When developers targeted more of Port Credit's ancient trees to be felled. Laurie Kallis wasn't going to take it sitting down.
As a matter of fact, she wasn't even on the ground.
Last Friday, Kallis , a fourth-year Art and Art history student, donned the garb of Dr. Seuss' character, the Lorax, and perched herself in a 150 year old tree to raise awareness of a bylaw being prepared by City Hall.  If enacted, the bylaw would make the felling of ancient trees illegal.  Currently, Mississauga has no bylaw that protects historic trees, unlike its neighbours, Toronto and Oakville, which do have tree protection bylaws.

Historic Wilcox Inn

Kallis wore the costume to protest the clear cutting of a lot that is home to four large trees.  One of the trees is a silver maple, approximately 245 inches in circumference, that grows in the backyard of the Wilcox Inn, one of Mississauga's heritage houses.  The City's "historic" designation of the Wilcox Inn protects it from any aesthetic and structural modifications: the trees, despite their age or size, do not have the same luxury. Legend Homes, a development firm, plans to replace the trees with five townhomes.

I am the Lorax

"I am the Lorax I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues. I speak for the trees at the top of my lungs." 

Kallis sang to the neighbours and reporters crowded at the foot of the tree during her Friday protest. 

"Call on your councillors, call on your mayor, ask them to make sure we treat the trees fair.  If this trees' chopped down, our virtue falls too; there's no one to stop it, except me and your," she called.

Support for Preservation

The crowd supported Kallis' warnings, holding hands in a ring around the tree. "I think it is about time Mississauga passed a bylaw," said Bernard Wenzel, a Port Credit local. "Port Credit is being chopped piece by piece. We won't recognize this place in five years," he said.

Earlier this summer, Kallis and her husband, Ed Troscianczuk, fought diligently to save a gigantic maple tree on their own lot, which new landlords eventually felled to make way for a group of townhouses. Troscianczuk hopes that their protest will make a difference.  "It is difficult to stop a developer once they have a permit.  If the city has a strong will and a vision of how it wants Mississauga to look, we can stop this from happening in other places," said Troscianczuk.  "It is a shame. This is quite a remarkable tree," he added.

Tree Festival

At Saturday's Tree Festival, many of Mississauga's environmental groups, including the Credit Valley Conservation Authority, Friends of the Cawthra Bush and the Credit Valley Horticultural Society, helped promote Kallis' cause and rally support for the bylaw.

The road was closed during the afternoon to allow for the tree huggers' music, comedy, crafts and children's activities.