Nexus Construction sent a formal notice to the municipality of Oka and its mayor accusing them of having made defamatory remarks by asserting that the Laval company “dumped [soils] into Lac des Deux-Montagnes”. The city persists and signs: it does not intend to retract, maintaining that it is within its rights to denounce the comings and goings of trucks passing through its territory to dispose of land in Kanesatake.
In a formal notice sent last Thursday, Nexus Construction accuses the municipality of Oka and its mayor, Pascal Quevillon, of having disseminated on social networks “false and unfounded statements” claiming that Nexus “dumped into Lac des Deux-Montagnes”.
The company is particularly targeting a photo that the mayor of Oka posted on Facebook on June 4. It shows a truck bearing the Nexus logo dumping the contents of its dumpster near the waterway. The image is accompanied by the following statement: “The Nexus company dumping into Lac des Deux-Montagnes in Kanesatake, no less. Where are our governments for Indigenous communities?”
These comments “are not only false, unjustified, baseless and defamatory, but also constitute a direct, illicit, intentional and prejudicial violation of [Nexus’s] right to safeguard its honor, integrity and good reputation,” Nexus believes, in the notice.
This was tabled during an extraordinary meeting of the Oka municipal council on Monday. The company led by brothers Romeo and Antonio and Sacchetti “immediately” demands a public apology from the municipality and the deletion of Mayor Quevillon’s publication.
The latter “in no way crossed the line separating opinion versus reputational damage,” they write. The image posted on Facebook “clearly demonstrates illegal dumping in Lac des Deux-Montagnes.”
In the event of a lawsuit, Oka intends to defend itself: “We will raise an abuse of process and we will reserve the possibility of claiming compensatory and punitive damages against” Nexus.
This is the second formal notice in this case related to the disposal of land in Mohawk territory. On May 14, the Kanesatake Band Council sent a letter to Nexus to force a stop to work on its territory, revealed La Presse. “If you believe, or have been advised, that this is a lawless area, you are mistaken,” the document reads.
The Council reminds “that federal environmental laws apply, as do provincial environmental laws”. If Nexus does not “immediately stop all dumping on the Mohawk territory of Kanesatake,” legal action will be taken, writes the Band Council.
“Despite attempts by Council members to block these trucks’ access to Mohawk territory, your company’s drivers continued to arrive and treat Kanesatake as an unregulated dumping site,” it is written.
After questions that La Presse sent to Nexus about its activities in Kanesatake, the public relations firm National forwarded the answers to La Presse on behalf of the company. The company says it is only responsible for the soil transportation aspect and assures that it “has not at any time dumped soil into the Ottawa River.” It ensures “to maintain a buffer strip between natural environments and the disposal site” and reiterates that its “commitment to environmental protection remains unshakeable”.