Lawyers are talking about suing the Quebec government if it does not set up the public register of environmental information provided for by law.
The Quebec Center for Environmental Law (CQDE) warns that it will not deprive itself of any legal means for the public register on environmental information to see the light of day.
“If we have to go to court, that’s what we’ll do. The stakes are too high for this register to remain a dead letter,” said Marc Bishai, lawyer at the CQDE.
A month ago, through an open letter signed by 80 environmental organizations and public figures, the CQDE asked the government to commit, within 30 days, to implementing this register in 2023.
The CQDE says it regrets that the government refuses to really commit to putting it in place.
“The situation is unacceptable. We have come up against the government’s inertia for five years, despite the strong mobilization of civil society and organizations from multiple sectors,” said Caroline Poussier, interim director general of the CQDE.
A register provided for in the EQA
The Environment Quality Act (EQA) has been in effect since March 23, 2018. Section 118.5 of this act stipulates that the Minister of the Environment must keep a public register containing a range of information on industrial projects and activities.
For example, the register must contain the description and source of the contaminants caused by a project, the type of discharge into the environment, or even the conditions that a promoter must respect, the prohibitions and the specific standards applicable to the realization of the activity.
Five years after the entry into force of the law, the register which should list the ministerial authorizations requested or granted still does not exist.
“A person who wants to know if his right to a healthy environment is respected, at this time, he must go through an access to information request. There are delays that are associated with that. It is a process which, sometimes, requires that it make a challenge before the access to information commission and which still causes delays, ”deplored lawyer Marc Bishai.
“These are processes that are not obvious to the average person when the government was committed to making all information available at the click of a button, directly online. »
Information of a public nature
In August 2022, after several weeks of media hype caused by the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda file, the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change unveiled a list of 89 companies that were the subject of a ministerial authorization relating to the operation of an industrial establishment, also called a “decontamination certificate”.
The documents revealed had made it possible to learn that eight companies had the right to contravene environmental standards on discharges into the air, water and land.
These documents indicated in particular the type of pollutant which was released by these companies, the frequency and the quantity of the releases.
However, this information is considered by the Environment Quality Act as information that is public in nature and the register would allow immediate access to it, without requesting it.
The Canadian Press asked the Ministry of the Environment to react to the most recent output of the CQDE, but did not obtain a response.
However, a month ago, Minister Benoit Charette sent this explanation to the news agency: “Several steps have been taken to improve the online service at the MELCCFP and note that, since 2018, the Environmental Assessment Registry, Register of protected areas and air quality data are available. »
“On the other hand, we are aware that there is still work to be done and that is why I asked the teams from my ministry to quickly present me with a schedule for putting this register online which, let us remember , will allow a better dissemination of information to the public. »