting, and we are being told to eat it.

 

If you saw your witnesses be struck off like this, what would you do?

 

Dr. Sarah Laurie (Australia)– they have removed the “Dr.” from her name, even though she has a medical degree, and practiced as a doctor, but doesn’t now due to family illness – how does this make Ontarians feel that we have done this to Sarah?? Shouldn’t we be up in arms over this alone? No reasons have been given from the ERT for not qualifying her as a doctor, they just made the decision. She sits with her testimony, from other recent ERTs, in purgatory.

 

Mike McCann (Chicago real estate appraiser) – Struck off from being able to speak to the numbers that he sees showing human habitat destruction where wind turbines are installed. All because Nexterror argues humans aren’t animals…if we were turtles we would get a voice. I’m not exaggerating – this was the argument made, and amazingly won.

 

Ben Lansink (London real estate appraiser) – Struck for the same reasons as Mike.

 

Larry Swart – (resident affected by turbines) – Struck as a witness because he wouldn’t give the lawyers ALL of his medical records, prescriptions, doctor notes etc.

 

William Palmer –Professional Engineer    Testimony limited. Not allowed to speak to health and safety concerns, even though as a professional engineer, he MUST alert officials if he sees a situation where harm is happening or will happen.

 

Rick James  – (Michigan acoustician) – Testimony limited. Not allowed to speak to health impacts from noise, even though THAT is what acousticians do – calculate the noise that affects people!

 

 

Still on the chopping block and not decided yet:

 

Dr. Nina Pierpont (New York) – she WROTE the book Wind Turbine Syndrome – and yet, that doesn’t seem to be good enough for the other side. They want her testimony struck because she didn’t write out her testimony word for word, which isn’t required or necessary. Even so, I have no faith that the ERT will let her speak.

 

Harvey Wrightman, Larry Cook – to speak to wind leases – the stress caused by the wind developers on landowners, the unethical leases that bind people into contracts signing their health and their family’s health away. These will be struck too, on Tuesday, if I stick around.

 

Kathryn Minten (Organic Dairy farmer) had asked to have Party Status with 5 witnesses lined up. She was to speak to stray voltage. The ERT downgraded her to just a presenter – no witnesses allowed. This was only decided a few days ago — no explanation as to why.

 

That leaves us with 2 witnesses: me, and Muriel. No kidding. Do you believe this? Do. And I hope you are as spitting mad as me.

 

So do I slog through their system, just to say I did it, or do we throw it back in their face and call them out for the corrupt system they are? Remember — MONTHS of work was put into this appeal, doing it all ‘correctly’, with a budget of zero dollars and a lot of well written pro-bono work from these witnesses, and the ERT had the ability to throw out the vast majority of my testimony the day before the hearing starts, without any reasons noted.

 

We must protest. Don’t worry about me losing this appeal — they’ve killed it already.

 

I need your help on very short notice:

The first day of the hearing is to consist of Opening Statements, and more motion madness against our side.

Date: Tuesday October 15th
Time: 10:00am
Place: Middlesex County Office, 399 Ridout Street North, London MAP

Can you please come  – bring signs, bring voices, bring cameras, video cameras – and let’s protest the ERT once and for all. No more worrying about offending the ERT, they’ve basically made their decision already. Unlike judges, they always get to make their decisions without facing the people, safely tucked away in Toronto — and save for Ostrander’s turtle, it has never been in favour of the people.

 

Many of you have been through unfair ERTs (I’ve been to many, and an appellant at several now.) Many are currently faced with them with all the new approvals in the last few months, or in the near future. How can we continue to have any faith in this brutal system? How can we continue to let this happen? When you are told, “You have an opportunity to appeal the Ministry’s decision,” is this what we call an “opportunity”?

 

Please help spread the word. We have nothing to lose anymore, and we need your faces there!!

 

Many thanks!

 

Esther