Mayor Annette Groves facing fierce backlash for allowing developer to dump construction waste in Swan Lake

Caledon farmer Jean-François Morin moved with his wife, Jennifer Casu-Morin, from North York in 2017 with a simple dream: to raise their children closer to nature.

They would grow their own food and find peace in what they call one of the most beautiful places on Earth. 

Now, they’re among the local farmers set to be impacted by a controversial plan, recently fast-tracked by the town’s council and pushed forward by Mayor Annette Groves, to fill the lake behind their 10-acre property with construction waste.

“We never, in a million years, thought that this would be a dump,” Jennifer told The Pointer, gazing out at Swan Lake’s placid beauty, which spellbindingly frames the land behind their farm, Chickadee Hill.
 

“Why the rush? Why not follow established processes? Why does the mayor need to intervene? Why is there no formal application from the owner?” Jennifer Casu-Morin wrote in a letter sent to Town Council on July 8 ahead of the council meeting when chambers and the cafeteria were filled by residents opposing the proposal to dump construction waste into the lake. “Why is the town, mayor and council not following processes and procedures that have been put in place to protect the citizens of Caledon (and the citizens of Ontario), including my family and our neighbours? Fast tracking a permit without even a request for a permit, or any details of what is being proposed, is neither responsible nor fair.”

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

On May 20, just one week after Mayor Groves quietly introduced the motion to approve a plan to “import fill to rehabilitate an old aggregate pit located at 0 Shaw’s Creek Road,” Jean-François spoke at a Town Council meeting, describing how their farm and the surrounding ecosystem relies on the clean water that flows from the same depth as Swan Lake.

“The water and the soil and everything, for us that's vital, the quality of the water, that's what we have. It's important for us. We cannot run a day without water. It's impossible at the farm,” he told council.

Jean-François Morin filling a container with water for a duck (top), who recently laid eggs in their garden.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

Jennifer recalls the day Groves was campaigning for election when she personally approached her and her husband, promising to protect the environment, local farmers and to ensure residents had a voice in the town’s development plans. It was those promises that convinced them to vote for her. Now, looking back, she regrets that decision.

“I'm 52 years old. I should know that people are sometimes corrupt and awful,” she says.

As reported by The Pointer previously, the site was operated as a below-water-table gravel pit from 1972 to 2021 by Warren Paving & Materials Group, a subsidiary of Lafarge (now Amrize). 

On October 5, 2023, it officially surrendered its aggregate license to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) after spending two years rehabilitating the land under the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA). As part of the rehabilitation, Amrize reshaped the pit into an underwater landscape that includes an island and an isthmus; features intentionally designed to enhance fish and wildlife habitat.

Jennifer often looks out her bedroom window and takes in the peaceful view of the lake where she frequently spots multiple trumpeter swans with their babies.

“We’ve been so lucky to have this as our little sanctuary, right? Just look how beautiful they are,” she said, a note of joy in her voice.

“One day, we came out here and there were 16 adult swans! And those are just the adults, they have babies, too. I think there are snapping turtles here as well… oh, and painted turtles. And so many kinds of waterfowl, bufflehead ducks, mallards, it’s incredible.” 

Ontario’s Natural Heritage Information system confirms several species at risk have been spotted in the area of Swan Lake over the last six months, including snapping turtles and midland painted turtles. Due to the rapid pace of wetland and other habitat loss, all turtle species in Ontario are currently listed as at risk. It places an enhanced responsibility on elected officials to enact policies that protect these remaining greenspaces, not destroy them. 

Their “life and livelihood” are on the line. “I think that would be pretty heavily impacted,” she noted.

For Jennifer Casu-Morin and Jean-François Morin, one of the greatest joys of farm life is sharing it with others. They love welcoming visitors who stop by to buy eggs or chicken and end up spending time with the animals, especially the chickens, who are a favourite among kids. Jennifer particularly enjoys running their farm gate store, where families often linger, and children light up with excitement at the chance to feed a chicken or meet a cow for the first time. It’s these small, meaningful moments that make farming in Caledon so special to them.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

Owning a farm was the couple’s dream, and with Jean-François now farming full-time and deeply devoted to the animals he cares for every day, it has truly become their way of life; one he hopes to pass on to his sons, including Aidan, who is studying agriculture at the University of Guelph and works closely with him throughout the summer.

