Haliburton’s Peter Schleifenbaum has been reunited with one of his loves – a Second World War depth charge.

The Mark VII sits on the porch of Schleifenbaum’s home. It doesn’t look like much. However, the former owner of Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Preserve thought enough of the charge – designed to be dropped from a ship or aircraft to explode underwater – that he fought to get it back after it was confiscated by the military on Nov. 5, 2018.

The Canadian Armed Forces took it during a bomb scare at the Forest that had attracted the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

“I was given this very unusual piece by my predecessor as manager at Haliburton Forest, Pat Waddell,” Schleifenbaum explains.

Waddell ran the Forest from the mid1950’s until 1988, when Schleifenbaum arrived. Waddell was already more than 70 years old at that point. During the Second World War, he had joined the Canadian Navy and served on patrol vessels accompanying convoys from Halifax to Belfast. The enemy were German submarines and Schleifenbaum said Waddell told him he had seen ships sunk by sub-torpedoes. The weapon of choice against subs was the depth charge.

“At the end of the war, Pat, who was not your run-of-the-mill kind of guy, brought an empty depth charge back home as a memento of the war. He kept it in his basement for several decades … what else do you do with a depth charge?” Schleifenbaum says.

He said in 2000, Haliburton Forest commissioned the design and construction of the world’s first commercial, freshwater submarine. In 2004, they took possession and subsequently ran their sub for two years with close to 1,000 dives until the Ontario Ministry of Labour shut them down because they couldn’t assess the engineering and operation of the sub. Ironically, Schleifenbaum said the federal Department of Transportation found the sub bomb-proof. He said their assessor had worked with Jacques Cousteau and was very competent. The sub was named the “Pat Waddell.”

Schleifenbaum said it was around this time that Waddell unearthed his depth charge and felt that Schliefenbaum should have it. “However, he could not help but remark this rather strange scenario where he risked his life for years fighting Germans on the Atlantic, bringing back this depth charge, which was designed and intended to kill Germans, and now, decades later, he presented it to a German who operated the only functioning sub in Canada at the time.”

“To make a long story short, the depth charge represented no commercial, but substantial personal value,” he said.

However, in the course of that November 2018 bomb scare, where explosives from the old sawmilling days at base camp were discovered in an old shed slated to be demolished, explosives experts came across the depth charge. They took it to Base Borden, to check if it still posed any danger.

Schliefenbaum says he waited two months for its return, however was told he might not get it back; that it had been destroyed; that it was lost. He claims the CAF didn’t want to return it but “that was not an option for me.”

“By that time, we had spent over six months of back-and-forth with no end in sight and an apparent hardening of lines. At that point, I involved [a lawyer] with the instruction to get the charge back at any cost.

“To make another long story short, on Dec. 11, 2019, two officers from CAF Camp Borden returned the depth charge to Haliburton. A substantial amount of paperwork had to be processed, essentially covering Canada from potential liability, although the charge had been X-rayed and one of the corroded explosives departments had been opened and samples taken,” Schleifenbaum said.

Senior public affairs officer for the military, Major Trevor Reid, said it is a unique case. He added it allows the military to use it for public safety education.

“We in the military, notwithstanding the somewhat unique nature of this case, people that have in their possession military ordinance, or something they suspect to be military ordinance, we would rather them call us so we can properly dispose of it.” He went on to clarify that people should first call their local detachment of the OPP.

He added that the public should “never assume that something is safe. It’s not a risk that is worth taking. Just because it’s been in a relatives’ basement since you were a kid or whatever, doesn’t make it safe.”

Major Reid said in most cases, the military destroys these types of items. However, in the instance of Schleifenbaum’s depth charge, they realized they could use it to train their personnel. He said it was tested and verified as safe to handle and then returned.

The charge, which now bears a Canadian stamp of harmlessness, will soon dangle off the Schleifenbaum porch rafters for decades to come.

“Pat Waddell would certainly approve,” Schleifenbaum said.

The recently-formed Haliburton Highlands Green Burial Society hopes a workshop for councillors and staff Feb. 4 will go a long way towards getting their initiative into the ground.

Terry and Shirley Moore, along with Beth Johns, attended the Jan. 16 Algonquin Highlands council meeting to discuss the concept, which would highlight best practices for winter burials.

Terry Moore updated council on what they had been doing since last making a delegation to the council in May 2019. As previously reported in The Highlander, they’ve been engaging with the community. The society now has 26 members, with more than $5,000 pledged. The not-forprofit’s board of directors held its first meeting Jan. 17. Some 40 people are already personally interested in plots. Moore added they had done a large amount of research regarding everything from cemetery bylaws to winter burial policies, methods, equipment and costs. They have a Facebook page up and running and a website under construction. They hope to provide a one-stop shop for green and winter burials.

They have also helped generate a possible design option for a green burial section at St. Stephen’s Cemetery in the township. Moore said council had delivered on most of its asks, namely: reviewing the existing bylaw to identify, investigate and make recommendations on removing barriers to green burials and looking into dedicating space at the Buckslide Road cemetery.

Last Thursday, he wanted council to agree to form a joint ad hoc townships-ociety advisory committee to investigate both green and year-round burial options at St. Stephen’s. He further wanted the committee to report back to council with recommendations for consideration during the 2021 budget discussion process.

He reiterated there are no local winter burial options, which means no local burial options for five to six months of the year. He indicated there remains a lack of public awareness of the environmental and economic cost of conventional burials and cremation. He noted that 70 per cent of people dying in the County are being cremated.

He said as he has gone around the County, he’s found people, “like the concept … but would like to have a bit of meat on the bones.” For example, he has been asked by people if voles would be able to eat their bodies.

Mayor Carol Moffatt acknowledged Moore’s passion for green burials – which stems from the family being unable to bury their son Kyle in the winter. He said they’d generated ‘good’ conversation about end of life planning. She said her township was on board but she felt that forming an ad hoc committee was premature, considering councillors and staff had not even attended the Feb. 4 workshop.

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux said her family is planning green burials and she’d like to see them sooner rather than later. However, she said she wanted staff to guide the process after the workshop. She said they may recommend an ad hoc committee.

Deputy Mayor Liz Danielsen said “the workshop will help people I’m sure.”

“It’s evident you have support here,” added Moffatt. “We’ll all become informed and move forward. The Feb. 4 workshop will be held in the Dysart et al council chambers at 1 p.m.