Outrage and concern regarding decision to dump untreated sewage

11/10/2015

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) is reacting with a mixture of outrage and concern regarding the announcement today that Environment Canada has approved the City of Montreal’s plan to dump billions of liters of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River.

“We are outraged that those who should have taken care of this issue during the past several years have allowed the situation to deteriorate to this point,” said Environment Portfolio Chief Clinton Phillips. “It’s beyond unacceptable.”

“Our technical team has spent countless hours on an issue that should have been addressed by others years ago,” added Chief Phillips. “The sad fact of the matter is that there is no ‘win-win’ solution for this. We have met with the independent panel of experts that prepared the final report, we have met with all sectors of the government and I have even spoken personally to the new Minister of the Environment, Catherine McKenna on the weekend in an effort to find a solution that would be acceptable to us.”

“What we will see in this plan is an assault on Mother Earth,” he said. “Unfortunately, if these measures aren’t taken soon, the catastrophe would almost certainly be far greater, so everyone is stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Environment Canada’s decision was reached after studying its commissioned report and recommendations by a group of independent experts.

“The lack of consultation, especially at the front end of this crisis, is completely unacceptable,” concluded Chief Phillips. “The MCK only became aware of the situation when informed by the media. We made certain our voices were heard these past few weeks because we want to be part of the solution. We cannot and will not sit idly by.”