Writings | Sad face | The Press

Pierre Céré recounts the history of the Horne Foundry and delivers a vibrant plea in defense of the health of the population of Rouyn-Noranda.

In the summer of 2022, the Horne Foundry took center stage in the news. It is as if Quebec suddenly discovered the existence of this copper-producing smelter at the heart of the economic life of Rouyn-Noranda.

Thanks to the work of citizens on the ground and journalistic investigations, the details of the agreements between the multinational Glencore and the government of Quebec were revealed. The general public discovered with horror that a foreign company had a kind of free pass to pollute to the detriment of the health of the local population and the environment. A situation that has lasted for decades and is well known to people in the region.

A year has passed and we hardly talk about the Horne Foundry, which is also the largest electronic waste recovery center in North America. Yet despite the many alarm bells ringing, little has changed.

To take a step back and better understand what is at stake in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, you need to read Pierre Céré’s book.

The name may ring a bell: coordinator of the Montreal Unemployment Committee for more than 20 years, spokesperson for the National Council of the Unemployed, he ran in the race for leadership of the Parti Québécois in 2015 against Pierre Karl Péladeau. Céré is a committed left-wing man who has devoted his life to defending the interests of workers and the most deprived.

He is not a historian, but he interviewed historians to write his book. He is not an air quality specialist, but he met some to better understand the issues. His book is based on around thirty interviews.

There is something very personal in his approach since he is also a child of the region. His maternal grandparents settled there in the mid-1920s. His father worked at “La Noranda”. Céré himself was born, raised and studied in Rouyn-Noranda. He knows this mine intimately, the region’s dependence on it, and the heartbreak it causes within the community.

In his book, he describes this “gold rush” which here turns out to be a copper rush, the only reason why families made the sacrifice of settling in this harsh and rocky corner of the country. 100 years ago. Céré also reminds us what the company towns, these cities built around a single industry with the result that the community develops under the yoke of an omnipotent company which goes so far as to appoint the mayors of the city and pay its employees to demonstrate against any intention of government reform. A company that also owns the infrastructure that supplies the city with water…

This relationship of interdependence partly explains the current situation. But there are other reasons: the lack of transparency of the mine owners over the decades, the lack of courage of governments too. And the fact that knowledge about environmental impacts was not what it is today.

Pierre Céré describes the orange mud of his childhood, the lake too polluted for swimming, the nauseating smoke as a daily inevitability. No one suspected at the time that it could also make you sick.

Until 1980, when a study carried out by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York revealed the impacts of the mine on the health of workers. That was 40 years ago and so little has changed since then.

Pierre Céré’s book is shot through with indignation. With reason.

Even if the numerous journalistic reports in 2022 have alerted the population, the government has adopted very modest measures to limit the impacts of toxic discharges on the health of the local population. And the Quebec solidaire MP Émilise Lessard-Therrien lost her seat for having led the citizen struggle of those who asked Glencore to take its responsibilities. And pay the bill.

We cannot accuse Pierre Céré of being in bad faith, his book is based on facts. He’s damn convincing. And revolting.

Journey to the end of the mine – The Horne Foundry scandal

Pierre Céré

Ecosociety

276 pages