As Quebec promises action, residents demand an end to illegal dumping in Kanesatake [Video]

The Quebec government says it has an “action plan” to fight illegal dumping of contaminated soil in a Mohawk community west of Montreal, but residents of Kanesatake and the neighbouring town of Oka say they’ve yet to see the signs of a permanent fix.

Government officials are back in the area this week, alongside provincial police, to collect soil samples from trucks headed to Kanesatake. The move follows an operation last week to inspect sites and collect samples along the shores of the Lake of Two Mountains, where trucks have been dumping potentially contaminated soil from construction sites around Montreal.

Frédéric Fournier, a spokesperson for the Environment Department, says more inspections could be carried out in the future, and that “no recourse has been ruled out” of the government’s effort to reduce illegal dumping in Kanesatake.

A Mohawk community member using the pseudonym Pink, who requested anonymity because they feared reprisals for speaking out, says the government is …