The Oneida Nation and Toronto have reached a settlement over concerns about the city's purchase of a landfill site near St. Thomas, Ont. that is just a couple of kilometres from the reserve.
The Green Lane landfill is just 2.2 kilometres from the Oneida reserve property. Toronto's trash is set to be dumped at the site once a contract with Michigan expires in 2010.
The Oneida Nation went to court to force the city to talk with band leaders about their concerns. Reserve officials were worried about possible contamination of their water due to increased dumping at Green Lane.
The city agreed to voluntary talks and a deal was reached. The city has not released any details of the agreement.
A special meeting of Toronto city council will be held on Wednesday to ratify the deal.
"The intent of the meeting is to give direction to legal staff about a settlement with the Oneida Nation," works committee chair Glenn De Baeremaeker told the Toronto Star.
Ratification of the deal is expected to pave the way for completion of the $220 million purchase of the Green Lane site. Toronto is expected to take possession of Green Lane on Thursday.
Garbage will still be sent to Michigan under the current contract. But De Baeremaeker said Green Lane will be a "safety valve" should Michigan legislators successfully put a halt to the garbage shipments.
With files from The Canadian Press
