A five-year delay in access to environmental information

OPEN LETTER

This week marks five years since the reform of the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) came into force. Despite repeated requests in recent years, we are still awaiting the entry into force of a public register by the government, essential for preserving the environment and guaranteeing the rights of the population.

The LQE, the main environmental protection law in Quebec, was reformed in 2018, to, among other things, improve access to information. Among the articles added is article 118.5, which provides for the creation of a public register where we can see with a simple click the ins and outs of projects authorized or awaiting authorization. The addition of this register to the law is a major step forward in terms of access to information for the population. However, five years later, this register has still not seen the light of day.

A register, an essential transparency tool

Access to environmental information is essential to enable the population to ensure respect for their right to a healthy environment. The law provides that everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment. The law also provides that it is possible to infringe on this right by authorizing projects and activities that will have an impact on the environment.

Without knowing the contaminants that are emitted into the environment or the nature and location of the activities that have an impact on their environment, it is much more complex to ensure respect for this right. Without a register, it is difficult, if not impossible, to know whether activities are actually carried out within legal and regulatory limits.

Ask the government to get involved!

A register, a beneficial administrative solution

Making information accessible more easily and quickly also reduces administrative burden. Currently, to obtain this information, even public information, it is necessary to submit a request for access to information. This request is processed by the Ministry of the Environment, but it struggles to respond within the allotted time frame.

In short, the establishment of the register would not only be excellent news for the protection of the environment and the protection of the rights of the population, but would also be an avenue to resolve certain administrative problems. A win-win situation that should soon be put in place.

This is why we are today demanding that the government commit, within the next thirty days, to implementing this long-awaited essential register in 2023. Our rights to a healthy environment and access to information depend on it.

Signatories

Caroline Poussier, interim general director of the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE)
Colleen Thorpe, Executive Director, Équiterre
Laurence Guénette, coordinator and spokesperson, League of Rights and Freedoms
Michaël Nguyen, president, Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec
Sabaa Khan, lawyer, executive director, David Suzuki Foundation (Quebec)
Denis Bolduc, general secretary, Quebec Federation of Workers
Chantal Levert, general coordinator, Quebec Network of Environmental Groups
Cyril Frazao, interim general director, Nature Québec
Alain Branchaud, general director, SNAP Quebec
Anne Dionne, second vice-president, Centrale des syndicats du Québec
Laure Waridel, eco-sociologist Ph. D., co-instigator of Mères au front
Sylvain Gaudreault, former Member of Parliament for Jonquière (2007-2022)
André Bélanger, general manager, Fondation Rivières
Dr. Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, president, Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment
Martin Vaillancourt, Director General, National Regroupment of Regional Environmental Councils of Quebec
Thibault Rehn, coordinator, Vigilance OGM
Élisabeth Patterson, lawyer, Dionne Schulze senc
Alison Munson, full professor, Forest ecology, Université Laval
Jean Baril, associate professor, Department of Legal Sciences, UQAM
Jean-François Girard, lawyer and biologist
Elodie Morandini, Director General, Laval Regional Environmental Council
Louise Vandelac, Ph. D. full professor Department of Sociology and Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM. Director of VertigO and CREPPA
Rébecca Pétrin, general director, Eau Secours
Robert Godin, retired lawyer
Karel Ménard, Director General, Quebec Common Front for Ecological Waste Management
Catherine Choquette, biologist and full professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke, director of the SAGE research group
Henri Jacob, activist environmentalist, president of Action boréale.
Anne-Sophie Hulin, professor of law, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke and holder of the Chair Social Justice and Artificial Intelligence
Stéphanie Roy, professor of law, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke
Patrick Forget, professor of law, UQAM
Sébastien Brodeur-Girard, professor at the School of Indigenous Studies, UQAT
Isabelle Miron, professor, Department of Literary Studies, UQAM
Daria Hobeika, lawyer
Marie-Ève Maillé, lecturer, UQAM and University of Sherbrooke
Paule Halley, lawyer
Jean-Philippe Waaub, full professor, Department of Geography, UQAM
Mario Denis, retired forensic lawyer
Hugo Tremblay, professor of law, University of Montreal
Marie Saint-Arnaud, associate professor, Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM
Bonnie Campbell, professor emeritus, faculty of political science and law, UQAM
Lucie Sauvé, professor emeritus — FSE, UQAM, Scientific collective on energy issues in Quebec
Priscilla Gareau, biologist and Ph. D. Env., general director, Ambioterra Group
Marc-Antoine Racicot, lawyer and doctoral student in law, Laval University
Bruce Broomhall, professor of law, Department of Legal Sciences, UQAM
André-Yanne Parent, Executive Director, Climate Reality Project Canada
Didier Jadotte Dumerlin, president, PlantAction Movement
Christopher Campbell-Duruflé, Assistant Professor, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University
Paul Casavant, president, TerraVie
Sebastian Weissenberger, Scientific collective on energy issues in Quebec, TELUQ University
Gaële Gidrol-Mistral, professor, Department of Legal Sciences, UQAM
Véronique Fortin, professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke
Anne-Julie Asselin, lawyer, Trudel Johnston Lspérance
Julie Perreault, general director, CCCPEM
Dominic Champagne, agitator
Carole Dupuis, spokesperson, UNEplanète eco-citizen movement
Jacques Boucher, law professor, secretary general and retired dean of the University of Montreal
Julien Beaulieu, lecturer in law, University of Sherbrooke
Rodrigue Turgeon, lawyer, co-spokesperson for the Coalition Québec Meilleur Mine
Geneviève Tremblay-Racette, coordinator, Round table of voluntary organizations in popular education in Outaouais (TROVEPO)
Sarah-Katherine Lutz, Executive Director, ENvironnement JEUnesse
Dominique Leydet, full professor, Department of Philosophy, UQAM
Michel Bélanger, lecturer, master's degree in Environmental Science, UQAM
Stéphane Bernard, professor of geography, UQAM
Claire Croteau, professor of speech therapy, University of Montreal
Éric Ferland, general director, Foire ECOSPHERE
Marc Brullemans, Climate Mobilization Trois-Rivières
Nathalie Lewis, full professor, environmental sociologist, UQAR
Geneviève Brisson, scientific director of the Territorial Development Research Center — CRDT, full professor, lawyer and environmental anthropologist, UQAR
Isabel Orellana, director, Center for research in education and training relating to the environment and eco-citizenship, UQAM
Eric Notebaert, vice-president, Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment
Rachad Antonius, retired full professor, Department of Sociology, UQAM
Lise Parent, full professor, Environmental Sciences, TELUQ University
François Brochu, notary
Colette Provost, president, Friends of Lac-d’Argent
Bernard Mathieu, member, Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment
Patricia Clermont, coordinator, Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment
Martin Poirier, co-spokesperson, NO to an oil spill in the St. Lawrence
Benoit St-Hilaire, member, Prosperity without Oil
Christian Daigle, general president, Quebec Public and Parapublic Service Union
David Coulombe, president, Horizon-Nature Bas-Saint-Laurent