Late last month, the Yukon government (YG) issued a series of press releases aimed at convincing the public that it was considering public input prior to making a final decision regarding the closure of rural transfer stations. CBC ran a story titled "Future of some rural Yukon waste transfer stations still up in the air." This was patently false. As we here at Silver City had been told over and over for the last three years, the decision had already been made. Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn, at his one and only appearance at a meeting in this area, announced at the outset that our transfer station would be closed and that he was not there to discuss the issue. His associates, when they appeared at subsequent meetings, stated exactly the same thing, unequivocally. There never were any community consultations held prior to this decision being made.
Numerous letters and a petition with well over 100 signatures from local residents sent to YG were totally ignored. In 2022, a report from the Ombudsman's office emphasized the unfairness of the decision for closure. This was also ignored by the government.
On July 16, a meeting was held here at Silver City which was billed as a "Discussion Concerning Household Waste Disposal Options." Four representatives from YG attended this meeting, led by Community Services operations manager Dave Albisser. There was no discussion and there were no options. Within minutes of arriving, Albisser announced that our transfer station would be closed on Oct. 1.
The government truly had received a massive amount of public input. When this plan was submitted to Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board, or YESAB, an avalanche of public comment was received, all of it opposed to the government's plan. Prior to the July 16 meeting, the government put together something they called a "What We Heard" report, which they touted to the press, to make it seem as if they were listening to the concerns of those who would be affected. This report gathered together the input they had received from local residents. That input was 100 per cent opposed to the closure plan.
All this activity was apparently merely a face saving measure on the part of the government, designed to make it appear as if they were complying with language contained in last year's confidence and supply agreement, known as CASA, with the NDP, which called for "Consultations over Waste Management Solutions for Rural Communities". Rather than conducting good faith consultations, YG engaged in a campaign of window dressing in order to present their actions to the public in a more favourable light.
At the recent meeting where the closure date was announced, Albisser did mention the CASA agreement. He stated that "pursuant to the CASA agreement, the date of the facility's closure was delayed by one month." There was certainly nothing in the CASA agreement calling for anything remotely similar to that.
Anyone reading media reports last month who didn't know better would think that the government was actually conducting reasoned deliberations in order to reach a decision. There was no truth to that; it was all smoke and mirrors meant to hide the fact that YG was sticking with an ill-advised decision made years ago and never reconsidered.
At one point in the recent meeting, Albisser may have inadvertently said something which was true. When asked to explain the press releases claiming that a decision had not been made, his response was (and I quote verbatim) "Well, we wanted to keep this quiet till we'd had a chance to meet with you." No shame, there.
Since we began organizing to oppose this decision three years ago, we have only heard obfuscation, evasion and lies from this government.
There has only been one promise made which the government has kept. They promised to close down our transfer station and now they are closing it.
-Dave Cartier, Sr., Silver City
