A group of residents in Oka, Que., is preparing to take matters into its own hands, if authorities refuse to do more to stop the illegal dumping of potentially contaminated soil in and around the neighbouring First Nations community of Kanesatake, northwest of Montreal.
“That (problem) is just going bigger and bigger and it’s getting out of control,” explains Julie Tremblay-Cloutier, spokesperson for the community group ReconciliAction Kanesatake/Oka.
“Just a month ago we had drum barrels that were dumped on a farmer’s land in Kanesatake during the night, and it was full of toxic waste.”
They believe governments aren’t doing enough, so out of frustration Sunday they received coaching on how to use non-violent methods to stop the trucks dumping the waste.
Michel Gélinas who lives in Oka said there’s been dumping for years at multiple sites.
“The quantities are enormous,” he told Global News. “There’s no two ways about it, and there are other communities around Montreal that might also be affected.”
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Residents fear an environmental disaster.
Sunday’s training was meant to put pressure on Quebec’s public security minister François Bonnardel to do something.
Tremblay-Cloutier explained, “Those trucks actually carry materials from construction sites and don’t go through Traces Quebec, which is a program that was put into place to control the materials coming from the construction sites.”
The common argument made among the residents and their supporters is that there’s a feeling of impunity which has led to the illegal dumping. There is no police service in Kanesatake and the provincial police have been criticized for not patrolling the territory enough.
In the past, members of the Mohawk community have been reluctant to speak publicly about the problem of dumping for fear of reprisals. There was nobody from the community at Sunday’s training and Mohawk leadership has said the community feels abandoned by the government.
“The community is hostage to the problem because there is nobody to protect them,” Tremblay-Cloutier said.
Kanesatake Grand Chief Victor Bonspeille said he supports any peaceful protest of the dumping that brings awareness to the issue.
The Quebec government says it is acting. Last week officials were on-site collecting soil samples from trucks heading to Kanesatake. The week before that, inspectors examined the shores around Lake of Two Mountains where trucks dumped what was possibly contaminated soil.
But people at Sunday’s training say they want something more robust, and until that happens they want to be prepared.
“We don’t want to put people in harm’s way,” stressed trainer Philippe Duhamel, “but people are now ready to take the action that our own government has not been taking diligently.”
Oka residents just hope it doesn’t come to that.
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