When Sarah Harmer decided to fight a new quarry proposal near her
childhood home on Mount Nemo in Burlington, she received a friendly
warning from a local politician.
These quarry applications tend to stretch out, the local councillor advised.
Be prepared for a bureaucratic battle, maybe five years. Harmer heard the words but they didn't really sink in.
That was four years ago.
The popular folk-rock singer is now in it for the long haul,
organizing her third annual benefit, Sunday, Sept. 27, to raise funds
and awareness for the quarry fight.
As in past years, the concert will be held on a private farm on
picturesque Mount Nemo. It’s less than a kilometre from the existing
Nelson Aggregate quarry, which sits next to the spot where the company
wants to dig a new one.
The concerts are well-heeled affairs with tickets this year costing
$160 (about half can be claimed as a charitable tax deduction). They
are finely catered under stylish white tents pitched next to horse pens
and chicken coops.
Music fans get to rub elbows with music stars who otherwise perform
in much larger venues. The first year it was Harmer and the Barenaked
Ladies. Last year, Harmer, Bruce Cockburn, and Feist. This year it’s
Great Big Sea, David Suzuki, Hamilton-born folkie Jeremy Fisher and, of
course, the Sarah Harmer Band.
“Yeah, it has been four years,” sighs Harmer about the quarry fight. “But it’s going well.”
Harmer, 38, is on the phone from her current home north of Kingston, Ont.
She’s detailing the current state of Nelson Aggregate's application
for its new pit. Her parents, Isabelle and Al, still live near the
Mount Nemo quarry site. They can hear —sometimes feel — the dynamite
blasts. Harmer knows the area well and visits it often.
Over the past four years, as the company application has wound its
way through the approval process, Harmer has become an expert on water
tables, wildlife and, most of all, government bureaucracy.
“It’s a huge application and the system is designed for all things
to lead to a ‘yes,’” she says, aware that very few quarry applications
have ever been rejected.
“They’re called ‘approval’ agencies, after all. The system is flawed
in a major way and the (provincial) Environment Commissioner (Gord
Miller) has explicitly said that in his annual report. Reform is
necessary and it’s coming.”
Harmer and the environmental group she co-founded—-PERL (Protecting
Escarpment Rural Land) — has an impressive array of support, including
Mayor Cam Jackson and Burlington council.
PERL argues the proposed 51-hectare quarry poses a threat to several key water systems in the area.
The company contends there will be little harm from continuing to
produce crushed stone for construction at a site in operation for more
than 50 years. Nelson president Norm Elmhirst has said that high
quality gravel is needed in the area and it makes sense to quarry rock
close to where it’s used.
“We’re talking about water and the future of Burlington’s best
remaining natural areas and the Niagara escarpment in general,” Harmer
says. “It’s site specific of course, but it's also indicative of
systemic problems within the industry and a changing understanding of
resources and the fact that water is very, very vulnerable and crucial.
And it’s put at grave risk in this application.”
Harmer admits her pop-star status has placed her in a privileged position.
“Most people don’t have careers like mine where you can really throw so much of your time into it and understand it,” she says.
Yet, the Mount Nemo struggle has undoubtedly had an effect on her
musical career. Harmer hasn’t released an album since her critically
acclaimed I’m a Mountain, which took much of its inspiration from the Niagara Escarpment.
That album led to an extended hiking trip along the Bruce Trail,
playing concerts along the way. The hike turned into a Juno-winning DVD
documentary.
That, too, was four years ago. Only recently has Harmer got back into the studio to record a new album. Whereas I’m A Mountain was folky and acoustic, Harmer’s next CD promises to be more electric.
She’s working with Toronto producer Gavin Brown, an old friend best
known for his work with rock acts like Billy Talent and Three Days
Grace.
“Gavin is coming my way and I’m going his way and we’re meeting
somewhere in the middle,” she laughs. “It’s going to come out in the
spring. I’m feeling good. I’m feeling like finally these songs have
come together. Some of them I’ve written over a long period of time.
Others came quite quickly. I’m feeling like I’m seeing what it’s
shaping up to be.”