A Rare Jail Sentence

Jail is a possible penalty for many environmental offences (see s. 187 of the Environmental Protection Act), but is rarely imposed. It is usually reserved for those defiantly causing serious pollution.

On September 1, 2010, Pierre Sleiman was sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $5,000 plus the 25% victim fine surcharge. In 2007, Sleiman had been convicted of establishing an unlawful tire waste disposal site in Spencerville. The court ordered him to remove and lawfully dispose of all the illegally dumped tires, but he did not comply with the order. Then the ministry discovered that Sleiman had set up a second illegal used tire site in Ottawa, and was transporting tires from the illegal Spencerville site to the illegal Ottawa site. This was a direct violation of the 2007 court order. Sleiman was therefore convicted of failing to comply with the court order and of establishing a waste tire disposal site without a Certificate of Approval.