The company G&R Recyclage, which has multiplied environmental failures by operating its sorting center in Kanesatake, was discreetly removed from the register of companies this fall, noted The duty. No plan to decontaminate the site has been tabled, and the departments involved are now passing the buck to determine who will be responsible.
A brief visit to rang Saint-Jean, in Oka, shows how much the G&R Recyclage site contrasts with the bucolic landscapes of the Laurentians. The sorting center, which has collected environmental offenses over the years, now looks like an abandoned dump. Heaps of residues and waste of all kinds, several meters high in places, dot this plot of land of about fifteen hectares wedged between agricultural land.
The business of Mohawk brothers Robert and Gary Gabriel is well known to the authorities. The Quebec Ministry of the Environment had to revoke its operating permit in 2020 after noting breaches over the years: storage of materials outside the authorized area, receipt of unauthorized materials, such as waste purposes, absence of a water treatment system, flow of leachate and blackish water into the environment.
Now, the company can no longer pursue its activities in Quebec. G&R Recycling was quietly deregistered this fall from the Quebec Business Register (REQ) for not having produced its annual update declarations since 2019, noted The duty. No steps have been taken by the company to protect itself from possible creditors.
The Gabriel brothers are not their first radiation of the kind. Between 2016 and 2019, they headed Métal R. g, an import-export and waste management company. This was automatically deregistered in 2019 for the same reasons as G&R Recyclage.
Site rehabilitation
Now, who will have to clean and decontaminate the site? No site rehabilitation plan has been submitted for the site, confirmed to the Duty the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, which concedes that it is at the end of its resources: “It is important to remember that the [ministère] used all the necessary remedies provided for in the Environment Quality Act to obtain a return to compliance in this file. »
The ministry would like to point out that the G&R Recyclage site is not part of the “environmental liabilities of Quebec”. Although Quebec has provided the necessary authorizations for its operations in the past, the site located on Kanesatake territory does not come under provincial authorities.
For its part, Environment and Climate Change Canada responds to the Duty that the case is not within his jurisdiction. It refers to Indigenous Services Canada, the department responsible for access to services in Indigenous communities.
In an e-mail, the department’s spokesperson, Randy Legault-Rankin, wrote to us that “Indigenous Services Canada does not have an environmental law enforcement mandate”, explaining that the operation of the G&R Recyclage site was authorized by the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake.
As a result, “the use made of these lands is the responsibility of the Mohawks of Kanesatake, and the responsibility for the decontamination of the lot rests with the person who occupies it, that is to say G&R Recyclage”, notes t he in the email, clarifying that although the company is delisted, it is not yet dissolved. It was impossible to contact the owners of the company.
Determine responsibilities
Discussions are underway between the Kanesatake community and the Quebec and Canadian ministries responsible for environmental issues, says Mr. Legault-Rankin. The discussions aim to determine everyone’s responsibility, including G&R Recyclage. It is also a question of establishing conditions for Ottawa to make a financial commitment to the decontamination of the site. The environmental consulting firm Golder has already “characterized the site”, it is said, without however transmitting the results.
The duty was unable to meet with representatives of the Kanesatake Band Council. For his part, the mayor of Oka, Pascal Quevillon, is impatient and denounces the inaction of the federal government in the file: “We have been denouncing this situation for years and we want the government to act. It’s an environmental disaster, that’s clear, both for the aboriginal community and for the communities of Oka, Saint-Placide and Mirabel. It is deplorable that the government [fédéral] endure it. »
We have been denouncing this situation for years and want the government to act.
In 2021, Amnesty International sent a letter to Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and François Legault, co-signed by numerous organizations, including Quebec Breast Cancer Action, the David Suzuki Foundation, Eau Secours, Équiterre and the Front commun québécois. for environmentally sound waste management: “We urge you to mobilize the vast resources of the federal and provincial governments to secure and decontaminate the Kanesatake landfill and other similar sites without delay. »