By DOUGLAS GLYNN, QMI AGENCY October 25 2010
Simcoe County has consented to the dismissal of its lawsuit against Site 41 landfill protesters Anne Nahuis and Vicki Monague.

In documents filed at the Barrie courthouse on Friday, the women and the county mutually consented to the dismissal without costs and agreed to release each other from further court action relating to Site 41.
The civil lawsuit naming Nahuis, Monague, John Doe, Jane Doe, and persons unknown was launched in July 2009, without a vote by county council. Instead, councillors were notified of the decision by email.
The original lawsuit sought monetary compensation, including $160,000 for past damages, an unspecified amount for future damages and the county's legal costs.
The county also made a request for a permanent injunction preventing Nahuis from conducting many activities related to the protest of Site 41.
In August 2009, county council passed a resolution that the claim for damages be disd it was reported, erroneously, that the case had been dropped.
However, in May 2010, Nahuis was told by her lawyer, Murray Klippenstein, that the county's lawyers in January had filed an amended Statement of Claim that has the effect of removing the claim for the $160,000 for past damages as well as the claim for future damages.
"In short," he told her, "the county is no longer asking you to pay them any money for damages." But, he pointed out: "the amended Statement of Claim, does not remove the claim for a permanent injunction, or the county's claim for legal costs.
"The lawsuit," Klippenstein added, "also included an interlocutor y injunction that currently prevents you from conducting a number of activities related to the protest of Site 41 until the lawsuit is resolved."
The documents filed Friday mean the matter is no longer before the courts.
Nahuis said on the weekend she feels like she has been "held hostage by county council these long months.
"It's been difficult to feel I might be the cause of our family farm to be lost."
"County councillors who claim to have stopped Site 41 may have voted the appropriate way in the end," Nahuis said, "but it was five very special First Nations women who felt they could make a difference who stopped Site 41 backed by the men, women and children who rose up to support them."
Monague described the outcome as "a victory, not only for the two of us but for the people of Simcoe County and for democracy."