Action Alert: Demand the government decontaminate dump on Mohawk Land

JANUARY 24, 2022 – After a 2019 visit to Canada, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Toxics reported:

“There exists a pattern in Canada where marginalized groups, and Indigenous people in particular, find themselves on the wrong side of a toxic divide, subject to conditions that would not be acceptable elsewhere in Canada.”

Unfortunately, in 2022 environmental racism still persists in Canada. A stark example of this environmental divide comes in the form of the G&R Recycling Facility, located on Mohawk land in Kanehsatà:ke, Québec. The dump contains enough industrial and toxic waste to fill 160 Olympic pools. This waste is stored there without the proper precautions, or even an appropriate permit. 

A federal investigation recognized the danger to the health of local residents but neither the federal or provincial government has taken action to protect the people and environment in the area. 

You can help urge the federal government to take immediate action to clean up and decontaminate the dump site, as well as commit to a national policy to address environmental racism. 

For more information about the campaign, check out ReconciliAction – a group of settler activists working closely with Mohawk Land Defenders to draw attention to the issue and push for change.