Kanesatake calling on feds to help decontaminate toxic dump site

Leaders and community members in the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) of Kanesatake are demanding help in decontaminating a dump site that could affect water quality in one of Quebec's most popular lakes.

Leaders and community members in the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) of Kanesatake are demanding help in decontaminating a dump site that could affect water quality in one of Quebec's most popular lakes.

Mohawk Council of Kanestake Grand Chief Victor Bonspille said he is in contact with Canada and his community's environmental protection office to find a solution to toxic water leaking off a now-closed recycling operation in the community west of Montreal.

"A solution to the G&R (Recycling) site will be imminent," said Bonspille.

One of the owners of the operation said a water treatment plant will ready for testing soon to clean up the runoff. He added that the situation is not as dire as recent reports suggest.

"I have done water testing to see how contaminated the water is and we are at the very low end of the spectrum," said co-owner Robert Gabriel.

Brothers Robert and Gary Gabriel began operating G&R Recycling in late 2011 on Ahsennenhson (Centre) Road in the middle of a residential area in Kanesatake. Former grand chief and current council chief Serge Otsi Simon said community members quickly began complaining about the traffic, and his council worked to close the site down.

"We saw well over a year, hundreds and hundreds of trucks dumping we don't know what, within that little residential area," said Simon, who was grand chief at the time. "They're coming from various construction sites around Montreal, Laval, you name it."