Hamilton, Indigenous group sign agreement on Chedoke Creek cleanup

The City of Hamilton and an Indigenous group have settled a dispute over a controversial plan to clean up Chedoke Creek.

CHCH News obtained a copy of their settlement agreement, which states that dredging of the waterway can be completed by the Ontario government’s deadline of Oct. 31.

The initial completion date was set for Dec. 31, 2022. However, the city asked the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks for an extension on Dec. 9, 2022.

READ MORE: Deadline extended for Hamilton’s dredging of Chedoke Creek

The $6-million initiative was delayed last summer after members of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute interrupted the work site, saying they were exercising treaty rights.

The city has entered into environmental monitoring agreements with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, the Huron-Wendat Nation and Six Nations of the Grand River.

The aim of the targeted dredging is to restore the impacts of the 24-billion-litre sewage leak into the creek that occurred between January 2014 and July 2018.

The dredging is scheduled to resume early this summer.

READ MORE: Dredging at Chedoke Creek paused after Haudenosaunee Confederacy interruption