The Mirabel MP and the mayor of Oka are calling for calm, at a time when citizens exasperated by the illegal dumping of potentially contaminated land in Kanesatake are threatening to conduct spontaneous road checks on suspicious trucks.
Brought together under the aegis of RéconciliAction Kanesatake/Oka, this group of activist citizens organized a civil disobedience training session this Sunday to “prepare citizens to exercise road control themselves,” a measure they consider “necessary due to the inaction of the SQ and the Minister of Public Security.” They promise to provide participants with safety equipment and show them how to stop a heavy vehicle “according to the standards of the Ministry of Transport,” according to a press release issued this week. More than fifty people have reportedly indicated their intention to participate in the event.
The situation has raised fears that things could get out of hand for the Bloc Québécois MP for Mirabel, Jean-Denis Garon: “I understand the anger of the people of Oka and the region, and I respect their right to demonstrate. But I think that taking justice into one’s own hands is not acceptable. I am against any escalation that could lead to violence.”
“I am sending citizens a message of restraint,” the MP added. According to him, the solution is rather “permanent road checks.”
For several weeks, citizens of Oka and residents of the Mohawk territory of Kanesatake have been denouncing the passage of numerous dump trucks suspected of dumping contaminated soil at various locations on the Indigenous territory. Last week, the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC) took samples at suspect sites, then this week, intercepted trucks and sampled their loads. “Other similar inspections could be carried out if necessary,” says MELCC spokesperson Frédéric Fournier.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The mayor of Oka, Pascal Quevillon
Oka Mayor Pascal Quevillon says these operations have already borne fruit and that the citizens’ initiative of civil disobedience is a “big smoke show.” “I have nothing against demonstrations, quite the contrary, but putting citizens at risk by asking them to block a road is not a good idea,” insists Mr. Quevillon.
“We know who we’re dealing with, they’re not choirboys,” he adds, referring to the offending companies that illegally dump their loads on Mohawk territory, some of whose owners have links to organized crime.
According to the mayor, the coming and going of unidentified trucks with questionable contents has decreased considerably over the past two weeks. The trucks intercepted in recent days by the Sûreté du Québec and the MELCC were, according to him, all duly authorized by the Commission de protection du territoire agricole to deliver fill to the Oka territory.