It’s the 300th Saturday that residents from around Pointe-Claire have hit the corner of Fairview Avenue and Brunswick Boulevard to fight to protect Fairview Forest. “It is our lungs. It is our air conditioner. It protects us from the floods,” says protester Shaheen Ashraf. The roughly 50-acre area is home to trees, wetlands and wildlife, but it’s been threatened by development for years. While protests have helped to protect roughly 55 per cent of the area, members of the Save Fairview Forest group say the other 45 per cent remains at risk. “What we’re hoping to see is that the forest is protected in perpetuity,” the group’s president and spokesperson Genevieve Lussier says. Studies will help determine next steps She adds that she’s waiting to see what will come of two studies commissioned by the city of Pointe-Claire. “There’s one about ecosystem services that the forest offers, including other green spaces on the territory of Pointe-Claire. And the second is an ecological characterization study. So basically, what kind of species are included in the forest,” she explains. According to Lussier, both studies are expected to conclude soon. She hopes that the new data will provide the scientific backing the city needs to preserve the area by law. In a statement to CTV News, the mayor of Pointe-Claire, John Belvedere, said: “Climate change is here and now and the upcoming ecological studies will help to determine how much more of the forest can be protected.” Meanwhile, protesters say the matter is made more pressing by the species in the forest that are at risk. “The train station right at the edge of the forest here was found to be the highest population of the brown snake. Studies that were done to give them the numbers and things were all adamant that any work that would be done here on the forest was basically the end of the brown snake population in this region,” Sue Stacho tells CTV.
