Letters to the Editor

Mill Creek crisis

August 20, 2026   ·   0 Comments

Dear Editor:
For five months, I have taken it upon myself to clean up garbage and debris from Mill Creek. I would like to give you an update on my ongoing mission.
First, I am very happy to see the Mill Creek rehabilitation between Bythia and Dawson streets, and I look forward to seeing the completed project.
These are the top four items that I continue to find in Mill Creek:

#1) Plastics: Huge amounts of plastic in all sorts of sizes, such as containers, plastic bags, shrink wrap and styrofoam.

#2) Clothing and lining: I continue to pull massive amounts of lining and clothing out of Mill Creek. I pinpointed the main source of the lining and clothing: the unkempt used clothing box and dumping ground at the local 7-Eleven.

It’s common knowledge that certain individuals are pulling bags of clothing apart at the 7-Eleven drop box and spreading clothing around the neighbourhood and into Mill Creek. (I have witnessed this myself).

Several local residents have witnessed a person who appears to have a mental illness spend hours trying to dam the Mill Creek with the lining and clothing she removed from the clothing donation box located at the 7-Eleven. This unkempt used clothing/dumpster must be removed.

#3) Biohazards and medical supplies: I have found several used needle boxes full of needles, and others broken open with contents missing, in Mill Creek. I continue to remove hundreds of medical supplies like personal lubrication packets, alcohol, cotton swabs, drug injection and crack smoking kits. The biohazards and medical supplies are intentionally thrown into Mill Creek. Everyone I meet in the parks along Mill Creek with their children and pets, I warn them of the biohazard in Mill Creek.

#4) Toxic substances: I have found full spray cans of paint, full spray cans of Easy-Off oven cleaner (rusty and ready to burst), full Javex containers, motor oil containers, etc.
Mill Creek flows into the Credit River to Port Credit, then into Lake Ontario. The people of Toronto and the GTHA drink the water from Lake Ontario.
We have a huge mental health addiction crisis in Ontario. I fully understand our municipalities are not properly funded by our provincial government to deal with this crisis. It is a shame that these fellow human beings in the lowest part of their life who have an illness are literally abandoned and left mostly to fend for themselves. The Mill Creek crisis is a side effect of the mental health crisis.

Terry Brooker
Orangeville

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