Tommy Montpetit | The man who wanted to save a little frog

Eric-Pierre Champagne
The Press

The smallest of Quebec’s frogs owes a proud debt to a former photocopier repairman who has campaigned for years to ensure its protection. If the Western Chorus Frog is now one of the emblems of endangered species in the country, it is partly thanks to the hard work of Tommy Montpetit, who decided to dedicate his life to it.

On April 28, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) adopted an interim control by-law aimed at protecting its natural environments of interest as well as the 3,313 hectares of chorus frog habitat on its territory. A historic decision for this endangered species whose survival is increasingly uncertain. For Tommy Montpetit, director of conservation for Ciel et Terre, it is the realization of a dream begun 28 years ago.

In November 1994, Tommy Montpetit was 24 years old. With his vocational diploma in electromechanics obtained four years earlier, he worked as a photocopier repairer. But between two repairs, his head and, above all, his heart are elsewhere. In the woods and wetlands of the South Shore of Montreal, where he spends most of his free time.

On November 17, 1994, he wrote to the mayor of Longueuil at the time, Claude Gladu, to express his concerns. The city then grew like a mushroom. Woodlands and natural environments are being destroyed to build houses there. Chorus frog habitats are backfilled. He received a response a few days later signed by the mayor’s chief of staff, a certain Massimo Iezzoni. He is told that someone will contact him to follow up.

Over the next 10 years, Tommy Montpetit devoted much of his free time to pleading his case. In the evening, after his day’s work, he attends town council meetings. He writes letters to make decision-makers aware of the importance of natural environments. He reads a lot. Municipal and provincial laws, town planning schemes. He became a member of several environmental groups.

The little frog has found its champion.

A wacky… political strategist

“At first, he was thought to be eccentric,” says journalist Louis-Gilles Francœur, who covered the environment for the daily The duty for 30 years. “Even I, with my desk managers, there was a certain perplexity when I told them that I was writing about it. A little frog! But Tommy was a very good political strategist. And he spoke to everyone in the middle. He is a person I greatly admire for his determination and resilience. »

Same story with Thomas Mulcair, who knew Tommy Montpetit when he was Minister of the Environment in the Charest government between 2003 and 2006. “He’s a singular and endearing environmentalist. He is not there for himself. He has fought tirelessly for the preservation of ecosystems and natural environments for decades. His determination, experience and expertise are second to none. »

“His story is truly remarkable,” says Massimo Iezzoni, who is now CMM’s general manager.

“Several wildlife managers have often told me that we couldn’t pass one on to Tommy Montpetit,” adds Louis-Gilles Francœur, who was also vice-president of the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement between 2012 and 2017. “On the pitch, I was always bowled over by his knowledge. He was as interesting as a biologist. »

“The tree frog fascinated me”

Tommy Montpetit was 6 years old when he first heard a chorus frog sing. He then lived on rue Laurier, in a district of Longueuil that was already nicknamed the Bronx, in reference to the New York district long notorious for its high crime rate and poverty.

He falls under the spell of this little frog which measures less than 3 cm, and whose song can be heard for hundreds of meters. “The tree frog, it’s so small, it fascinated me,” he said in an interview with The Press. But there was not just the tree frog, but also all of nature in general. »

It must be said that at the end of the 1970s, little Tommy’s playground was immense. The Boisé Du Tremblay then extended to Chemin de Chambly. The young boy does not have to go very far to discover the secrets of nature. But two years later, he saw his first upheaval.

Houses are built in front of his home. “We were going to kill the frogs, destroy the forest, it was a shock for me,” he recalls. He is all the more shocked that he had heard during a conversation a municipal councilor affirm that this sector would never be subdivided. “I understood that he had lied to us. I didn’t like that. I don’t like lies. »

According to Louis-Gilles Francœur, the chorus frog is one of the rare endangered species that can still be observed in Greater Montreal. “The fate of this species is important since its survival affects several other issues: urban sprawl, the protection of wetlands and natural environments. »

Sky and Earth Jump

After 10 years of volunteering for the environment, Tommy Montpetit left his job as a photocopier repairer to work part-time at the organization Ciel et Terre. It was there, in 2004, that he carried out his first inventories for the chorus frog in the company of biologist Isabelle Picard. He learns quickly and, above all, he feels that he belongs.

Quickly, he stood out. In 2005, he joined the chorus frog recovery team, a group of experts formed by the government. In 2006, the Société Provancher and the Fondation de la faune du Québec presented him with the “Gens d’action” prize for his work protecting wetlands in Montérégie. Two years later, he was named a Canadian Hero by the magazine Green Living. In 2012, he was made an honorary member of the Association des biologistes du Québec.

Since 2004, he has met almost all the Ministers of the Environment in Quebec, from Thomas Mulcair to Benoit Charette via Claude Béchard and Daniel Breton. In several cities, his name is well known and sometimes even feared.

But the man does not run after honors. Jokingly, he complains that this portrait in The Press earned him several interview requests. “I’m just doing my job. You, your job is to write. Mine is to save the world, ”he says, with a determined air, between two puffs of a cigarette. If he is eloquent, he is also known for his outspokenness. He does not hesitate to launch a well-felt “tabarnak” when the opportunity arises.

In his early days, he was regularly the target of ridicule. “You and your frog…”, we often said. The discourse has changed, he notes. People are more aware of the protection of natural environments.

Twenty-eight years later, ironically, it was Massimo Iezzoni who spearheaded the CMM’s draft interim control regulations, which were adopted on April 28. “I didn’t see him often, but when I ran into him, he would tell me laughingly that I was damned tiring,” remembers Tommy Montpetit.

“He has all my respect. I admire what he has done, says MWC CEO. He is a very inspiring person. And if there was a hall of fame for the protection of tree frogs, he would be the first to be admitted! »