Clean up the G&R dump on Mohawk Land!

 

When it comes to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, our federal government must translate more of its words into action. Today, we are calling its attention to a clear manifestation of environmental racism and injustice in the Mohawk community of Kanehstatà:ke, just an hour’s drive from Montreal.

For years, the community has lived next to an illegal and largely unregulated waste disposal site containing vast amounts of unfiltered industrial refuse and resulting toxins that threaten the health of locals and the surrounding environment.

 

Will you join us in calling on PM Justin Trudeau’s government to take urgent action?

 

The Indigenous community of Kanehsatà:ke is the second smallest in Québec. And yet construction waste from Montréal, one of the largest cities in Canada, accumulates there without the government stopping the process. Kanehsatà:ke has suffered immensely since being besieged in 1990 during the “Oka crisis”. It is time for healing, and this requires restoring the Land. Only the Federal Government has the resources to deliver on this. 

Today, some one hundred and sixty swimming pools of unidentified waste sit in the community of Kanehsatà:ke (see photos below), with little protection for those who live among them. This is a grave risk to the adjacent environment, water, and public health! 

In the last parliament, a bill had been considered to redress environmental racism, Bill C-230. We are joining other NGOs and Land Defenders in calling for the government to reinstate this bill. We are further calling on the government to immediately decontaminate the site! 

 

Here at PHM Canada, we have signed onto a joint NGO solidarity letter with groups from across Canada and which can be viewed here. You can join us in our efforts by signing the petition here.

#EnvironmentalRacism #CANpoli