Photo: Photo by Shirley Nadeau

A glass of clean, clear water is raised in a toast to the Municipality of Shannon for all their efforts over the past many years to get compensation from the federal government (Department of National Defence) to make up for decades of TCE contamination in the community's water supply.

After years of fact-finding, expert analysis, interviews with people affected by TCE-tainted water, and almost a year of federal court proceedings, it would be a huge understatement to say that the citizens of the Municipality of Shannon are "disappointed" with the recent decision handed down by Judge Bernard Godbout.

Marie-Paule Spieser, the representative of the Shannon citizens' class-action suit, said that the content of Judge Godbout's 128-page judgment sends residents a clear message - "There is no problem in Shannon. Keep quiet and stop [the class-action suit]."

In spite of the volumes documenting cases of cancer and other diseases affecting over 300 residents of the Shannon area (many others, such as military personnel, have moved away, and some have died), Judge Godbout deemed the data to be inconclusive. He explained that Spieser, President of the Shannon Citizens Group, had failed to prove that it was more than "possible" the defendants had contaminated the water table. He also stated that Spieser did not prove citizens "had suffered bodily, moral or material damage." After reviewing the vast numbers of documents provided by both sides in the case, Godbout declared that there was "no epidemiological proof of an abnormal number" of cases of cancer in Shannon.

In rendering his decision, Godbout reduced the number of persons who would receive damages for "problems in the neighbourhood" to only those who were living in a small area called the "red triangle" zone for a relatively brief time period: from December 21, 2000, to December 31, 2001.

This group of residents would each be granted a maximum of $12,000 for that one year plus $3,000 if one or more children lived in the house, to a maximum of $15,000 per household. Godbout also awarded the sum of $1.6 million to the Shannon Citizens Group in reimbursement of the fees paid out for investigative experts involved in the case.
The judge refused all claims for punitive damages and an injunction obliging the Department of National Defence to decontaminate the water table.

Having invested so much time and energy in the case, the members of the Shannon Citizens Group were shocked to hear the judge's decision. For her part, Spieser also found it hard to accept the decision that people living outside the "red triangle" would not be among those who would receive financial compensation.

The source of the water contamination goes back some 75 years when SNC Technologies, a munitions factory near the Canadian Army Base Valcartier, used TCE (trichloroethylene) as an industrial solvent and simply buried or dumped the waste on their property. Over the years, this toxic chemical filtered down through the ground and polluted the water table, from which the residents of Shannon drew their drinking water from wells.

SNC closed its factory in 1991 and tried to control the spread of contaminants by installing a protective membrane in 1994. However, in 1995, contamination was detected outside the membrane. Two years passed before SNC advised the military base that their water was contaminated and they should find another water source. A study in 1998 recommended that the Minister of National Defence inform the villages of Valcartier and Shannon that the water was contaminated, but nothing was done.

In February 2001 the Ministry of the Environment announced that elevated levels of TCE had been detected in the drinking water of 31 residences in Shannon. In December 2003, Shannon undertook legal action to obtain a new source of clean water for the community, and launched a class-action suit against the Department of National Defence. It was not until September 2010 that Shannon Mayor Clive Kiley was able to open the new potable water supply facility paid for by the Federal government and connecting 70% of the residences to a clean-water supply.

After hearing Judge Godbout's decision, NDP Member of Parliament for Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier, Élaine Michaud, said she was deeply disappointed with the ruling. "Many homes, schools and daycare centres in Shannon were exposed for over forty years to water contaminated with TCE, a carcinogenic substance from the Valcartier military base, yet the government refuses to acknowledge Canada's responsibility in this matter. It is sad."