A complaint has been filed with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) concerning acts of vandalism targeting the company Ray-Mont Logistiques, learned The duty. A situation that prompted the Ministry of the Environment to cancel a meeting that was scheduled for mid-June with a group of citizens, who nevertheless dissociate themselves from the actions committed.
Earlier this month, a high-ranking employee at the company was shocked to find that his garage door had been daubed with large graffiti reading “The land will remain vacant”, while on a building owned by the company, the phrase “Ray-Mont, you are destroying our lives” has been inscribed in recent weeks. A threatening letter intended for the president and CEO of Ray-Mont Logistiques, Charles Raymond, was first shared on a news site describing itself as “anarchist”. This includes photos showing the acts committed.
The company, which confirmed to the To have to that these acts of vandalism took place, has since filed a complaint with the SPVM and increased the security measures offered to its employees. The letter shared online also mentions that a pole where a surveillance camera was located on the land of Ray-Mont Logistiques, north of rue Notre-Dame, was knocked down by an opponent of the platform project. container transshipment. However, the company could not confirm this information on Friday.
The SPVM was unable to tell the To have to that a complaint has been lodged or that an investigation is in progress regarding this matter, information of this type being kept confidential.
A group of citizens
These actions have harmed relations in the last few days between the group of citizens opposed to this industrial project in the east of Montreal Mobilization 6600 and the Ministry of the Environment, we also learned. Minister Benoit Charette, who was to meet with representatives of this group in mid-June, canceled this meeting Thursday after reading the letter posted online and whose author is not identified, shows an exchange of emails obtained by The duty.
“Following the unfortunate events that have taken place over the past few days, you will understand that I am very uncomfortable honoring the meeting that we were to have in June. In addition, I have not seen any public outings from you in which you condemn the actions that have been taken. I therefore have to cancel the scheduled meeting, “said the minister’s office in an email dated May 19.
The Mobilization 6600 group, however, assures that it was not aware of these acts of vandalism before the Ministry of the Environment made it aware of them. “We had not heard of it,” confirms a spokesperson for the mobilization, Anaïs Houde, in an interview on Friday.
Its actions being peaceful, the group assured in an email to the ministry that it was not responsible for the acts of vandalism decried by Ray-Mont Logistiques, from which it “dissociates”.
“The opposition movement to Ray-Mont Logistiques goes well beyond our group. We are sorry if this worries you, but we cannot be held responsible for the actions of other people or groups,” a representative of Mobilization de 6600 reminded the ministry, reiterating her request for a meeting with the minister. However, Benoit Charette’s firm insists: “As I mentioned to you, I think that sending an appeal for calm would be relevant. »
For Anaïs Houde, a public condemnation of these acts of vandalism by Mobilization 6600 is however not envisaged. “We are asked to apologize for something we did not do,” she laments. “It would be for us to assume a responsibility that we do not have to assume,” adds Ms. Houde, who therefore rejects this option. “For us, it doesn’t seem like a relevant thing to do. »
Authorization request
According to information obtained by The duty, the promoter of the Ray-Mont Logistiques project filed a request for authorization earlier this week concerning certain aspects of its industrial project. What aspects are these? The Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change was unable to send us an answer on Friday.
It should be noted that the construction of the intermodal platform (which would make it possible to move containers from trucks to wagons) could be subject to “prior authorization” under the Environment Quality Act. The Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charrette, could therefore take the opportunity to demand an environmental assessment procedure, for example a review by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. This is what residents of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and opponents of the project are demanding, but Minister Charrette has still not made a commitment in this regard.
With Alexandre Shields and Roxane Léouzon