As singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer prepares to receive the symbolic key to the City of Burlington – in large part for her leadership in a fight against quarry expansion on Mount Nemo – the fate of that quarry is currently in the hands of the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
Harmer will be honoured by her hometown at a ceremony at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on April 16 at 7 p.m. The honour follows her Humanitarian Award, which she received at the 2025 Juno Awards in March.
The award “recognizes an outstanding Canadian artist or industry leader whose humanitarian contributions have positively enhanced the social fabric of Canada and/or whose impact can be felt worldwide.”
“In 2005, Harmer co-founded Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL), to stop a massive crushed rock quarry on Mount Nemo, part of the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve,” states the Junos’ website.
“In 2012, PERL played a key role at the Ontario Joint Board hearing, stopping Lafarge/Nelson Aggregates from destroying endangered species habitats, significant headwater wetlands, and safe and abundant drinking water.”
Harmer’s parents own land in the vicinity of the quarry, which is adjacent to the Mount Nemo Conservation Area, and she grew up there.
The quarry, owned by Nelson Aggregates, is located on the Niagara Escarpment in rural north Burlington, on 2 Sideroad between Cedar Springs Road and Guelph Line.
The proposal currently before the OLT is the company’s second attempt in the last 20 years to expand its footprint.
The OLT hearing started March 4 and is scheduled for 60 hearing days.
On Thursday, day 22 of the hearing, Harmer was one of dozens of observers watching the proceedings. The hearing will present testimony from experts supporting Nelson Aggregates, local municipalities and the local advocates fighting against the expansion.
Harmer, who wrote the song Escarpment Blues based on this situation, says she got involved in the issue through her mom, and is passionate about protecting the natural world.
“We put a meeting together in 2005 and have been focused for many years on protecting the well water, endangered species, clean air, and all the things we need to survive,” she told CBC Radio’s Here and Now in late March.
Endangered salamander lives in the area near quarry
The company first applied to expand in 2004 and was eventually denied by Ontario’s Consolidated Hearings Board (Joint Board) in 2012 on the basis that “Nelson had not made sufficient provision for the protection of these unique ecologic and environmentally sensitive areas” and would encroach on habitat for the Jefferson salamander, an endangered species that resides in the area.
In May 2020, it submitted a new application to expand. The new proposal would expand the quarry into a field south of the existing site and into the Burlington Springs Golf and Country Club to the west.
In addition to the salamander habitat, local residents have concerns about rock blasting occurring closer to their homes and closer to two nearby pipelines, as well as the environmental impact of extra truck traffic and the potential for the operation to affect the quantity and quality of the groundwater that feeds their wells.
The City of Burlington has expressed similar concerns. Its council unanimously passed a sharply worded motion last year requesting the province deny Nelson’s proposal.
The proponents for the project have vowed to protect natural heritage and groundwater, and said the good from the quarry would outweigh the bad.
In an 2021 interview with CBC Hamilton, spokesperson Kevin Powers said the material to be extracted from the quarry, known as dolostone, is in short supply and is needed to build roads and bridges.
“It is the highest-strength limestone you can get in Ontario… Where we would like to dig is one of the few areas in Ontario that is licensed and set aside for the extraction of this resource.”
40 witnesses will speak over 60 days
The OLT hearing is expected to wrap up in mid-June, says Gord Pinard, a member of Conserving our Rural Ecosystems, one of the advocacy groups that has standing in the proceedings. The group has the hearing schedule and a link to the online proceedings on its website.
Pinard says about 40 witnesses are expected in the next several weeks. Thursday’s proceedings focused on the work done by Dr. Bev Wicks, an ecologist contracted by the quarry to support its proposal.
“She is covering one of the very significant topics,” said Pinard. Thursday’s cross examination related to the quality of the data Wicks based her assumptions on, and revealed that some was obtained by trespassing and was withdrawn by a previous witness.
Pinard said he’s hoping to get as many eyes on the proceeding as possible.
“Our concerns [are] about water quality, and air quality, and safety of the community with blasting and trucking, and the natural environment, including provincially significant wetlands, woodlands and endangered species,” he said.
