Environment ministry mulling investigation into disconnected contamination filtration system on St. Catharines GM site

The Ontario environment ministry is refusing to confirm if a critical filtration system on the former GM site in St. Catharines is functional, and if adequate monitoring on the former industrial property, where dangerous chemicals have been found at levels far beyond allowable limits, is taking place.

The ministry has ignored requests from opposition MPPs to meet with community members concerned about the potential public health and safety risks in the middle of their city. 

But provincial officials have said the issue is now being considered for a full investigation. 

After reporting by The Pointer revealed a contractor tasked with designing and operating a filtration system on the site had stepped away from the job due to lack of payment by the property owner, and that the system now appears to be offline, two Niagara-area NDP MPPs wrote to the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP) demanding answers. 

Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre) and Jennie Stevens (St. Catharines) sent letters at the end of October demanding transparency and accountability as community concern continues to mount around the monitoring of contamination on the former General Motors property on Ontario Street near downtown St. Catharines.

In his response, which did not address some of the key concerns and questions from the MPPs, Minister Todd McCarthy said, “the ministry is aware that untreated storm water is being collected and stored on-site,” and confirmed that “this matter has been referred to the ministry’s Enforcement and Investigation Branch for potential investigation.”

Burch was the first to raise the issue with the MECP, sending a detailed letter to McCarthy on October 21 outlining a number of questions related to the state of the site’s filtration system and the ministry’s oversight of the system since the contractor tasked with overseeing its operation stopped working. 

In his letter, Burch noted that between 2020 and 2022, the MECP identified continuous leaks of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) from the site and ordered the landowner to install a system to capture and treat contaminated water before releasing it. The provincial environment ministry approved that plan.

Burch pointed to recent court documents, first reported by The Pointer, showing that the company responsible for building and maintaining that treatment system has not been paid and has since filed a $1.75 million lien against the property.

“This raises urgent questions about whether the system is still properly maintained or monitored,” Burch wrote. His letter posed four direct questions to the Minister, asking:

1. Whether the MECP is aware of the lien and its implications.
2. Whether the treatment system remains operational and under ministry supervision.
3. Whether recent monitoring reports can be provided to the public.
4. Whether the ministry will commit to keeping residents regularly informed about the site.

He requested that the ministry take immediate action to address his concerns. 

“The gravity of this situation makes it a city-wide issue,” Burch told The Pointer. “The south side of St. Catharines is in my riding, and when news broke that the filtration system was failing I felt I had a role to play; constituents in my riding also have expressed concerns about that site.”

Toxic PCBs were previously identified in stormwater samples on the former GM property. A system meant to prevent these chemicals from leaving the site appears to be offline.

(Submitted)

Burch added that he has been following much of the public discourse surrounding the GM site and has asked his staff to determine exactly where responsibilities and powers rest regarding the partially demolished property, a long-standing source of frustration for nearby residents.

He says he has offered to assist the City of St. Catharines in understanding the legal and procedural options available to them.

Burch’s commitment and comments stand in sharp contrast to the position of the City of St. Catharines, which has taken a hands-off approach. Recent remarks by Mayor Mat Siscoe, who falsely claimed the City has no power to take action, raised concerns among residents. He sarcastically claimed that just as the City lacks the ability to force the Port Weller Dry Docks to build Kingston-class destroyers, it cannot force the proper cleanup of the former GM site. 

The comparison, made at a town hall meeting last week, drew criticism from residents and advocates, who viewed it as dismissive amid growing frustration over the stalled cleanup and ongoing health and safety concerns. 

Under provincial legislation and local property standards bylaws, the City has ample power to step in and fix anything deemed to be a health or safety risk to surrounding residents. The partially demolished structures, the open pits and manholes, and easily accessible oil grit separator (a known source of contamination) on the site all clearly pose potential risks that, under legislation at both levels of government, require the City to step in to keep St. Catharines residents safe. 

Crumbling structures, open pits and manholes are easily accessible on the GM site in St. Catharines.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer files)

“Jennie (MPP Stevens) and I have always cooperated for the good of our ridings and this issue is very high on our priority list,” Burch said. “Something as large as this is not about riding boundaries — it’s about environmental and human health, and the impact that wreck of a building has on the entire city."

Nearly a week after Burch sent his letter—which the ministry has yet to respond to—MPP Stevens followed with her own communication to Minister McCarthy on October 27, echoing Burch’s concerns while focusing on the need for immediate oversight, public health protection and transparency from the environment ministry.

Stevens wrote that, “given the severity of this situation and the unknown having potentially dangerous consequences for residents in and around the GM site” she was seeking answers and commitments from the ministry to act.

