Kitchener Bakery Fined for Unlawfully Depositing Oil Harmful to Migratory Birds

KITCHENER, Ont. – November 16, 2010 – J.T. Bakeries Inc. of Kitchener Ontario pleaded guilty yesterday in the Ontario Court of Justice to federal and provincial environmental violations, and was assessed a total of $60,000 in fines. Of this sum, the company was ordered to pay $35,000 in fines and penalties for having contravened the Government of Canada’s Migratory Bird Conventions Act, 1994,  of which $25,000 will be made payable to the Environmental Damages Fund, and $10,000  will be directed by court order to a scholarship for environmental studies to The Waterloo Education Foundation Inc., in trust for Huron Heights Secondary School.  The company also pleaded guilty to charges brought forth by the Government of Ontario, and was fined $25,000 for those offences.

An investigation by Environment Canada’s Enforcement Branch determined that in March 2009, a fill sensor on a J.T. Bakeries vegetable oil holding tank failed. As a result, approximately 644 litres of vegetable oil spilled over and entered a nearby storm management pond off Strasburg Road in Kitchener. On April 19, 2009 a private citizen reported the presence of an oily substance on the water of the pond to the City of Kitchener. Responding local agencies discovered dead and oiled birds in the area and called the Ontario Provincial Spills Action Centre, which subsequently contacted Environment Canada.  

Like other more common petroleum products, the vegetable oil spilled by J.T. Bakeries Inc. is considered harmful to migratory birds as it can lead to drowning or hypothermia, or interfere with birds’ ability to fly. Nine migratory birds were retrieved from the storm management pond and a larger number thought to be affected by the oil could not be captured.

The Environmental Damages Fund was created in 1995 to provide courts with a mechanism to direct that monetary penalties and settlements be invested for the repair of the actual harm done to the environment. It helps ensure the "polluter pays" principle is applied and that polluters take responsibility for their actions.