Editing Port Colborne (section)

==History==
In pre-[[New France|colonial]] times, Indigenous people of the [[Onguiaahra]] (Neutral Iroquois) lived in the area, due in part to the ready availability of [[flint]] and [[chert]] from outcroppings on the [[Onondaga (geological formation)|Onondaga Escarpment]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = Chonnonton (Neutral)|url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/neutral/|access-date = 2020-02-19|first = William C.|last = Noble}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07565a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Huron Indians|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref> This advantage was diminished by the introduction of firearms by European traders, and they were driven out by the Six Nations of the [[Iroquois]] around 1650 as part of the [[Beaver Wars]].

Originally called Gravelly Bay, after the shallow, bedrock-floored bay upon which it sits, today's City of Port Colborne traces its roots back to the [[United Empire Loyalist]] settlements that grew up in the area following the [[American Revolution]]. Growth became focused around the southern terminus of the [[Welland Canal]] after it reached [[Lake Erie]] in 1833. The town was the location of the [[Port Colborne explosion]], a grain elevator explosion in 1919 that killed 10 and injured 16.

As the population rose, [[Welland County, Ontario|Welland County]] was formed in 1845 from [[Lincoln County, Ontario|Lincoln County]] and Port Colborne was incorporated as a village in 1870, became a town in 1918, merged with the neighbouring Village of Humberstone in 1952, and was re-incorporated as a city in 1966. In 1970, Niagara Region municipal restructuring added Humberstone Township, further expanding the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keithoverend.com/Intro/heritage/History/history.HTM|title=index.HTM|access-date=July 31, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429132853/http://www.keithoverend.com/Intro/heritage/History/history.HTM|archive-date=April 29, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=port-colborne-history>{{Cite web|url=http://portcolborne.ca/page/history|title=City of Port Colborne - History|website=portcolborne.ca|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128000241/http://portcolborne.ca/page/history|archivedate=2020-11-28}}</ref>

In the year 1888, American tourists from the [[Southern United States|Southern states]] began building vacation homes on the lakeshore of the Western edge of the town. By 1890, an entire gated community of vacationers from the US South called Port Colborne their home during the summer months, naming the community The Humberstone Club. Over 30 grand summer homes, along with a variety of clubhouses and service buildings, were built along the lake in the following years, many of which still stand today on historic Tennessee Avenue. The southern architecture and style of these buildings would influence the design and construction of other historic buildings in the area. During the [[American Civil War]], [[Varina Davis]], wife of Confederacy President [[Jefferson Davis]], spent three years in the relative comfort and safety of the community.<ref name=port-colborne-history/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eriemedia.ca/exhibit-explores-how-tennessee-came-to-port-colborne/|title=Exhibit explores how Tennessee came to Port Colborne|date=2019-04-29|website=Erie Media|access-date=2019-12-20}}</ref> <!-- not supported by cite: Today, the picturesque street of Tennessee Avenue is still home to many of these original vacation homes and buildings, as well as the original stone and wrought iron resort gates. The street boasts some immaculately maintained examples of late 19th- and early 20th-century Southern architecture. -->

Port Colborne was one of the hardest hit communities during the [[Blizzard of 1977]]. Thousands of people were stranded when the city was paralyzed during the storm, and the incident remains one of significance to the local population.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thespec.com/news-story/2231395-missing-the-snow-a-look-back-at-the-blizzard-of-77/|title=Missing the snow? A look back at the Blizzard of '77|first=Mark|last=McNeil|date=January 28, 2012|newspaper=The Hamilton Spectator|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref>