“He wants to continue this, that’s his dream. He spends the whole summer working closely with me and the animals, so you really get attached. The animals are part of the family too,” Jean-François told The Pointer.

On the morning of July 19, under a bright Saturday sky, Morin chatted with one of his weekend regulars, Andriy Nigovan, who comes by every weekend with his two-year-old son to feed the chickens, greet the pigs, cows, ducks and say hello to Charlotte, the farm dog.

“This is such a family-friendly farm. The chickens roam free, the pigs are friendly; it’s a chance to get close to nature and the animals. Every weekend my son asks, ‘When can we go?’ So we take our walk, pick up some good-quality eggs and meat, and head home. Actually, he goes for a nap,” Nigovan tells The Pointer with a humble smile on his face.

Andriy Nigovan with his son at Chickadee Hill on July 19, enjoying a bright summer day after feeding the chickens.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

But the rhythm of that weekend tradition feels uncertain since he learned about the Town’s plan to dump fill into Swan Lake.

“To be honest, I don’t feel very comfortable. I’m also a bit disappointed. It looks like the entire process has been kind of rushed. It's almost like they try to hide it. Looks like there's some other interest involved with the mayor, maybe councillors, not sure, but that's just how I feel about it,” he said. 

“This is a beautiful property, and it's a beautiful lake nearby. Whatever they (are) trying to do with the permit for the private corporation, this is just not right. When (the) public tried to attend, and speak and try to get their voice heard, it looked like the councillors and the mayor were not very interested in the public opinion.”  

Like Nigovan, what troubles the owners of Chickadee Hill most is the lack of transparency around the plan. There’s been no formal application; no clear explanation of what type of fill will be used; how much waste will be dumped into the lake; no environmental review; and no notice to neighbours, let alone public consultation.

Jennifer says she can see two possible outcomes, both of which are deeply concerning. “If they’re going to dump fill here, they might first remove the water, which would be the logical thing to do, because you wouldn't want to contaminate it. But doing that would likely empty our well and our neighbours’ wells, because it’s all the same aquifer,” she said.

She paused, then added, “Or worse, they dump the fill directly into the lake, and that could contaminate our well. Either way, it puts our water at risk.”

Their concerns are shared by neighbours Karl and Anna de Langley, owners of Belain Farm, a 97-acre property protected under the Ontario Farmland Trust. The farm includes two wells, forested land and wetlands that are hydrologically connected to Swan Lake.

Belain Farm shares about 1,100 feet of property line with Swan Lake.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

“We’ve got a dug well under there, and a drilled well too. It’s all tied to the same water table. And the water is incredible; we don’t even have a filter on some of it, and it tastes amazing. We’re seriously worried that any contamination could ruin the quality or even poison it,” Anna de Langley told The Pointer.

“And we have animals too. Horses, donkeys, llamas. They all depend on that water.”

Karl and Anna de Langley said Swan Lake and the connected wetlands behind their farm have become a vital water source not just for their family and their animals but for an entire ecosystem of wildlife that depends on it daily.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

As someone who runs a forest bathing business and spends most of her time in the woods, Anna regularly sees how animals rely on the area’s healthy water systems. 

“There are deer, coyotes, foxes, trumpeter swans and their cygnets, snapping turtles, painted turtles, herons, so much bird life,” she says. 

The wildlife, she explains, doesn’t recognize fences, flying over or slipping under them to reach the lake. “It’s an active, healthy lake, and it’s all tied in with our wetlands. Everything depends on that water.”

She reached out to the Ontario Farmland Trust, whose representatives have raised alarms about the impact of the fill proposal on the surrounding protected wetlands.

On May 26, she launched a petition to protect Swan Lake that has gathered nearly 3,000 signatures.

The outcry isn’t just emotional, it’s rooted in alarming facts. The plan to dump construction fill into Swan Lake echoes troubling precedents in Ontario, where similar dumping has led to irreversible environmental damage. 

Retired water resource engineer Ian McLaurin, who has spent over 15 years studying soil dumping practices across the province, warns that the risks are widely misunderstood. 

What many people call “clean fill” is often far from clean, he says. It typically includes soil excavated from subways, commercial sites, and former industrial lands, a mixture that may contain chemical residues, concrete rubble and other contaminants.

