Environmental Groups Intervene on Behalf of Barrette Class Action in Supreme Court

Wash Me! Cement dust coats a computer Neighbors of the St. Lawrence Cement company in Barrette, Quebec had long but up with noise, dust, odors, and cement residue showing up in homes, land, and cars. Cement dust also found its way into people’s lungs in the form of crystalline silica, tiny shards of quartz and other glass-like minerals that tear at the lining of the lung, forming scar tissue and diminishing the ability of the lung to absorb oxygen.

Finally, the citizens of Barrette decided to do something about it.

Filing a class action suit in Quebec Superior court, the neighbors won their lawsuit with a $15 million judgement.

Then the Quebec Court of Appeal reversed that desicion deciding that “nuisance claims” couldn’t be brought as a class action proceeding, reserving that right to property owners only, and not tenants or the spouses and children of owners, though despite this finding, the appellate court said St. Lawrence Cement was nonetheless at fault.

St. Lawrence Cement then took the case to the Supreme Court asserting that it has always met regulatory emissions standards.

The case marks the first environmental class action suit brought before the Canadian Supreme Court. Pro bono representation from Ecojustice and Lauzon Bélanger, and the Quebec Environmental Law Centre and Friends of the Earth Canada have intervened in the supreme court hearing citing concern over the appellate court’s decision that such a case could not be brought as a class action suit.

Attorney Will Amos, the Ecojustice lawyer who argued the case, said that "by limiting the availability of the class action procedure in environmental nuisance cases, an important environmental protection tool for ordinary Canadians was undermined."

A decion from the supreme court is pending.

Source and Further Reading:
Montreal Gazzette
Environmental News Service