Chateauguay fuel spill ignites lawsuit 

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) has launched a lawsuit against the City of Chateauguay over the fuel spill that happened in the city's industrial sector this February. 

The band council is seeking $500,000 in damages from the city, alleging its fire department was negligent and failed in its duty to manage and control the spread of the fuel from the spill, resulting in “significant fault” toward the community of Kahnawake.

“Nobody wants to go down this road. We want to have a good relationship with one another. However, we can’t be blind to the fact that the situation happened, and there were some failures,” MCK grand chief Cody Diabo said. “The whole situation has been really stressful on community members, and we can’t ignore that. This is a way to ensure justice, and that those who are responsible are held accountable.”

The notice of application against the city was filed in Quebec’s Superior Court in Beauharnois on Wednesday, July 31. 

The lawsuit alleges the city also failed in its responsibility to notify the Quebec government about the spill.

Its fire department was alerted on February 1 about an oil spill at 2325 Ford Boulevard, less than 250 metres from waterways on Kahnawake’s territory, after it was discovered then an aging tanker truck there had begun leaking. That didn’t prompt the fire department to contact Quebec, however, the notice of application notes. 

As a result, it was only by February 11 that the MCK contacted Quebec’s environmental emergency response team and its environmental ministry to signal an urgent clean-up was needed at the spill site.

It also alerted the federal government’s environmental ministry about the pollution on its territory at this time too. 

Those calls for help came in response to the discovery of diesel fuel in a ditch and creek by a home on Zachary Road on February 9. A preliminary inspection by workers with the Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO) then found the homeowner there wasn’t responsible for the spill.

Workers also traced a path of fuel back to the spill site in Chateauguay’s industrial sector bordering Kahnawake, the notice of application notes. 

“Why weren't we notified on February 1 when it happened?” Diabo asked. “There were no calls to Kahnawake, no calls to Environment Quebec, no calls to Environment Canada. Everything that they were supposed to be doing, they didn’t.”

Over $530,000 has been spent since February on the cleanup and decontamination work needed in the community as a result, Diabo told The Eastern Door. Those costs cover pump trucks that had to be brought in to suction up fuel, the construction of large containment dams constructed in the Suzanne River to halt the spread of fuel, as well as the laying of hundreds of sandbags in Kahnawake’s waterways. Numerous consultants were also hired.  

The $500,000 in damages sought from the city seeks to reimburse those costs. 

“There was work that we had to do because of somebody else’s mistakes and decisions,” Diabo said.

A family living on Zachary Road also had to be relocated because of the pollution and was only able to return to their home as of this June, he said. 

The City of Chateauguay declined to comment on the lawsuit, with a spokesperson saying the city still needs time to analyze and respond to all the allegations made against them. 

“The city will issue its comments once this analysis is complete,” Eric Laparé told The Eastern Door.

Though the MCK has long maintained the spill in the industrial area of Chateauguay is to blame, Quebec’s environmental ministry has said otherwise. In prior comments to The Eastern Door, it described the pollution found in Chateauguay and Kahnawake in February as “two distinct situations” that are not linked. 

“We were able to track from the spill in Chateauguay up till about a kilometre or so into our territory, right where there’s a beaver dam,” Diabo said in response. “That’s clear without a doubt that that’s as a result of the spill in Chateauguay.”

The MCK grand chief said there’s a possibility more defendants could be added to the lawsuit, but couldn’t confirm if those parties could include the owners of the company involved in the spill – La Pétrolière N&R Sol Inc – or the Quebec and Canadian governments.

He said a meeting will also be scheduled soon so community members can learn more about the lawsuit and share their ideas on how to best move forward.

“Now that we’ve filed, we have three years to discuss this further, to see whether or not we want to pull it or keep it going. That’s still up to the community at this point,” Diabo said.

The provincial and federal government have already promised to cover a portion of the cleanup costs, he said, but those discussions are still ongoing. The MCK has also approached the company involved to demand it foot a portion of those costs, Diabo said.

The band council has turned to the law firm Gowlings WLG to represent them. MCK executive director Onerahtohka Marquis said they were selected for their expertise in environmental litigation as well as their experience representing Indigenous communities. 

The council of chiefs will be meeting soon to talk about the lawsuit and iron out what’s to come next, she said.

“We need to have a complete briefing on the fuel file with the new council so they’re completely aware of what transpired,” Marquis said. “Then I’m going to seek direction from the council in terms of how they want to proceed, given where we are now.”

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This article was originally published in print on August 9 in issue 33.32 of The Eastern Door.