DND radar petition closes Jan 23
A petition opposing the Department of National Defence’s (DND) plan to establish a radar receive site in Clearview Township will close on Jan. 23.
With 1,470 online signatures and another 700 collected on hard copies so far, Terri Jackman says she is pretty happy with the response.
She and Rachel Brooks have been leading a campaign to raise awareness about an Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) receive site that stands to threaten agricultural land and their way of life.
DND has purchased 163 hectares of vacant property in Kawartha Lakes for a permanent transmit site and 288 hectares of agricultural land at 2225 15/16 Sideroad Sunnidale to be used as a preliminary receive site. The land is roughly half the ideal size for a receive site so the search for land continues. Since the acquisition, DND has been surveying area landowners to determine their interest in selling, leading speaker after speaker at two fall public info sessions to inquire whether their land will eventually be targeted for expropriation.
DND continues to assess options for the remaining permanent transmit site and two permanent receive sites, using up to 1,200 hectares of land.
The radar installation is a key part of a $38.6 billion initiative to modernize Canada’s contribution to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) over the next 20 years.
A-OTHR will provide advanced early warning and long-range surveillance, enabling faster Canadian Armed Forces detection and tracking of a wide range of threats in our northern air and maritime approaches, while strengthening NORAD domain awareness in the defence of Canada and North America. It can conduct surveillance at far greater ranges than regular radar technology as it bounces radar beams off the ionosphere to see around the curvature of the Earth.
“It’s not that we’re against the project,” said Jackman. “It’s just that we feel it’s too big a sacrifice for this land to be used for that purpose.”
Jackman and Brooks believe that existing DND land, either in Borden or Meaford, would be a viable alternative.
“If our community truly believes that this is not an appropriate location for this type of instalment and they have helpful information or contacts to share to reach out to us,” said Brooks. “I really feel that in a situation like this if the community comes together then we have a better chance to convince DND that another location would be more suitable.”
“I’m not sure people understand the implications of decisions like this, where it’s impossible to replace the farmland that’s going to be displaced by projects like this and that our longterm food security will be if we continue to do this,” said Jackman.
They fear it will set a precedent, and open doors to possible expansion.
“And the process of how they go about doing that, which has proven to be a very unsettling process for this community,” said Jackman.
The petition, sponsored by Simcoe- Grey MP Terry Dowdall, calls on the government to stop the building of any A-OTHR site on the already purchased property; prevent future acquisition of prime farmland and the building of any A-OTHR sites on the prime farmland of Clearview Township; and to register the previously purchased property with the Ontario Farmland Trust.
In November, Dowdall spoke on the topic in the House of Commons saying, “Mr Speaker, residents of
Simcoe Grey are proud to be home of Canadian Forces Base Borden. They are also proud farmers. So when DND revealed that is secretly bought over 700 acres of prime farmland to build a radar site residents were shocked, now they’re concerned. After DND started contacting residents directly asking them to sell their land because it needs thousands more acres. They wont sell. They’ve been on this land for generations. Will the government expropriate their land?… We talk every day in this place about food security in Canada. This government says it is taking action. That action shouldn’t be turning 4000 acres of Canada’s best farmland into a radar site. Residents support investments in Canada’s national security but they call on the minister to select a radar site which doesn’t sacrifice food security in the process.”
Dowdall told The Echo that the e-petition and hard copies will be presented in installments, giving him more opportunity to speak to the issue in the House of Commons, adding that with each presentation the government is required to respond within 45 days.
He said the petition will help and the more people who are aware of the issue the better.
“What we’ve said all along and what the residents are saying is we’re not necessarily against the technology and we’re certainly supportive of our military,” said Dowdall. “We just don’t think this is the best location when you’re trying to balance national security and food security.”
The petition is online at www. ourcommons.ca under e-6829 (national defence and military operations).
