Wilmot farmers take tractor protest to Waterloo Regional council, demand to have their voices heard

Tractors made their way through downtown Kitchener on Wednesday, a slow-moving protest of Waterloo Region’s handling of the Wilmot land acquisition and assembly process.

Fight For Farmland, a citizen group of Wilmot farmers and their supporters, wants the region to know they’re “unwilling” to go along with the sale of 770 acres of land between Nafziger Road, Bleams Road and Wilmot Centre Road.

The region has previously stated that it wants the agricultural property for future large-scale development.

“[Premier] Doug Ford was very clear back in April that it shouldn’t be foisted on an unwilling community and our community has been doing everything possible to show that it’s an unwilling community,” Kevin Thomason, the vice-chair of the Grand River Environmental Network, explained at a Wilmot council protest on Monday.

Regional protest

The Region of Waterloo demonstration started long before Wednesday’s council meeting.

Participants got on tractors at Bleams Road and slowly drove to regional headquarters on Frederick Street to meet up with other protestors.

While the Wilmot land assembly wasn’t on the council’s agenda, the previously schedule meeting was put on hold so delegates could have their say. There were so many people inside council chambers they had to open up an overflow room.

“Farmland is a non-renewable resource,” said one delegate. “When it’s paved over it is destroyed forever.”

“In a time of increasing food insecurity, we need farmland and farmers more than ever,” stated another.

Tractors make their way down the road on Aug. 28, 2024 as part of a rolling protest against the sale of Wilmot farmland.

Delegates also referenced the recent destruction of corn crops on some of the land that had already been purchased by the region.

“When we saw the corn was cut down it was like you took your boot and gut kicked us,” said one.

“Please back off here because it’s going to change the whole community,” Wilmot land owner Adam VanBerdeijk said. “This is a warning and we hope that the region wants to listen.”

Councillors did not ask the delegates any questions.

“There’s a lot of anger, a lot of frustration. People are trying to make sure that they’re heard,” said Thomason. “There is yet to be a single public meeting [on the issue].”

The region has repeatedly stated that they cannot comment on private real estate deals.

After delegates spoke, council left for a closed session then resumed the meeting that had been interrupted.

Protestors reiterated that they want to see more transparency from the region.

“We hope to hear from council that they’re standing up for their citizens, that they’re hearing us, and that they’re going to abandon this absurd location for a mega site and tell the Premier that we’re going to go about it the way we do things, with proper planning processes, with proper community engagement and proper consultation,” Thomason explained.

Safety precautions

Protest organizers said they took extra steps to make Wednesday’s tractor convoy as safe as possible.

“We had to ensure that the slow-moving vehicle signs were on each tractor,” said Alfred Lowrick, a Fight For Farmland representative. “We chose roadways that were four lanes, so that we could easily have [drivers] pass.”

They also got an escort from Waterloo Regional Police.