NDDN meeting 34 · 2026-04-29 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The House of Commons National Defence committee met to study contaminated sites, hearing from Sarah Perreault, mayoress of Shannon, and Serge Villandré, chief administrative officer of Terrebonne, about long-standing contamination from federal military activities on or near their municipalities.

Sarah Perreault described a 26-year-old trichloroethylene (TCE) groundwater contamination in Shannon, discovered by the provincial government, for which the federal government spent $35 million on a water system and established a monitoring committee, though the soil remains contaminated and she questioned whether full decontamination is feasible. She said the relationship with National Defence is strained by a heavy hierarchy, a commander who changes every two years, and a lack of consultation on a planned 1,100 housing units on the base, which will strain local schools and traffic without municipal input. She asked for better communication tools, such as joint committees, and noted that payments in lieu of taxes are no longer equitable because base buildings are outdated and lower in value compared to Shannon's properties, creating a shortfall.

Serge Villandré explained that the former Saint-Maurice test shooting range, a 6.5-square-kilometre federal site decommissioned in 1967 and declared surplus in 2014, remains contaminated with unexploded ordnance, blocking development of schools, housing, and an industrial park in Terrebonne. He said the city had to spend $1.7 million to decontaminate a small portion for the Urbanova interchange after discovering munitions despite National Defence's initial low-risk assessment, and the project is now two years behind schedule. He asked the federal government to assume full responsibility for decontamination, compensate Terrebonne for the $1.7 million, and noted that no one from the department has contacted the city about funding, contrary to a commitment made by a deputy minister at a previous committee meeting. He disagreed with any suggestion that the risk was truly low, given the discovery of live munitions, and said the city has no access to the technical data behind National Defence's assessments.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 2

Sarah Perreault

Mayoress, City of Shannon

Opening remarks

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Before I begin, I want to say I was shocked to learn the City of Shannon was being summoned to appear before the committee to talk about the contamination it's been dealing with for 20 years. The only reason people hear about this situation is because there's a monitoring committee, among other things, but it's still surprising. The committee wants to hear from people about contaminated sites, and I have a lot of questions about that objective. Is it to improve communications or to ensure we can speed up the processes? Shannon experienced a massive trichloroethylene, or TCE, contamination exactly 26 years ago. I'd say that's one of the great contaminations to happen in Canada. Actually, 26 years ago, the city was informed of a major contamination. The federal government didn't detect it, at least it didn't send the contamination notice; the provincial government did. The Direction de santé publique de la Capitale nationale conducted a water analysis in many Shannon residences. I assume provincial government representatives suspected the contamination at the time. I don't want to ascribe motives to anyone in this case, but the notice came from the…

Full testimony ↗

Serge Villandré

Chief Administrative Officer, City of Terrebonne

Opening remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the City of Terrebonne, I'd like to thank you for this opportunity to appear as part of your study on contaminated sites. Our presentation will focus more specifically on the former Saint-Maurice test shooting range, a vast federal land located within the boundaries of the City of Terrebonne. It covers 6.5 square kilometres, making it one of the largest undeveloped pieces of land in the greater Montreal area. National defence used the land for ammunition testing and training until 1967, and there has been no military activity there since. In 2014, the federal government classified the site as surplus. Despite this decades-old decommissioning, the site is still contaminated, and its effects are still being felt. This territory represents an exceptional natural heritage site. It's made up largely of wetlands, peatlands and mature forests, and is home to nearly two dozen special-status flora and fauna species. It plays an important role as a biodiversity reservoir and carbon sink. The City of Terrebonne fully recognizes this ecological value and supports efforts to protect the site in the long term, possibly as a natural…