Shannon Citizens’ Committee
Marie-Paule Spieser
Telephone : 581-888-4221
Email : mariepspieser@gmail.com
Jean Bernier
Telephone : 418-844-1689
Email : sitemaster@hotmail.com | pjbernier@sympatico.ca
Dr Claude Juneau
Our sincere greetings to all,
On December 11th 2000, following the announcement of the water table contamination feeding private wells, mostly on the south-east side of the Jacques-Cartier river in the municipality of Shannon, talks were already brewing to create a defence committee. On February 14th 2001, the Shannon Citizens’ Committee (SCC) was formed. The aims of this Committee were and still are to inform and defend the Citizens who are suffering or have suffered in the dossier of the contamination by TCE and its degradation products (MCE (CV ou VC), DCE et PCE).
In December 2003, the Committee notified its intention to sue (as a class action) the liable organisations for the contamination. We prepared from 2003 to 2010 and from January to November 2011 during 116 days, we were in Superior Court with a verdict rendered in the summer of 2012. Following our reading and analysis of this 2012 judgment and our conviction of errors of law and fact and mixed errors, this judgment was carried in Québec Court of Appeal. The appeal was heard, pleaded and questioned on the weeks of 22nd and 29th of October 2018 for 8,5 days. The awaited judges’ decision was published on the 17th of January 2020.
Most of you know about and possibly have read the judgment of the Court of Appeal. We could not answer immediately your multiple questions and it is not that we did not want to answer them, it is simply that there is a 60 day time period between the publication of the judgment and the next step in the dossier. During this time, the judgment of the appeal was not enforceable. Thus, nothing could happen before the end of the legal period of 60 days, nothing. It is a legal period of analysis and reflection that the law gives (obliges…) for us the petitioner (Marie-Paule Spieser plaintiff and the Citizens’ Committee), and the defendant parties (the Queen of Canada through the attorney general of Canada (AGC, National Defense of Canada)), SNC-Lavalin at Valcartier (SIVI, Société Immobilière de Valcartier Inc.) and General Dynamics (GD-OTS CANADA), can serenely in all tranquillity decide their next steps in this matter.
As there seems to be confusion, the PMQs (Permanent Married Quarters) outside the base gates and fences, are in the town of Shannon, thus the Humans who live there are Shannonites ! The exception is Cannon street which is in Saint‑Gabriel-de-Valcartier, there is always one.
The Shannon Citizens’ Committee has leaded a collective action on behalf of the Citizens and ex-Citizens of Shannon, all Humans. What is more, from the people of Shannon, it is not we who decide : 1- who will be compensated, 2- of the physical place of residence to be compensated, 3- for what minimum time period of residence and 4- what period of time gives entitlement to compensation. Firstly it was the judgment of the Superior Court (June 2012) and now following, the judgment of the Court of Appeal (January 2020) that dictates those answers ! It is the Court which judges and decides according to the laws ! And we had to wait until the end of the 60 day deadline for the next step that we did not know at that moment !
The 60 day period was to end on March 17th 2020 at 17:00h, so no real news before March 18th, 2020, but before the end of this delay the Queen of Canada (attorney general of Canada for department of national defence of Canada) has applied for an authorisation at the Canada Supreme Court to appeal this judgment from the Court of Appeal. This resulted in an additional 30 day delay for us to decide whether or not to request a cross-appeal. This meant that we were aligned for the Supreme Court of Canada.
Early on, at the start of this 30 day period, the COVID-19 pandemic due to the coronavirus was decreed and, as of March 25 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada suspended the application of the delay limits. This suspension of delay limits would end when the Supreme Court of Canada issued a notice to that effect. So yes, we still needed patience but also, this left you time to browse through and read the judgment of January 17 2020, which is not, however, enforceable but available for reading on the site of the SOciété QUébécoise d’Information Juridique (SOQUIJ) at the following address http://t.soquij.ca/t9D7E .
The delay limits suspension expired on September 13 2020. On November 23rd, the registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada sent the documents requesting leave to appeal to the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada. On December 18 at 16:14h, we learned from the registry of the Supreme Court of Canada that on December 23 at 10:45h, we would have the judges’ decision, whether the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the main appeal by the Queen of Canada against the Citizens of Shannon as well as the conditional cross appeal on our part !
The appeal of the Queen of Canada would be mainly based, according to the words of the AGC in an interview, on the fact that if the Queen of Canada accepted the decision of the Court of Appeal and compensated the Citizens of Shannon, the government would be inundated with demands like that of the SCC.
In the judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada dated December 17 2020, the request [of the Queen of Canada (National Defense of Canada in Valcartier and Ottawa] for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Quebec (Qc), dated January 17, 2020, is dismissed The conditional application for leave to cross-appeal [the Citizens] filed by the respondent, Marie-Paule Spieser, is therefore dismissed.
