CEA in the News

'A real warrior' — Windsor environmental crusader Ric Coronado dies

TREVOR WILHELM, The Windsor Star / Updated: JuLY 31, 2019

Life dedicated to protecting Earth. Windsor environmental activist Ric Coronado is shown at the Detroit River across from Zug Island in this Oct 17, 1990, file photo. RANDY MOORE/WINDSOR STAR

Ric Coronado, 1941-2019

Environmentalist, crusader, troublemaker.

Windsor’s Ric Coronado, fondly remembered for his fierce take-no-prisoners approach to protecting the environment, died Tuesday after years of health struggles. He was 78.

Canadian environmental champion David Suzuki remembers Coronado as a pioneer more than willing to put a few noses out of joint for the cause.

“I think that’s why he was so effective,” said Suzuki, who grew up in Leamington. “He didn’t give a s–t what people said. He just believed in his cause. That’s a very admirable trait.”

“I was a big fan of Ric’s. He was one of the first people I met in Windsor working for the union on environmental issues. At the time I felt he was soldiering on with a great deal of indifference. But he really was committed to the issues and I really admired him a great deal.”

Coronado spent three decades taking on governments, corporations and anyone else he needed to in his fight to protect Essex County’s natural environment.

He was on the frontlines of dramatic protests against local air and water pollution and the Detroit garbage incinerator, he fought to end sewage dumping in the Detroit River, and he was a pioneer who lobbied for recycling in the 1980s.

Ric Coronado is shown Aug. 19, 1990, speaking at one of the countless meetings where he advocated for the local environment. MIKE WEAVER / WINDSOR STAR

In 1985, Coronado founded the Windsor and District Clean Water Alliance — now called the Citizens Environment Alliance — to stop dumping from Sarnia’s Chemical Valley into the St. Clair River. His only son, Derek, is the alliance’s current executive director.

Coronado established and chaired the CAW Local 444 environment committee in the 1980s.

In 1990, he pushed through the first contract language between Chrysler and the CAW that established a joint national environment committee. That language became the model for similar committees at all Canadian Big Three facilities.

Coronado was also instrumental in forming the Windsor Environmental Advisory Committee, and he spent years working on Detroit River issues through the Binational Public Advisory Committee.

“For those of us in the environmental community, Ric was really one of the founders of the environmental movement in Essex County,” said naturalist and environment alliance director Phil Roberts.

And right from the start, he could not be bridled.

“Ric was certainly not a guy who minced words,” said Roberts, who knew Coronado about 30 years.

“You might even have called him a guy that was rather intolerant of people who couldn’t get their heads around improving the environment and making decisions and taking action to improve the environment. He was very passionate. He was certainly a guy at meetings who did not go unnoticed.”

Jim Drummond, a retired district manager with Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, often found himself on the receiving end of that passion.

“We had some clashes, but we were friends,” said Drummond. “We needed people like him to keep people like me on our toes.”

But there was no doubt Coronado “liked to ruffle feathers,” he said.

“The thing between me and Ric was he always wanted the whole pie, and sometimes I had to settle for part of the pie when it came to meeting environmental needs from various companies,” said Drummond. “His heart was always in the right place.”

Ric Coronado is shown Feb 5, 1997. NICK BRANCACCIO / WINDSOR STAR

The firebrand had slowed down after a severe stroke in 2000, followed by a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

“I was shocked that he was still alive because I knew that he’d had a stroke,” said Suzuki, who last saw Coronado a couple years ago. “He was still feisty even though he was obviously slowed down by the stroke. He was a real warrior, and I think that Windsorites should be really grateful that he dedicated his life to that work.”

Suzuki describes Coronado as a “real eco hero.”

“And, my God, there was a real need for that,” said Suzuki. “In many ways, Windsor is like a biological desert. It’s been taken over by farming. There isn’t much wilderness left.

“And the water issue for Windsorites is critical, with Sarnia right up the river. I think people ought to recognize what a pioneer he was.”

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In this Sept. 13, 2015, file photo, former Citizens Environment Alliance head Ric Coronado, left, is shown with environmentalist David Suzuki and the CEA’s current leader Derek Coronado. CHRIS THOMPSON / WINDSOR STAR

Natalie Green, left, Derek Coronado, Ric Coronado, Ian Naisbitt and Doug Haffner look out to the Detroit River following a press conference on the Canadian Cleanup Remedial Action Plan Milestone, at the Art Gallery of Windsor on Jan. 25, 2012. JASON KRYK / WINDSOR STAR

In typical fighting form, Ric Coronado is shown March 19, 1991, slamming local politicians for “inaction” on environmental issues. SCOTT WEBSTER / WINDSOR STAR

Activist Ric Coronado is shown at the Detroit River, with Zug Island in the background, on Oct. 17, 1990. Both were fighting points in his decades-long battle for the health of the local environment. RANDY MOORE / WINDSOR STAR