Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Opinions of participants
regarding its facilities and operations. Several residents from Lévis east and Beaumont
have experienced intense emotions since the project was announced. One participant
evoked the range of emotions undergone by some participants:
[…] these difficult emotions [anger, fear, sadness] are all stirred up in their various
forms of expression: frustration, sorrow, deception, concern, anxiety and dread.
Sometimes, the situation will give reason to hope, said hope then often being
crushed by other elements. Rabaska is a powerful trigger of emotions that are
painful, repetitive and hard to manage, because it threatens people’s personal
space and their deepest values.
(Ms. Pierrette Bélanger, DM302, p. 36)
Some “people have become fragile and their concern is very evident” (Ms. Louise
Maranda, DM596, p. 7). In this respect, the Agences de la santé et des services
sociaux de Chaudière-Appalaches et de la Capitale-Nationale stated that people who
live closer to the project’s planned site have different psychosocial experiences than
others. These individuals reported higher stress levels, as well as a greater degree of
tension in their family, social or work relationships (DM602, p. 69).
Some compared the succession of events experienced since the project was
announced, close to three years ago, to an aggression (Ms. Fabienne Gagné,
DM376, p. 3). A doctor who was a participant elaborated a list of symptoms observed
in the community:
The aggression is present, and the list of symptoms which stems from it is long:
fear, insecurity, concern, a feeling of injustice and social inequity, anxiety,
distress, demoralization, hypochondria, sleep problems, various physical
ailments, denial, defeatism, frustration, discouragement, anger, exasperation,
distrust, feeling abandoned / betrayed or facing hypocrisy. All of the population
within the target area has been affected at various levels, in accordance with
each individual’s defence mechanisms.
(Mr. Jacques Levasseur, DM460, p. 8)
According to this participant, “it is obvious that financial compensation, the usual
panacea of proponents, will not remedy this established fact” (ibid.). Another added
that “our quality of life and health are priceless” (Mr. Marco Fortin, DM593, p. 1). One
participant asked: “by what right do they have the ability to expropriate people against
their will, or to buy them out by using the power of money?” (Mr. Rock Turcotte,
DM445, p. 1).
Several residents living close by described how they felt torn between choosing to sell
their residence or living with the disruptions linked to the projects and with the
insecurity stemming from the fear of experiencing a major accident. One participant
typified the dilemma that many of the area’s residents were grappling with: “let’s just
Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure 57