Her letter asked if the ministry had conducted monitoring and inspection of the filtration system and whether it remains functional. She pressed the ministry to explain what immediate steps it would take to assess the situation and prevent potential further contamination.

Stevens also raised questions about the risk to public health and the environment, citing the high levels of contamination documented in 2022, and asked what measures the ministry would take to ensure residents are not exposed to a range of risks.

She called for greater transparency and community engagement, requesting the ministry commit to regular public updates and information sessions to keep residents informed about the site’s condition.

Disconnected pipes on the filtration system on the former GM site.

(Submitted)

In his response sent a week later, Minister McCarthy outlined some actions the MECP has taken to date, including a plan to “plug the storm sewer and install a sewage works that collects, stores and treats the storm water prior to discharging it to the sanitary sewer.”

The Minister added that “further monitoring has confirmed that PCBs are no longer an issue in the storm sewer,” and that “the ministry routinely conducts perimeter checks and has not identified any further off-site issues.” It’s unclear what “further monitoring” the minister is referring to, as the last known documented monitoring completed by the MECP was in 2023. The ministry has not responded to questions about what monitoring has been completed since then. 

Stevens said the Minister’s letter raises more questions than it answers. 

“While I applaud the swiftness of the reply — which I take as a sign that the Minister understands the high importance of this issue — I’m left wondering why so much of the information I requested remains unaddressed.”

Stevens pointed out that the MECP still has not provided concrete answers on the key issues of inspections, monitoring reports and the potential risks to residents and the environment.

She also took issue with the narrow wording in McCarthy’s response.

“Confirming that PCBs are ‘no longer an issue in the storm sewer’ is very exact language,” Stevens said. “It says nothing about all the other areas where they could still be a problem. Residents need to know that the site is safe — completely.”

She intends to continue pressing the ministry for full transparency, including public release of monitoring data and updates on the status of any investigation.

“This is not just an environmental concern; it’s a matter of public health,” she said. “People deserve answers, not partial responses, from the government agency responsible for oversight.”

The Pointer reached out to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks for additional comment. The ministry did not respond. It has not responded to any questions from The Pointer since publication of the story that revealed the site’s filtration system appeared to be offline and that the company hired to maintain it had placed a lien on the property for non-payment.

The City of St. Catharines has consistently maintained it has no authority over what happens at the former GM site. As The Pointer reported last week, Mayor Siscoe incorrectly claimed during a town hall meeting that the City lacks the authority to intervene, citing jurisdictional limits under provincial environmental legislation.

The claims have created more frustration among local advocates, who don’t understand why City officials refuse to act, using property standards bylaws to compel the landowner to address hazards and ensure the site does not pose ongoing risks to nearby residents.

The language of legislation at both the provincial and local level of government makes it clear that municipalities are required to address any property risks that could result in threats to the safety and well being of residents. 

Siscoe himself along with St. Catharines officials made such a decision recently, contradicting his claims about the former GM site. 

In 2023 and 2024, the St. Catharines fire department was called to the former GM site for reports of a fire or smoke more than 10 times. Residents living around the site have told The Pointer it is common for houseless individuals seeking shelter to enter the site’s many open doors or demolished walls and start fires to stay warm. The crumbling buildings, open pits and industrial waste all pose a risk to anyone who wanders onto the easily accessible property.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer files)

“[T]he City of St. Catharines has posted and carried out enforcement of a Closure Order at a Duke Street property in the interest of public safety,” a press release posted on the City website September 26, details. “Since mid-2023, the property at 5 Duke St. has been the subject of serious and repeated concerns…Despite extensive efforts to resolve these issues through engagement and enforcement, the situation persisted, putting the safety of neighbours, first responders, and the broader community at risk.” 

After issuing orders to comply with City bylaws, St.Catharines officials obtained a court order under the Municipal Act to shut down the property for 12 months and clean it up. “City officials posted the Closing Order and conducted enforcement at the property on Wednesday, Sept. 24, which included removal of refuse that included unsafe items due to illegal activity and human waste, and the grass and weeds were cut.”

Siscoe and the same senior staff who oversaw the Closing Order and cleanup of the small Duke Street property have taken no such action at the giant, 55-acre former GM site that sits along the banks of Twelve Mile Creek, a few blocks from downtown, despite crumbling buildings where children and teens have routinely been seen, open pits that people could fall into when it’s dark, and alarming levels of highly toxic contaminants that were detected just over a decade ago, including dangerous cancer causing PCBs that could still be running into the creek about two kilometres from Lake Ontario.  

With both area NDP MPPs now pressing for answers — and the Ministry’s Enforcement Branch reviewing the situation — pressure is mounting on the province to disclose the site’s environmental status, the condition of its remediation systems and any corrective measures that might be underway.

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