===Environmental concerns===
Emissions from [[Inco|Inco's]] base metal refinery, closed in 1984, resulted in soils contaminated with concentrations of nickel, copper and cobalt above the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's "soil remediation criteria."<ref name="ene.gov.on.ca">[http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/land/portcolborne/index.htm Government of Ontario, Canada / Gouvernement de l'Ontario, Canada]</ref> However, two studies, one in 1997 and another in 1999 found "[no] adverse health effects which may have resulted from environmental exposures."<ref name="ene.gov.on.ca"/>  After a series of public meetings between the City, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and Inco, it was decided to perform a Community-Based Risk Assessment, a process designed to determine whether the contamination poses a threat to the current, past, or future residents of Port Colborne, and what Inco must do to clean up the contaminated areas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://city.portcolborne.on.ca/cityhall/committees/details.cfm?recordid=61|title=City of Port Colborne|access-date=July 31, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007144511/http://city.portcolborne.on.ca/cityhall/committees/details.cfm?recordid=61|archive-date=October 7, 2006|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Some residents launched a [[Class action|Class-Action Lawsuit]] against Inco in 2001<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jatam.org/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=255&Itemid=44&PHPSESSID=b59205dabaf7435ab6163bc44aee94b0|title=English - JATAM|website=www.jatam.org|access-date=July 31, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195325/http://www.jatam.org/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=255&Itemid=44&PHPSESSID=b59205dabaf7435ab6163bc44aee94b0|archive-date=September 27, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/Inco/home.aspx|title=Koskie Minsky LLP|access-date=July 31, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210204633/http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/Inco/home.aspx|archive-date=December 10, 2006|df=mdy-all}}</ref> seeking $750 million in damages to health, property value, and quality-of-life. Although this suit failed to be certified in 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/Inco/docs/reasons_for_decision_jnordheimer_dated_15jul02.pdf|title=Koskie Minsky LLP|access-date=July 31, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809133336/http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/Inco/docs/reasons_for_decision_jnordheimer_dated_15jul02.pdf|archive-date=August 9, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elc.ab.ca/pages/Publications/PreviousIssue.aspx?id=332|title=Trouble for Toxic Torts as Class Actions |access-date=July 31, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 4, 2013|df=mdy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004232143/http://www.elc.ab.ca/pages/Publications/PreviousIssue.aspx?id=332 }}</ref> it was subsequently modified to limit the class, and focus solely on devaluation of property<ref>[http://www.hazmatmag.com/posted_documents/pdf/Pearson.pdf hazmatmag summary as at February 2004] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624100748/http://www.hazmatmag.com/posted_documents/pdf/Pearson.pdf |date=June 24, 2012 }}</ref> and was certified on appeal on November 18, 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/Inco/docs/REASONS_NOV1805_McMURTRY_ROSENBERG_GILLESE.pdf|title=Koskie Minsky LLP|access-date=July 31, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208170859/http://www.koskieminsky.com/client_links/Inco/docs/REASONS_NOV1805_McMURTRY_ROSENBERG_GILLESE.pdf|archive-date=December 8, 2006|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://canlii.ca/t/1m147|title=Pearson v. Inco Ltd., 2005 CanLII 42474 (ON CA)|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref>  A timeline of the case has been written from the point of view of the plaintiffs.<ref name=kmtimeline>{{cite web|url=http://koskieminsky.com/Case-Central/Overview/Status-Of-Case/?rid=82|title=Smith v. Inco Ltd. - Koskie Minsky LLP|access-date=July 31, 2017|archive-date=October 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231800/http://koskieminsky.com/Case-Central/Overview/Status-Of-Case/?rid=82|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On July 6, 2010, the [[Ontario Supreme Court]] sided with the residents and awarded more than 7,000 households in Port Colborne a total of $36 million. Households in the Rodney Street area, in the shadow of the nickel refinery, were each awarded $23,000 while those living on the east and west sides of Port Colborne were each awarded $9,000 and $2,500 respectively.<ref name="stcatharinesstandard.ca">{{cite web|url=http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2698114|title=Vale appeals $36-million judgment|website=St. Catharines Standard|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref> Vale{{who|date=July 2021}} appealed the ruling to the [[Ontario Court of Appeal]], which found in 2010 that the plaintiff had not provided sufficient evidence of economic harm, raising the legal burden of proof but not invalidating [[Rylands v Fletcher]] as precedent law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/57226/ontario-court-of-appeal-overturns-trial-decision-in-smith-v-inco|title=Ontario Court of Appeal overturns trial decision in Smith v Inco|website=www.nortonrosefulbright.com|access-date=July 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201020408/http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/57226/ontario-court-of-appeal-overturns-trial-decision-in-smith-v-inco|archive-date=December 1, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weirfoulds.com/case-law-update-smith-v-inco-limited|title=Case Law Update: Smith v Inco Limited, WeirFoulds|website=www.weirfoulds.com|date=October 20, 2011|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=07c576cc-3956-437d-8c06-6dbacec797ce|title=No Harm, No Nuisance - The Ontario Court of Appeal Lays Out What Will, and Will Not, Fly in Proving Nuisance: Smith v. Inco Limited - Lexology|first=Miller Thomson LLP-Tamara|last=Farber|date=November 2011|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref>  In April 2012 the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] sided with Vale and denied the residents the awarded compensation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/who-pays-when-your-well-sucked-dry-and-your-home-contaminated/11214|title=Who pays when your well is sucked dry and your home is contaminated?|website=halifax.mediacoop.ca|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gowlings.com/KnowledgeCentre/article.asp?pubID=2673|title=Supreme Court Will Not Hear Appeal of Smith v. Inco|access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref>  Court costs in the amount of CAD$1,766,000 were awarded the defendant by Henderson, J.<ref name=kmtimeline/>