Toxic Materials Continue to be Dumped in Kanehsatà:ke

Trucks continue to dump toxic material in Kanehsatà:ke and community members and residents in neighbouring Oka want it stopped. They say they are ready to set up roadblocks to prevent the hundreds of trucks from entering the community. The dumping has been going on for a long time. Mohawk Council of Kanehsatà:ke Chief Brant Etienne on possible solutions, saying that closing down the town to outsiders and installing a curfew are possibilities:

“If anything I think that’s probably more the kind of action that would have to be taken in our situation, because, you have to understand that the dumping is just a symptom of an overall problem. The main problem is people’s disregard for the social well-being of other people and it mainly has to do with cash and money, people willing to do anything for a buck. You have this problem with the dumping, land grabbing, with the cannabis and cannabis shops being set-up on community lands that are supposed to be used for everybody.”

Etienne saying it’s basically all about money over the care for others:

“It all ties into cash. Every single person that is engaged in these actions has made the choice that they don’t care about the well-being of anybody as long as they get paid.”

Etienne saying that over the last 30 years, contaminated soil, including concrete and construction materials, has been dumped at the former G&R Recycling site. For years, Quebec and Ottawa have been debating who is responsible for cleaning up the location.