Appeal against Shawinigan Lake soil dumping

The impure soil landfill on the Controversial Shawinigan Lake
The controversy of an ancient quarry upstream from Shawnigan Lake has ended with the Supreme Court of Canada dismissing the appeal from the Cowichan Valley Regional District or the CVRD. The prolonged legal battle over the contaminated soil resource located on the Vancouver Island has ended. The court ruling allowed the annual dumping and storing of nearly 100,000 tonnes of unhygienic soil at the site. The ruling obtained by the site operators is provincial. The ruling of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in March 2016 was in favor of the district’s request and was against the soil operators of the site. Later, in November 2016, the Court of Appeal in BC invalidated the earlier decision and allowed the dumping of impure soil. Prior to the rejection, the CVRD attempted to appeal to the Supreme Court.
This however has been a point off concern for the resident of the area as they fear the contamination of the water supply due to this dumping. Thankfully, in February 2017, the permit was canceled by the Provincial Government.

The CVRD Appeal
The appeal issued by the CVRD in suing the site operators was based on the fact that the site was a landfill and hence was under the jurisdiction of the district’s bylaws regarding zoning, which prohibits such dumping. The Mayor of North Cowichan, Joe Lefebure, who was the Chairman of the CVRD was disheartened that he would not be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada but hoped that his stand would be consolidated by cases in the future.