Hello!

For my MRP i’ll be looking at a series of charges that were laid against a Hamilton Grocer, an oil conglomerate, and a truck driver in 1988 by the Ministry of Environment (ME) for spilling oil into the Chedoke Creek.

The archive(s) I have been coordinating with are the Hamilton Public Library, Provincial Offences Office (POA), and the archives of Ontario. My initial hope was to find the trials in 1988, but after all three archives being unable to locate the file, I’ve had to pivot.

This has led to submitting an FOI (Freedom of Information) request for all ME investigation files associated with Oil companies and Grocery stores in Southern Ontario (with an emphasis on the Hamilton area) between 1984-1992 in hopes of finding the court case numbers through those. If I do find the case number, then either the AO or the POA will be able to track down the case.

This is all to say, if you need to access files from the AO or any sort of legal documents that are protected under the FOA, I suggest you submit your requests ASAP!

In terms of protecting myself from the emotional labour involved in interacting with the archive: Luckily (and unfortunately I guess), I have lived in Hamilton my whole life and have bore witness to the slow destruction of the Chedoke Creek, so, I’ve been somewhat desensitized. However, ecological grief exists. And as I uncover more about Oil companies in Canada, I’m sure I’ll feel the loss at some point.

To the last question: I’ve learned so far that both the courts and the archives appreciate when you do your work before showing up. This means knowing what you’re looking for, the years that you’ll be looking at, the names of the institutions involved, the jargon associated with it if it will help you get your point across, and if possible, the accession/box numbers associated with what you’re looking for 🙂