Horne Foundry: City wants to halt Glencore from buying back houses

City to help Rouyn-Noranda residents relocate The city and public health department said they would help residents relocate their homes in Rouyn-Noranda due to air contamination.

Faced with several concerns of Rouyn-Noranda citizens who must be relocated due to air contamination, the city wishes to temporarily suspend the process of buying back homes by Glencore, but the multinational will continue to negotiate with those who wish to leave the area quickly.

The announcement of the relocation of 200 families living near the Horne smelter caused a shockwave in the Notre-Dame district two weeks ago and the authorities were keen to reassure citizens on Wednesday at a press conference.

"I want to call for calm today and remind people that we are in the early stages of this vast operation," said Noranda Ward Councillor Réal Beauchamp.

The city is well aware of the concerns of citizens, "but as of today, we do not have the answers to all the questions," said Deputy Mayor Samuelle Ramsay-Houle.

A few moments before the press conference, Nicole Desgagnés, spokesperson for the citizen's committee "Stop Toxic Discharges and Emissions," summarized the questions that citizens of the Notre-Dame district are asking: Where will I go? What are my rights? Am I better off selling right away, or am I better off waiting? If I'm a tenant, where will I end up if my landlord sells? If I stay, what will happen? Am I going to be left alone in a half-empty neighbourhood?

GLENCORE NEGOTIATES TO BUY HOMES

Last month, the Quebec government announced that it would pay $58 million to create new homes for the 200 families living in the Notre Dame area who are exposed to arsenic emissions from the Horne smelter.

Glencore, which owns the smelter, has already begun negotiating the purchase of buildings, at its own expense and by mutual agreement.

"We will continue to respond to owners who contact us" and "the buyout process continues as is," a Glencore spokeswoman said in an exchange with The Canadian Press Wednesday.

Cindy Caouette said that "since the announcement, no promises to purchase have been made."

The city administration wants the process of buying back the homes to be "known and transparent" and "that compensation measures are better defined and that all owners and tenants are well aware of their rights before this important step."

This is stated in a document released Wednesday by the City, which also states that "people who have contacted the Foundry or their representative have been asked to wait for the full package to be presented. However, the city administration says it is "sensitive to the fact that some people cannot wait for personal reasons and therefore the private treaty process will continue at their request."

Temporarily suspending the buyout process to give citizens time to understand the legal issues and to make arrangements to move was one of the requests of the Stop Toxic Emissions group.

"They are playing catch-up, they didn't realize the extent of the problem," said spokesperson Nicole Desgagnés after the press conference.

CITIZENS MOBILIZING

While the city is putting in place a team to assist citizens in the relocation process, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing will soon begin an "information gathering exercise" with citizens affected by the relocation in order to determine their housing and accommodation needs.

"Each of them will be contacted personally by the ministry," according to a press release issued by the City of Rouyn-Noranda.

In the meantime, citizens' groups have decided to organize information meetings.

"It doesn't make sense to leave people in the dark like this," said Desgagnés, "so we organized a meeting on Thursday evening to give legal information to concerned citizens, both tenants and landlords."

She explained that a lawyer will participate in this citizens' meeting, but there will also be testimonies from former residents of Malartic, a town located 70 kilometres east of Rouyn-Noranda.

About 10 years ago, some 200 homes in Malartic, Que. were moved to make way for the largest open-pit gold mine in Canada.

At the time, some citizens refused to leave their neighbourhood. The last resister, Ken Massé, was forcibly removed from his home by police in August 2010.

Asked how authorities would react if citizens of the Notre-Dame district refused to leave the "buffer zone" that will be created between downtown and the Horne Foundry after the demolition of the residences, City Councillor Réal Beauchamp responded: "It's a long and complex file and I think we'll have all the arguments to make sure that the offer we're going to present to them is interesting and good, if we have to talk for a year, two years, three years, then we'll talk for a year, two years, three years."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 5, 2023.