Who We Are
The Reform Gravel Mining Coalition unites residents’ groups to demand the Ontario government take the actions necessary to protect public health, the environment, and democratic rights from the devastating impacts of Ontario's gravel mining industry.
What We Do
We unite grassroots community groups engaged in David and Goliath struggles against the corporations, often multinationals, that put profits over people and the environment.
We advocate for regulatory and legislative reforms that safeguard community health and climate resilience, ensure local participation, and honour treaties and obligations with First Nations.
We lead the Demand A Moratorium Now (DAMN!) campaign that calls on the province to pause new gravel mining approvals until urgent reforms are implemented.
Through our Municipal Action Plan, we partner with municipalities to temporarily pause new gravel mining approvals, modernize outdated policies, and strengthen protections for residents.
Member Groups
- ACTION Milton
- CORE Burlington
- Citizens for Safe Groundwater (Wilmot)
- Forks of the Credit Preservation Group (Caledon)
- Friends of Balls Bridge and Little Lakes (Huron County)
- Friends of Lanark Highlands
- Friends of the Burnt Lands (Almonte)
- Melancthon Against Quarries
- Niagara Water Protection Alliance
- North Dumfries Conservation Alliance
- North Shore Environmental Resources Advocates (Algoma District)
- Saugeen Preservation Society, Inc. (West Grey)
- Save Our Water Tiny
- Springwater Green Community Coalition (Simcoe County)
- Stop Petersburg Sand Pit
Partners
Partners in the coalition are Environmental Defence, Council of Canadians, Water Watchers, and the Wilderness Committee.
Will your organization endorse a moratorium on new gravel mining approvals in Ontario?
Our Spokespeople
Sarah Harmer
As well as being an award winning Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer has spent the past few decades as a citizen advocate for the living world. This has included the fight to protect Burlington’s Mount Nemo from being further industrialized and hollowed out by a multinational gravel mining company. Mount Nemo is a biological crown jewel and fountainhead within the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere, supplying surface water to endangered and threatened species and drinking water to thousands of people throughout its watersheds. She founded PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land) in 2005 and was a part the development of a Green Gravel Standard in Ontario, and intervened in a National Energy Board Hearing on fossil fuel pipelines. Sarah participated in the Nobel Women’s Initiative fact finding trip to the Canadian Tar Sands, meeting with Indigenous women and community leaders, as well as the fossil fuel industry in Alberta and British Columbia.
Doug Tripp
Doug is deeply committed to environmental, water and gravel mining issues. With Masters Degrees in Chemical Engineering and Higher Education, his career included 27 years as a Professor & Dean at Durham College and 20 years as an independent consultant, specializing in energy and environmental management. His consulting included the creation of the Canadian Institute for Energy Training (CIET) through which he introduced professional training and certification for energy management professionals. In recognition of this achievement, Doug was the first Canadian elected to the Energy Managers Hall of Fame of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), an international professional association. His commitment to addressing issues related to gravel mining began in Rockwood in 2013 as a member of the Concerned Residents Coalition opposing an application for the “Hidden” Quarry. Doug is also a Water Watchers board member and lives in Stratford Ontario with his wife, Dee.