Thus, the judgment of the Court of Appeal becomes enforceable. I remind you that the class action was not brought by the city of Shannon, it was initiated by the Shannon Citizens’ Committee (SCC), our plaintiff and president Marie-Paule Spieser, the fantastic Doc Claude Juneau and me, Jean Bernier.
The main conclusions of the judgment of the Court of Appeal are the phases or groups which give the right to compensation of 250 $ to 64 k$, but the procedures must be followed and the form must be completed on the “Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton” site. The total compensation could range according to the Attorney General of Canada (counsel for the queen of Canada) from 125 M$ to over 200 M$. It’s time !!!
Now, on June 22 2021, we were in a (virtual) hearing in Superior Court and on June 30 2021, a judge of this Court ratified the compensation protocol. It is prescribed that from July 10 2021 to July 10 2022, according to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Citizens of Shannon of certain addresses and certain periods of residency may obtain compensation ranging from $250 to $64,000 plus interest since July 16, 2007. We were also back in Superior Court on March 29, 2022 and on March 31, 2022 the Court reiterated the inclusion of Cannon Street to the addresses of Shannon streets as well as an extension of the period to file a claim for compensation until January 15, 2023 at midnight. In addition, we were back in Superior Court on January 11, 2023 to ask for a new 6 month extension time period to produce a claim and it was granted, so the new deadline for making a compensation claim ends on July 15, 2023 at midnight.
The date of July 15 2023, having passed, you can still have information at the internet address of “Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton” (RCGT), actioncollectiveshannon.ca, by consulting and reading the information under the “menu buttons”, “Documents” and “FAQ” from the menu bar of this website. If you have requested compensation through the actioncollectiveshannon.ca website, you can, using your email address and password, always return to this site to see the progress of your case at one of the following four status : “1-Claim submitted”, “2-Verification and recommendation”, “3-Judgment” or “4 Payment”. The progress of your file is according to the colors of the numbered pellets, gray for “Inactive”, blue for “In progress”, green for “Completed” or burgundy for “Rejected”.
For additional information, you can always contact the firm “RCGT” at the email address “reclamationshannon@rcgt.com” or you can request information at 1-855-310-1012. Have your unique file code (Cwxyz) given by “RCGT” at hand.
Updated : 12/oct/2023
Jean Bernier, Shannon Citizens’ Group.
If you believe that you are suffering or have suffered or if you know of a person suffering or that as suffered of this situation, the Committee invites you to fill out the online form describing your situation or the situation of another person. The aim of this form is to obtain the most complete register of the cancers and other medical situations that could have a link with the TCE contamination. All information on the form will be confidentially treated by the Committee, our lawyers and experts.
This form describing medical situations is not a registration for the Class Action. We cannot presume the outcome of the Appeal’s Court judgement, so, all affected Citizens and former Citizens, already registered or not, must wait for the Appeal’s Court judgement to know the events that will follow. Whether you have joined or not the Class Action, a period of registration could follow after and according to the declarations that will be in the judgement of the Appeal’s Court. Instructions will follow.
On the other hand, to help you complete the descriptive questionnaire of your medical situation, here is a situation in the United States. In an American law, “The Janey Ensminger Act of 2016”, eight medical situations were recognized by the US government as having possible links to TCE contamination. Here is an enumeration :
(1) Kidney cancer
(2) Liver cancer
(3) Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
(4) Adult leukemia
(5) Multiple myeloma
(6) Parkinson’s disease
(7) Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
(8) Bladder cancer
The Committee adds to this list a 9th and 10th case, a brain cancer and a male breast cancer.
(9) Brain cancer
(10) Male breast cancer
It is to be noted that a medical situation or cancer that you want to describe is not restricted to the 10 cases listed. From time to time, the Committee will publish historical and actual information “here” on this site, but also at the following addresses (URL) :
“La Gang” de Valcartier/Shannon
The Shannon Citizens’ Committee
Marie-Paule Spieser, Dr Claude Juneau and Jean Bernier
Descriptive form for a register of cancers and medical situations in Shannon
Please, fill in every field with mouse and keyboard and fill one form per person.
Cliquer ici pour accéder à la version française de ce sondage.
Important
The City of Shannon (City) has no official connection to the Shannon Citizens’ Committee. The City simply offers a showcase on its website “www.shannon.ca” to facilitate communication between those involved. The City does not receive any information regarding the contents of the “Cancer and Other Health Registry Description Form for Shannon”. The City is not responsible for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies that may occur. The City assumes no responsibility for them. The City can not be held responsible for any damage or inconvenience caused by the use of this form or the consultation of its website “www.shannon.ca“. The City of Shannon is subject to the Act respecting Access to Documents Held by Public Bodies and the Protection of Personal Information. As such, it must take appropriate measures to ensure the protection of personal information it collects, including those obtained through the site “www.shannon.ca“.
