Twenty-five municipalities, that is all the members of the MRC of Papineau, in the Outaouais, are claiming the power to protect their territory against mining development.
Municipalities such as Montebello, Lac-Simon and Saint-André-Avellin thus give their support to a resolution of the Regroupement de protection des lacs de la Petite-Nation, which asks Quebec “that mining activities be prohibited in the areas designated by the MRC Papineau as being reserved for vacationing, recreotourism, ecotourism and forestry ”. Several organizations, such as the Regional Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Outaouais, are joining their voices to the movement.
The region is attracting the interest of mining exploration companies due to the presence of graphite, an essential mineral for the production of batteries for the electrification of transport. Lomiko’s La Loutre open-pit mine project is located near the municipalities of Duhamel and Lac-des-Plages, which are part of the common front. The future mine is located at the heart of a network of lakes and rivers where there are many cabins, notably less than six kilometers from Lac Simon.
“Lake Simon, there are more than 1000 families who are there. They want to implement this in pristine environments, wetlands, in the mountains. It will become a large industrial park, with noise from transport, blasting, dust, ”deplores Louis St-Hilaire, spokesperson for the Regroupement, who is also worried about the risk of water contamination.
Unless future environmental assessments favor the project, it is too late to prevent the advent of the Lomiko mine, which has an acquired right to this territory, says the prefect of the Papineau MRC, Benoit Lauzon. “We want to avoid that there are others, he said, however. We know there will be a lot of them. “
In the Outaouais and in the neighboring regions of the Laurentians, five graphite mining projects are under development. The number of active mining exploration titles linked to graphite more than doubled in the Laurentians and in Lanaudière between 2015 and 2020. The Regroupement thus qualifies the zone of “country of green gold”, in reference to the environmental claims of this extraction.
For the prefect of the MRC de Papineau, public opinion is unanimous among citizens and elected officials. The official support of all the municipalities of the MRC testifies, according to him, of the importance of the file. He says the business community is also on their side.
Requested changes
They are not against mines, but want to protect 11% of their territory, mainly around lakes and rivers, in addition to urban and village areas. In a process of defining territories incompatible with mining activity (TIAM) on its territory, the MRC de Papineau presented its requests to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
“It was refused by the ministry, because the territory we defined does not meet government criteria, so we were told to adjust our requests in connection with this,” reports Benoit Lauzon. The municipal sector, we are a local government, we want to have the powers to decide where we want mines and where we don’t. “
Legislative changes are therefore necessary, believes the prefect. In a brief within the framework of the Consultation on the national urban planning and regional development strategy, the MRC also concludes that “the sustainable development of the territory and respect for local communities require current laws and frameworks. (including the Mining Act, the Land Use Planning and Development Act and government guidelines for the TIAMs) in order to give more powers to municipalities, RCMs and indigenous nations to protect sensitive environments in their territories ” .
This question could be extended to other regions of Quebec. According to Mr. Lauzon, the MRC des Laurentides has similar requests, and a committee of the Union of Quebec municipalities is looking into the matter.
The office of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonatan Julien, did not respond to our requests for information on this file.