After a standoff that has lasted nearly 10 years, Quebec has just ordered the naturist club Adam and Eve to stop illegal work in wetlands and restore areas destroyed since 2014.
The naturist club has carried out several works in wetlands in recent years, without first obtaining the necessary authorizations under the Environment Quality Act (LQE).
In particular, the company carried out excavation work in several places, it laid out a 3.2 km road in addition to digging drainage ditches, partially backfilling a pond and adding campsites in wetlands without authorisation.
The Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks adopted an ordinance under the EQA so that Club naturiste Adam et Ève ltée cease “all work or intervention in wetlands” and that he proceeds to restore the destroyed environments.
This order follows an inspection carried out last November which revealed that additional work had been carried out in wetlands without authorization from the Ministry.
“Given the surface areas of the environments affected as well as the company’s lack of cooperation, the appropriate recourse at this stage is ordinance no. 716, imposed under section 114 of the EQA”, indicated the Ministry in a press release issued on Friday.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The Adam and Eve naturist club
The naturist club which has belonged to Gilles Chantal for nearly 50 years has accumulated violations of the Environment Quality Act for several years.
Fines totaling $65,000
Despite the issuance of a notice of non-compliance and the imposition of a monetary administrative penalty of $5,000, the company did not follow up on the requests for corrective action from the Ministère de l’Environnement. In particular, illegal work continued on several occasions in 2022.
In July 2022, the company was also ordered by the Superior Court of Quebec to pay fines totaling $60,000 for violations of the EQA. The Ministry also indicates that another criminal investigation is underway in this case.
On June 21, 2022, a first order was sent to the naturist club to cease all work in wetlands in violation of the law for a period of 90 days. The company ignored the order and carried out more illegal work in the months that followed, according to the ministry.
The Adam and Eve naturist club was informed on January 19 that a new ordinance was being issued and its owner then had 15 days to send his comments to the Ministry. The company offered no response.
The Press tried to contact Gilles Chantal, owner of the campsite, to allow him to give his version of the facts. “I don’t have a word to say, I don’t know you. I don’t see you on the phone. Call my lawyer,” said a man who declined to identify himself.
In 2017, in a daily interview Le Nouvellistethe founder of the Fédération québécoise de naturisme, Michel Vaïs, had declared that the naturist club was more of a swingers’ club than a naturist club.
A naturist center is not a pretext to offer sexual exchanges. What I understand from their advertising is that it is a swinger campsite and not a naturist one. Their practices are very different from those of the federation.
Michel Vaïs, founder of the Quebec Federation of Naturism
In the summer of 2017, a love triangle allegedly went wrong at the campsite leading to the deaths of three people. Suzanne Gareau, 50, and Rodrigue Tremblay, 77, were reportedly killed by Denys Carpentier, 76. The body of the alleged murderer was found next to the two victims. A revolver-type weapon was found at the scene by the Sûreté du Québec.
According to Radio-Canada, Mr.me Gareau had just moved in with Mr. Tremblay. According to testimonies from residents of the campsite, the alleged murderer, Denys Carpentier, was known for his jealous behavior.