Martyrs’ Shrine threatened
MIDLAND, ON—Jesuits are in another fight to prevent sacred areas from being overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the modern world.
Beginning in the mid 1990s, Jesuits fought against the development of a Wal-Mart in the north end of Guelph. In 2006, after a decade-long battle, they succeeded in forcing developers to build a noise and sight-reducing berm to hide the Jesuit retreat centre, just to the north, from the new store.
This time the lines have been drawn between a national shrine, a provincial historic site and the town of Midland, which rezoned a piece of land from highway commercial to industrial.
The piece of land lies across the Wye River from Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons—Ontario's first European community established by the Jesuits in 1639. And across the highway from Sainte-Marie is the Matryrs' Shrine, dedicated to the eight Canadian martyrs, including Jean de Brebuf and Gabriel Lalemant who are buried at the Church of St. Joseph in Sainte-Marie.
The proposal expands an already existing industrial area, which the town says the sites currently co-exist with. The new recycling plant will have some indoor activity, but most of the material, including cement, metal, cardboard, etc., will be stored and moved around outside.
"The town also contends that we're already invaded by the noise of the highway," says Bernard Carroll, director of the Martyrs' Shrine and who lived in Guelph during the Wal-Mart battle. "We know we're living in the modern world but we're saying (because of) the nature of the facility, and the kind of work done on it, the noise will be more invasive.
"We're not opposed to recycling but this location will have a major effect on historical heritage sites."
The rezoning and proposed use caught Carroll and those operating Sainte-Marie (which is run by Ontario Tourism and Culture) off-guard. Town council sent out the required notices but not to the shrine or historic site because they sit just outside town boundaries and the area where the notices were required to be sent.
"We wished they had expanded the consideration a little further," says Carroll.
Opponents to the development delivered 5,444 letters to town council in advance of a December Planning and Development Committee meeting where a site plan will be submitted for approval.
Carroll says opponents hope the city will reconsider the proposed plans and move the recycling centre somewhere else. If that doesn't happen, he says opponents will insist on mitigation—berms, walls, etc.—which will hide the sights and sounds from the shrine and historic site.
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