Council to oversee remediation of golf course

At a meeting hosted last week by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), management at the Kanawaki Golf Club admitted to mishandling old cement pipes laced with asbestos after they were discovered by their staff, Council chiefs who attended told The Eastern Door.

“From what they were telling us, the materials they found were disposed of in the general refuse from the club,” said David Diabo, the lead on lands for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK), who attended the virtual meeting as an observer.

“It's a designated substance, so it's supposed to be managed on its own, bagged on its own. It's got to have its own program: How you dig it up, how you bag it, how you tag it, how you number it. The contractor they hired should have done that according to Quebec regulations, but apparently didn't.” 

The federal government took to organizing the meeting after the Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO) reached out in October about an old water irrigation system underground there that dates back decades and is no longer in use. Workers with the office were shown the pipes by employees at the golf course back then after having shown up for routine water testing. 

The reason ISC in particular is involved is because it holds the lease on the land.

Manager Steven Pert and superintendent Sean Horne were among the leadership at Kanawaki that attended the meeting. The Eastern Door reached out to Pert about the meeting, but he declined to speak on behalf of the golf course. 

According to Diabo, management at the golf course confirmed the cement pipes containing asbestos were discovered sometime over the spring and summer as digging was being carried out to add a new drainage system on the grounds. They maintained however that at the time, they were unaware what had been found contained asbestos, Diabo said.

“They discovered all this stuff and just pulled it out and disposed of it, without any proper precautions, just dumping it into bins that they had,” he said. 

“This is, I guess what they're assuming happened, because they're saying they didn't know it was there. And I guess the contractor didn't recognize what it was, so it was just thrown out with the regular construction garbage.”

Workers at the golf course The Eastern Door spoke to couldn’t confirm if this is in fact what happened. The same workers were however responsible for moving and reburying soil containing segments of the broken-up cement pipes in at least three different areas on the golf course, as was previously reported earlier this month.  

The employees spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they didn’t want their names in the press out of fear they could be fired.

The burial of the cement pipes was also something that came up at the meeting, confirmed Ross Montour, the MCK’s lead on environment. According to him, Pert claimed he had only found out about this recently. 

“What he said was that he didn’t know at that time. He said he’s not involved in that kind of aspect,” Montour said. “How do you operate a golf course and not know what’s going on?”

That statement from Pert seems to contradict what he previously told The Eastern Door earlier this month: that no soil containing segments of the cement pipes was ever moved and buried over with new soil, despite what workers say.  

“Whatever the case was, they weren’t handled properly,” Montour said. 

More meetings are expected to be held between the golf course and federal government to iron out what to do next about the situation, Diabo said, meetings the MCK intends to continue observing alongside its environment office. 

“It's now incumbent on Indigenous Services, as per the agreement with the golf club, to ensure that any contamination is removed,” he said. 

Also top of mind for both Council chiefs are the workers. It’s not yet certain how many in all could have been exposed to the hazardous material, known for causing asbestosis and mesothelioma. 

“What are they going to do for them going forward?” Diabo said. “What’s going to be the compensation for the workers going forward? Should they develop any of the diseases related to asbestos?”

The Eastern Door also sought comment from ISC for this story, but did not receive one by deadline. 

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