A march was held Sunday afternoon in the Notre-Dame district of Rouyn-Noranda to demand better air quality in the municipality. This was the second protest held in the area, where it was announced that 200 families will need to be relocated to create a ‘buffer zone’ near the Horne Foundry.
“We are back today with a second march for the love of the neighborhood,” said Johanne Alarie, co-spokesperson for the organization Mères au front de Rouyn-Noranda, who is behind the organization of the march, in an interview. .
The demonstration began at the Notre-Dame-de-Protection school. On March 7, residents reported that “black snow” was on school grounds.
Analyzes carried out by Environment Canada, published at the beginning of May, revealed that the metal dust found on this land had an arsenic content of 4130 milligrams per kilogram.
This rate is 137 times higher than the ground arsenic concentration limit for residential properties in Quebec. However, the students continued to go outside for several days.
Faced with these data, the company Glencore, which owns the Horne Foundry, then stated in a press release “that we cannot scientifically compare these results to the limits prescribed for soils”, because the snow samples were melted to remove the water, “then the residual dust was analyzed in the laboratory, which means that it was a very concentrated sample of dust”.
The company had also argued that the presence of arsenic was attributable to “an accumulation of dust from these processes”, and not to the wind washout of March 7.
A first speech during Sunday’s march addressed a petition launched by parents of students attending Notre-Dame-de-Protection school, which notably asks the Rouyn-Noranda School Service Center “to be more proactive in preventive measures concerning the safety and health of our children”.
“The sad experience of March 7 shows us that we should not wait for Public Health recommendations to act in this type of event, but rather take the lead and report any abnormal presence of dust in the most as soon as possible,” reads the petition, which has garnered more than 500 signatures.
During the walk, the author of the book Arsenic my loveGabrielle Izaguirre Falardeau, took the floor, as did the solidarity deputy Alejandra Zaga Mendez.
“We want compliance with standards for heavy metals, including arsenic. Currently, the plan that the Ministry of the Environment has issued for the next five years, [l’autorisation] ministerial, does not suit us at all ”, maintains Johanne Alarie, of Mothers at the front.
The ministerial authorization granted to the foundry last March calls for the company to reach the target of 15 nanograms of arsenic per cubic meter of air (ng / m3) in 2027. A measure which is not sufficient, according to Ms. Alarie.
“We want compliance with the standard for arsenic, which is three nanograms per cubic meter” after five years of ministerial authorization, she says, saying that the 15 nanogram measurement in 2027 is insufficient.
The Quebec government is asking for arsenic emission thresholds of 65 ng/m3 in 2023 and 45 nanograms for 2024, 2025 and 2026. It is also demanding that Glencore submit an action plan by 2027 to eventually reduce emissions at 3 ng/m3, but no timeline is set for reaching this standard.
“We will not let go of this fight,” says Johanne Alarie.
With information from Stéphane Blais