Hamilton City Council has voted unanimously not to give the Haudenosaunee Development Institute an extra $95,000 it asked for in return for work monitoring the clean-up of the polluted Chedoke Creek last year.
The vote happened on April 3rd, coupled with another vote not to enter into any new agreements with the HDI for any additional clean-up work on the Chedoke Creek that might arise in the future.
The HDI sent an invoice for $95,357. The city had agreed to compensate the HDI at $50,000 for environmental monitoring the clean-up last year.
Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks ordered the City of Hamilton to clean up the creek after a massive sewage leak spilled into the creek, totalling about 24 billion litres of wastewater over a period of four years.
Known as Sewage Gate, the spill was originally kept from the public until the Hamilton Spectator broke the story.
The HDI had originally sought $400,000. They had blocked clean up of the creek in 2022 after demanding to have its own environmental monitors on site.
The HDI is the administrative arm of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC).
The polluted material was removed from the creek last year and sent to a landfill site near Sarnia.
The HDI did not return an email from the Two Row Times seeking comment by press time.