We will know in a few weeks if the Superior Court of Quebec approves the draft agreement reached out of court between the group of citizens of the Saint-Georges district in Baie-Comeau and the Alcoa aluminum smelter.
If the agreement is accepted, Alcoa will pay $ 13 million to residents.
The Citizens Association of the Saint-Georges district of Baie-Comeau and Alcoa appeared at the Baie-Comeau courthouse on Monday.
Both parties want an agreement providing for Alcoa’s total payment of $ 13 million to area residents to be approved by Quebec’s Superior Court.
Lawyers for both parties made their representations before Judge Carl Lachance of the Superior Court of Quebec this morning.
The agreement was reached in the spring between the two parties, culminating in a class action lawsuit launched more than 16 years ago.
The class action was led by a group of citizens whose dwellings may have been contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from aluminum smelters or disturbed by dust residues for decades.
In 2003, Alcoa had to restore the floors of 130 properties. However, expert reports later revealed that the PAHs was contaminated by other property.
Still in court
A dozen neighborhood residents attended the performances.
It’s well made, it’s reasonably well made, advance Albert Mireault, a current resident of the district who was present at the courthouse on Monday. Nice presentation.
If the agreement is accepted, $ 13 million will be divided among residents and former residents according to a points system.
In the regulations, the Saint-Georges district is divided into five parts, according to the wind direction in particular, or according to the results of studies conducted to analyze the condition of the soil or air in the houses. , among others.
The amounts that residents can receive will vary according to these points, but also according to the number of residents claiming.
Residents will have approximately six months to make their claim. Work will be done to try to find as many residents as possible.
The lawyer representing the group, Me Catherine Sylvestre explains that publicity work will be carried out, in particular door to door or sending emails to reach as many members as possible.
I think it’s hard to have an accurate number because it’s estimated there are approximately 1,600 elderly residents in the Saint-Georges district right now, he says. But the recourse takes more than twenty years, so we’re starting in 2002, so there’s definitely some turnover in the population. So it is very difficult to evaluate the number of people who may have been affected by the situation as a whole.
Alcoa still pleads to be innocent
The lawyer representing Alcoa Eleni Yiannakis, however wanted to remind the judge that the company is said to have complied with all the rules and that it has not committed any sineven if it agrees to pay the amount to the persons concerned.
Me Yiannakis declined to comment on the case.
His decision remains with the judge. No date has yet been set for delivery of the decision.
With information from Zoe Bellehumeur
Source: Radio-Canada
