Protesters relieved that charges stayed, still determined on the C of A

The following news release was issued by the SDS41 group
MIDLAND — Charges of mischief against two elderly activists who were part of a peaceful protest against a dump site near Elmvale, close to the shores of Georgian Bay, were dropped in Superior court here this morning.
Charges of mischief – and, in three cases, intimidation – against 16 other Stop Dump Site 41 protesters were stayed and will be withdrawn after 12 months if the accused do not get into trouble at Site 41 again.
“In effect these charges are ended, a year from now they’ll be officially ended,” said lawyer Peter Rosenthal, who represented a number of the protesters.
Special provision was made for Keith Wood, 82, and his wife Ina, 75. They won’t have to wait for a year to have a clean record. “For compassionate grounds given illness and age, the charges are withdrawn at this time,” crown attorney Michael Cantlon told Justice Robert Main.
Ina Wood, who remains in Midland hospital after suffering a stroke November 17, said she regretted that the immediate withdrawal of charges against her and Keith hadn’t been extended to everyone.
The Crown should have acted sooner, she added.
“I think they need to make up their minds more quickly, they don’t have to drag their heels so much.” she said in a telephone interview from her hospital bed.
“They’re keeping everyone on a leash and it’s not fair. We were only doing our Canadian duty.”
Rosenthal said he has little doubt that the strength of public support for the protesters influenced the decision to drop or stay the charges. More than 1,200 people signed the petition asking for charges to be dropped
Simcoe County Council voted in September to halt construction and future development of Dump Site 41, just weeks before it was due to open.  But council has refused to give up the Certificate of Approval, leading to suspicions of a hidden agenda to re-activate the dump plan at a later date.
“They’re not being honest,” said Mohawk Danny Beaton, who faced a mischief charge. “They’re staying the charges, they can bring the charges back any time The C of A is not stopped, that’s the issue – the day they start developing that land, we’ll be back there.”
The Midland court house was packed for what was to have been a set-date hearing, with an overflow crowd outside who cheered and applauded when they heard the news.
But many supporters echoed Beaton’s sentiments.
“It’s not over,” said one woman.
“The C of A, if it’s not withdrawn – we’ll be back,” said another.
“There’s a lot of work still to do,” said Anne Ritchie-Nahuis, the dairy farmer who spent a night in jail in August because she refused to sign an undertaking to stay away from the protest site. A JP ruled the next morning that she didn’t have to.
“The Certificate of Approval remains and I guess the other big concern is how government works in our area or is not working,” Ritchie-Nahuis said. That’s something the group plans to deal with, she said.
On November 19, the Ontario Legislature gave second reading to a Private Member’s Bill brought forward by Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop that would revoke the C of A.