A student tried to save
this tree, but it's another
day at the office for this
tough lumberjack.

UTM Art and Art History student, Laurie Kallis and her husband, Ed Troscianczuk, made headlines this summer when they tried to stop a developer from clear cutting their backyard.  Their efforts spurred the City of Mississauga to prepare a bylaw that would protect ancient trees from destruction.

The trees that fell at the Port Credit home were some of the largest in the world.  The largest of the trees cut, a sugar maple with a 154 inch circumference, was 14 inches short of the North American record.

Chainsaw-toting lumberjacks

The commotion began when Kallis and Troscianczuk, tenants of a Mississauga Road home, met a brigade of chainsaw toting lumberjacks at their front door late in July.  Their landlord, a developer who plans to erect townhouses on the property, told Kallis that a crew would come by to trim a few of the sickly trees that stood in the back corner of the lot.  Instead, the crew began to take down the huge maples.  Later, Kallis found out that the landlord sent the crew to remove "all but eighteen" trees out of a hundred tree lot.

Protest

Kallis and Troscianczuk protested the massacre by complicating things for the developer.  They stood in the way of the cutters; parked their cars underneath the trees; consulted City Hall (a city zoning official saved twenty trees that were, in fact, on city property); exhausted the technicalities in their lease holder agreement concerning who was responsible for lawn maintenance. Kallis said that one of the slain maples hit the ground and shook the whole house, prompting her to dial 911 because she was concerned about the safety of those near the tree cutters. 

Police response

The police did not come, so Kallis resorted to bringing the police to her Mississauga Road house for another reason: she blocked traffic outside her home with the family car.  When the police showed, cutting was delayed until it was clear that the removal of the trees was within the landowner's legal rights.  It turned out that, unlike Toronto, Oakville and Oshawa, Mississauga does not have any law protecting ancient forests - landowners are within their rights to remove trees from private property, regardless of the tree's size or age.

Political resonse

During her fight, Kallis turned to Mississauga Councillor Carmen Corbasson and Mississauga's Mayor Hazel McCallion, for assistance.  Both politicians supported Kallis, but explained that they were powerless to stop the devastation.  Since Kallis' standoff, preparations have begun for a by-law that would protect trees.  The by-law is targeted to be ready for council at the end of the year.

Historic House

Despite her crusade, many of the monster trees which towered over Kallis' house fell.  She is now working towards having the house designated as historic.
The house, built in 1912 and known as the Gordon House, was named after its owner George Gordon.  Gordon, who was Port Credit's Justice of the Peace, performed marriage ceremonies for many of the town's residents in the front room of the house.  The house remained in the Gordon family up until last year, when the last of Gordon's seven children died.  Heirs to the Gordon estate sold the property to developers.

Community Social

The city begun the lengthy process to see if the house should be designated historic.  Kallis who has to move in October, supports the designation and circulated a petition asking for the preservation of the Gordon House.  She recently hosted a community social at her home for approximately 200 like-minded people.  One party-goer said he believes the house should be moved from its present location and converted into a community arts centre, like the Springbank Arts Centre, or it should be used as a back-up shelter for the Interim Place.