Jean-Paul Murray shows the pile of trash he has picked out of the soil on Trail No.1
A Gatineau Park trail in Chelsea, Quebec has been resurfaced with soil that appears to be laced with shards of broken glass, pieces of plastic and other refuse.
Chair of the Gatineau Park Protection Committee Jean-Paul Murray, who lives near Trail No. 1, came upon the trashy trail section during the past few weeks while walking with his dog just off Kingsmere Road in Chelsea.
“I can’t believe this,” said Murray, retrieving a piece of broken glass out of the soil on the trail next to the on Kingsmere Road picnic area. “It looks like this soil was taken from a landfill.”
The two-kilometre stretch of trail has been closed since Aug. 2, while the National Capital Commission (NCC) has been restoring it for future use. NCC Spokesperson Jean Wolff said the soil mix, which comes from local suppliers, goes through a sifter and that there is no way the trash could have made it through the process.
“The contractors have a detailed contract about what is to be in the soil mix,” said Wolff.
“The type of garbage that is in the pictures (seen on a Radio-Canada newscast) would not get through the sifting process.”
An NCC document states that “trail surfaces must be as even as possible, free from debris, and must not present any safety risk to users.”
After hearing of the garbage claims last week, Wolff said NCC inspectors checked the trail on three occasions, finding nothing but a few chip bags and beer cans.
However, when the Low Down investigated on Sept. 24, this reporter saw two handfuls of small trash laced in the soil, first in random spots on the short trail next to the Chelsea picnic area.
Jean-Paul Murray digs a piece of plastic out of the soil on Trail No. 1
But after crossing Kingsmere Road to the connecting trail and walking about 250 metres into the bush, the reporter made stops every two and three metres to pull random pieces of garbage out of the soil – making it hard to believe that the garbage was deliberately dumped there.
The refuse included shredded pieces of writing pens, the tip of a caulking tube and shards of broken glass, among other items. Some of the detritus was mixed in the topsoil and barely discernible, and needed to be pried from the packed ground using a pen.
Murray has walked the trail several times with other media and each time has retrieved at least a handful of trash. He’s picked up enough to fill a towel over the past two weeks.
“How does contaminated soil end up in Gatineau Park?” asked Murray, holding open the towel full of small pieces of garbage, including metal wires and a clothespin. “It’s unimaginably disgusting.”
Murray has put in an access to information request at the NCC to see the work order to find out where the soil came from. The work was done by Demsis, a contractor for Gatineau Park.
Wolff said the NCC is investigating further.
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Once again Mr. Murray has shown that NCC must be reigned in with Parliamentary oversight. This reckless, mismanged and corrupt organization is a national embarassment.
The NCC was “rehabilitating” this 2km trail since August 2nd and clearly never once inspected the contractor’s work over this period. Shame. The people “managing” the contractor’s activities should be fired for not doing their jobs. A child could have done better.
After being informed numerous times about the problem by Mr. Murray, the NCC continued to deny that there was a issue, even stating that their inspectors found nothing on three occasions. Shame. If they cared, or were doing their jobs, would they not have given this more than a cursory examination? Fire these inspectors too!
How is it that it takes the concerted and persistent actions of a local citizen and then the media to bring such a scandal to light? Is this the NCC’s version of conservation and “greening the capital.”
There is something very rotten at the NCC. And now taxpayers will be stuck with the bill of cleaning up this mess because of the actions of an unaccountable institution.
Imagine how preposterous this is, just for a second: the NCC spreading garbage in Gatineau Park.
Wake up Chelsea, what up Gatineau, wake up Ottawa, there is a very serious problem in your midst.
Apparently, the people responsible for “rehabilitation” of Trashy Trail no. 1 work both for the NCC and Demsis.
The NCC official responsible, or so I’m told, is:
David Maitland,
Manager, Maintenance and Rehabilitation Services,
National Capital Commission
202 – 40 Elgin Street
Ottawa ON K1P 1C7
Telephone: 819-827-6015
Fax: 819-827-6036
Email: dmaitlan@ncc-ccn.ca
The names of the Demsis people in charge:
Mr. Steve Deschênes
Executive Director
Mr. Pierre Gascon
Manager, maintenance and trails
Mr. André Fleury
Trail foreman
Demsis
Gatineau (Quebec)
J8Z 1W2
info@demsis.ca
Phone: 819 772-0020
Fax: 819 772-4331
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