Every year, Ontario developers move enough of this material to fill the Rogers Centre 16 times, and much of it now ends up dumped on farmland, in valleys, and in old gravel pits, including sites like Swan Lake.

The province’s on-site and excess soil management regulation attempts to set standards for managing this material, but enforcement is patchy and often left to municipalities. 

Even the testing protocols fall short. McLaurin notes that for testing purposes, only a single thimbleful of soil is collected as a sample to analyze the soil in 50 different trucks, allowing dangerous substances to slip through undetected.

There is also no legal definition of clean fill, making it difficult for landowners to hold dumpers accountable, even in the event of contamination.

In Scugog, Durham, the Lakeridge Road site became a flashpoint after Earthworx Industries began dumping fill into a former gravel pit in 2010 under the guise of building an airstrip. Despite the permit being revoked due to contamination concerns, dumping continued until a court order halted it in 2011. The case exposed gaps in oversight, especially when local bylaws are bypassed, and raised alarms about the risk to groundwater, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas like the Oak Ridges Moraine. Local residents formed the Lakeridge Citizens for Clean Water to push for accountability and stronger regulations.

(Town of Erin)

One particularly troubling case occurred at the Lakeridge site in Scugog, within Durham Region, where a rehabilitated gravel pit was used to dump soil later found to be contaminated with cyanide at levels 3,000 times above safe limits. 

It wasn’t until five years later that the contamination was discovered in a nearby monitoring well. By then, the damage was done, and the toxins were already migrating through the groundwater.

The situation becomes even more dangerous when excess soil is dumped below the water table, a practice now permitted under changes to Ontario’s Aggregate Resources Act made by the Doug Ford government. 

Previously, pits avoided these zones to prevent groundwater contamination. But the rules have changed, and so has the risk. 

Soil that comes into contact with water can leach harmful chemicals into aquifers, the underground sources of drinking water for many rural communities. 

The leachate test used to assess this risk has a pass/fail threshold that’s nearly identical to drinking water standards, meaning that if a soil sample just barely passes, it’s still teetering on the edge of being unsafe.

“During COVID, a weak science study allowed fill below the water table, a concerning move made with little oversight,” McLaurin noted.

With Swan Lake sitting directly over the local aquifer, even a minor failure in soil quality could have devastating consequences for families, farms, and wildlife depending on clean, reliable water.

Jennifer Casu-Morin feeding the cows (top) and checking on her vegetable produce ahead of welcoming her weekend customers. She says they recently built the garden shed where they have been growing garlic, squash, onion, peppers, carrots, peas and beans.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

Fill sites are also notorious for heavy truck traffic, sometimes up to 1,000 trucks a day, bringing with them constant noise, dust clouds and the clanging of tailgates at all hours. For Caledon residents, who already deal with frequent truck congestion and are in the midst of a battle against a blasting quarry proposal, this would only worsen an already serious problem.

Urban planner and Greenbelt architect Victor Doyle said the issue raises not just environmental red flags, but legal ones too.

Doyle explained that the land is not zoned to permit dumping, which likely constitutes a violation of the Planning Act. 

He says the mayor’s directive appears to override Caledon’s existing Fill Bylaw, legislation that was passed under the authority of the Municipal Act. That bylaw, Doyle argues, cannot be invalidated by a mayoral directive without going through the proper legislative amendment process.

On July 8, residents asked council whether the deal was already finalized, to which the Town clerk responded that “it was with conditions.”

Doyle doesn’t think it is a “done deal.” He argues that the directive oversteps legal boundaries, as a mayoral directive cannot override a duly enacted bylaw under the Municipal Act, making it legally flawed and open to being challenged in court.

In an interview with The Pointer, resident Keirstyn Parfitt expressed concern that the Town might be exposing itself to a costly legal battle, one that taxpayers could ultimately have to fund.

Anna de Langley says she is working with the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), which is assessing whether legal action is necessary.

“I was astonished at the pictures of this tremendous pit rehabilitation - draining this and filling it with dirt is the antithesis of aggregate rehab under the Aggregate Resources Act - I am truly shocked the mayor and council are supporting this,” Doyle noted.

“It sets a terrible precedent for other rehabilitated gravel pits.”

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