Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Opinions of participants
use our common sense, and imagine for 10 minutes that Rabaska would be built next
to your home – what would you say then? […] It’s easy to answer – move! And go
where? We have been living on our farm for three generations, and eventually for
four” (Ms. Edna Cantin, DM38, p. 1). The possibility of moving has made several
residents feel insecure since the announcement of the Rabaska project (Ms. Louise
Latulippe, DM196, p. 6; Mr. Jean-Guy Allard, DM24, p. 3). Some participants shared
their experiences in this respect:
For about the past two years a dark cloud has hung over our heads. […] When
the possibility of this project was first announced, I felt like someone had just
taken 28 years of our life and brushed us away from our wonderful life
environment like a speck of dust. The feeling that inhabited us at that time could
be characterized as a “state of shock”. Even today we feel this latent cloud
hanging over our heads.
(Mses. Louise Cazelais Côté and Stéphanie Côté, and Mr. Réal Côté, DM177, p. 1)
Moreover, some participants saw the possible relocations as an involuntary uprooting
of their community: “should the project get the green light, we would have no
alternative but to move, thereby losing our dreams and our roots […] This would entail
changing our living environment, losing our view of the river, our great open spaces,
and for our children, changing schools and losing their friends” (Ms. Guylaine
Bélanger and Mr. Roberto Caron, DM360, p. 2). Another added: “the compensation
policy is more akin to an invitation to leave the area, if not an outright deportation
order” (Mr. Roger Lambert, DM555, p. 1). In this respect, the GIRAM was of the
opinion that, “regardless of the number of years that a person has lived on the land,
they feel just as torn, just as uprooted, and experience the same stress that everyone
in this population will experience” (DM461, p. 59). One participant compared this
situation to the one surrounding the construction of Mirabel Airport in the 1970s,
where “the local population, forced to sell lands and homes, some of which were
family farms, felt torn and uprooted from the living environment, which resulted in
significant difficulties on personal, family, social and professional levels” (Ms. Louise
Latulippe, DM196, p. 6). In the case in point, this participant feared that similar
problems will be caused by these relocations.
From a collective point of view, some participants believed that the time lapsed
between the project’s announcement and the importance of the social split has led to
a deterioration in the local community spirit. According to one participant, “some
opposing views have resulted in interpersonal family and social conflicts, and continue
to fuel major tensions within municipalities, between municipal councils and citizen
groups, and within communities themselves” (Ms. Pierrette Bélanger, DM302, p. 38).
From the standpoint of the Agences de la santé et des services sociaux de
Chaudière-Appalaches et de la Capitale-Nationale, “positions which hardened into
‘winners’ and ‘losers’ will result in harmful consequences, which are often greater than
58 Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure