(Montreal and Ottawa) While the Quebec government estimates that the cost of decontaminating the illegal Kanesatake dump “is approaching $100 million”, in Ottawa, the NDP is calling for a parliamentary committee to shed light on the “lax » which the federal government would have demonstrated and which allowed the site to become a « veritable environmental bomb ».
It was the Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, Benoit Charette, who mentioned this decontamination cost of $100 million during an interview with The Pressin Laval, Monday morning.
The Press reported on Monday that the former Recyclage G & R sorting center in Kanesatake, authorized in 2015 by Quebec, has breaches in its water collection system, allowing thousands of liters of contaminated water to spill into the streams that flow into it. flow into Lac des Deux Montagnes. Various analyzes carried out by the two governments have noted the presence of hydrocarbons, asbestos, PCBs, coliforms and “contaminants associated, among other things, with sulphides, ammoniacal nitrogen and bacteriology, which can affect the ‘To be human “.
Inspectors from Quebec and Ottawa have visited the place on numerous occasions and demanded improvements. The owners, Robert and Gary Gabriel, two Mohawks with a heavy criminal past, did not, however, implement plans to seal the site. Quebec revoked the certificate of authorization allowing the operation of the sorting center in October 2020. The owners have escaped, to date, with a fine of $17,883.
“We are talking about an extremely criminalized environment which, over the years, has learned to play with the legal system,” said Minister Charette.
They put a lot of effort into playing with the rules, asking for time to challenge the opinions that we could issue. Unfortunately, it stretched the sauce to the maximum.
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change
The Minister adds that the provincial authorities have gone “at the end of [ses] capacities with our laws” to force owners to comply with environmental rules.
Several sources say that many meetings have taken place in recent months, involving the federal government, the provincial government and the Kanesatake Band Council, to resolve the impasse with the owners of the site, but the situation remains at status quo.
Minister Charette believes that the ball is currently in the court of the federal government, which is responsible for the Aboriginal territory.
A 1.16 billion “action plan”
Ottawa has a budget envelope of 1.16 billion over four years to secure and clean up similar sites, as part of its Action Plan for contaminated sites. However, the Recyclage G & R sorting center does not appear anywhere in the “inventory of contaminated sites” of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which is responsible for this program.
An internal letter from the Kanesatake Band Council that The Press obtained, dated March 2022, argues that the provincial and federal departments of the environment have “repeatedly advised Council [de bande] that the only way to [ces ministères] to commit resources to the cleanup of the site is that the ‘private interests’ in these lands be removed”, in other words, that “the rights of Gary and Robert Gabriel in these lands must be removed”.
The Gabriel brothers did not respond to our interview request.
According to former Grand Chief Serge Otsi Simon, who has just been reinstated within the Kanesatake Band Council, the federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs has the power to remove the certificate of possession which granted the Gabriel brothers possession of the land where the site is located.
“The provincial government granted an exploitation permit, it quickly became an environmental disaster. Now that the site is closed, they want to wash their hands of it. It’s out of the question,” says Mr. Simon.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, New Democratic Party (NDP) Deputy Leader Alexandre Boulerice said steps will be taken to have the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee look into the matter in the coming weeks. . A parliamentary committee has the power to summon witnesses it deems relevant to appear.
“We have been in contact with the people of the Kanesatake community for two years. They are very worried about the presence of this illegal dump, the pollution and the contamination of the water. They are also worried about issues of governance and public safety in their community. It is extremely worrying, what we hear about intimidation, threats and violence,” said Mr. Boulerice in an interview with The Press.
It is an absolutely appalling situation. Look, there’s no more police there. It’s a big problem.
Alexandre Boulerice, deputy leader of the New Democratic Party
The NDP is preparing a “common exit” on this file with the member of Quebec solidaire in the National Assembly Manon Massé.
Mme Massé also wants international observers to be involved in the process, “because the various levels of government have been passing the buck in this case for almost ten years,” she explained.
“There are fellow citizens who do not live in security. This is what happens when we let things drag on, ”says the supportive MP.