Abattoir opponents speak out

A town for tourism; a town for nice homes.
That is the vision Kathy Leek was advocating last Thursday evening when about 45 people showed up at the Emo Legion for a meeting of “those who are opposed to the abattoir site.”
Leek and fellow Emo resident Vince Sheppard were at the front. Leek did most of the talking; Sheppard has been doing the research.
“It’s not that we are opposed to an abattoir in the district,” Leek stressed. “It’s that the site is inappropriate for the people who are living in Emo.
“We understand that this is a Class 2 facility and if you go to the MoE guidelines, with a Class 2 facility, you require 70 metres minimum separation distance between lot lines,” noted Leek, reading from the guidelines.
“Also, with a Class 2 facility, it says that adverse effects can be felt up to 300 metres away,” she added.
“That’s pretty much the whole town,” said Sheppard.
To Leek, it is all about the village’s goal as stated in the official plan. She read from the document, “To protect and maintain the quality of life in the township. . . .”
The proposed abattoir site was zoned “industrial” in 1998 when Emo adopted its zoning bylaws. But Leek says the zoning bylaws should be changed.
The possibility of the abattoir locating in Emo was first reported in the Dec. 20, 2006 edition of Fort Frances Times in an article entitled, “Plans for district abattoir proceeding.”
Zoning was specifically mentioned as one of the criteria.
Leek listed bad smells, increased traffic on residential streets, and a strain on the township’s water and sewer systems as concerns if the abattoir is built in Emo.
She has other concerns, too.
“Is it going to be chain link fence?” she asked. “I know at the abattoir in Stratton, on occasion . . . some of those older bulls . . . if they don’t get killed right away, and escape. . . you know, we could have something like that.
“Is the abattoir going to attract wolves and vermin?” Leek wondered. “We don’t want those close to our homes.”
Leek also sees the possibility of the abattoir expanding in the future.
“They are looking at perhaps expanding into processing at the front of the building, where it is shaped like an ‘L,’” she remarked. “They’ll actually put more coolers and do processing there.
“Then, they are looking perhaps at using the heat from the geotherm for greenhouses. They are also looking at composting facilities.
“It’s not just a small abattoir,” she argued. “Once it is there, the choice to expand is also there.”
Leek suggested there are other solutions, like a portable abattoir.
“Now, apparently, they are the cat’s meow,” she told those on hand. “They go to the farm, set themselves up, and slaughter whatever you want, out on the farm.
“All the offal and stuff like that is buried and taken care of at the farm site, and they pick up and can go to the next farm.
“That’s an option that the abattoir committee could look into,” Leek said.
(It should be noted that a portable abattoir had been considered by the abattoir committee and deemed to not be suitable).
“Maybe we can stop this,” said Sheppard “Sign the petition. It’s going to Toronto.”
Leek said the petition—which stated simply: “We, the undersigned, are opposed to the site chosen for the proposed abattoir in Emo”—had 45 signatures by the end of the evening.
“Is our vision of Emo the same as council’s vision of Emo?” Leek asked. “Maybe we should tell them that this is not the same vision as they have. We want our town to be residential. We are a bedroom community.
“We’ve got all these beautiful $300,000 homes in the subdivision and now, are we going to spoil it and lower our standard of living?”
“They have no definite idea about how they are going to get rid of the waste,” charged Emo resident Gerald Hartlin. “That’s the number-one thing and it is still up in the air.”
But even if all the concerns that have been raised were addressed, Leek admitted most of those opposed to the abattoir site will not change their minds.
“The site isn’t acceptable. That’s the problem,” she stressed., “It’s not an appropriate place for an abattoir.”
“People are entitled to their views, and I understand some are not comfortable with having animals slaughtered near them,” Bill Darby, secretary of the Rainy River District Regional Abattoir Inc., said when contacted by telephone.
“We are trying our best to address the concerns raised,” he pledged. “We will soon announce specific adjustments to improve the situation with regard to location, and to ensure that odour, waste, and traffic are not an issue.
“But Emo is the most viable, cost-effective location for us to build,” Darby continued. “We have an obligation to ensure our district is self-sufficient in producing safe, healthy, local food and that our agricultural sector survives.”