International law, water chemistry and parliamentary procedures often use complicated jargon that discourages citizens. This page translates into plain language all the acronyms, legal articles, scientific terms and official documents in the Stablex file and the SEM-26-003 communication, so that everyone — whatever their age or background — can understand everything.
It is the major commercial and legal treaty that binds Canada, the United States and Mexico since 2020 (replacing NAFTA). Its Chapter 24 prohibits the three countries from weakening or ignoring their own environmental laws to favor a company.
Official international organization created by Canada, the United States and Mexico, headquartered in Montreal. Its independent Secretariat reviews citizen complaints when one of the three states fails to effectively enforce its environmental laws.
This is the official file number given by CCE (Commission for Environmental Cooperation) to the legal complaint filed by William Guindon regarding the expansion of Stablex and the destruction of Grande Tourbière (Great Peat Bog) de Blainville (“Landfill of hazardous materials in Blainville”).
Rule of the ACEUM (Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement) treaty which allows any citizen to file a complaint before the CCE (art. 24.27(1)), sets the criteria for validity (art. 24.27(2)) and allows the Secretariat to oblige the government concerned to respond officially within 60 days (art. 24.27(3) and (4)).
Once the government responds, Article 24.28 gives the CCE Secretariat 60 days to analyze the response and decide whether to recommend to the Ministers of the Environment of the three countries (Canada, United States, Mexico) the opening of a thorough investigation called a “Factual File”.
This is the in-depth investigation report carried out by the scientific and legal experts of the CCE. It is triggered if at least 2 of the 3 member countries vote for its opening. He publicly exposes all the facts about non-compliance with environmental laws.
Official code of the brief filed by the Government of Canada on October 16, 2026 before the CCE. In this document, Ottawa attempts to close or postpone the SEM-26-003 file by invoking the existence of a simple citizen petition to the Auditor General.
Official act by which the CCE Secretariat confirms having received Canada's response (72-RSP) on October 16, 2026 and begins the 60-day countdown provided for in Article 24.28.
Official rule of CCE which specifies that a government can only request the cessation of a CCE investigation if it itself conducts a real trial or a binding inspection capable of resolving the problem, and not when a citizen has simply asked questions in a petition.
Special law adopted under gag order by the government of Quebec on March 28, 2025. It forces Ville de Blainville (City of Blainville) to sell its wooded and humid land to the American company Stablex and dismisses the unfavorable conclusions of BAPE (Québec Bureau of Public Environmental Hearings).
Mechanism by which a majority government cuts short the debates of deputies and public consultations at the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly of Québec) to have a law adopted in a few hours.
Independent public organization in Quebec responsible for informing and consulting citizens on major projects. In its Report 371 published in September 2023, the BAPE concluded that the Stablex Cell 6 project in the peatland should not be permitted in its proposed form.
Independent institution of the federal Parliament in Ottawa which verifies the work of ministries and manages the register of citizen environmental petitions.
Right provided by federal law allowing a citizen to ask formal questions to federal ministers about the environment. Ministers have a legal obligation to respond in writing within 120 days, but this mechanism does not provide the power to order work to stop.
Industrial metal dangerous to fish, wildlife and human health, which does not degrade in nature. In a sample from the Ministry of the Environment (MELCCFP) taken on December 2, 2023 from the effluent linked to Stablex activities, cadmium reached 320 times the acute toxicity threshold for aquatic life.
This is the name given to the Stablex expansion project aimed at digging a huge landfill site for millions of tons of hazardous waste treated until 2065, directly in the heart of a wooded and humid sector of the Grande Tourbière de Blainville (Great Blainville Peat Bog).
A bog is a real natural sponge that has formed over thousands of years. It filters water, prevents flooding, cools the air and shelters rare plants and animals. Unlike a tree plantation, a peat bog destroyed by mechanical excavators cannot be recreated artificially.
Peatlands store proportionally much more carbon than forests. When a peatland is drained and dug, the carbon trapped for centuries is released into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases, worsening climate change.
Very powerful Canadian law, section 36(3) of which strictly prohibits the discharge of any toxic or harmful substance into waters where fish live, or in any place from which this substance risks flowing into these waters.
Federal law that protects endangered animal and plant species in Canada and their critical habitat, with the possibility for the federal government to adopt a safety net or emergency order when the province does not protect them.
Federal law resulting from an international treaty that prohibits destroying nests, eggs and migratory birds or degrading protected areas during nesting.
This is the Quebec Ministry of the Environment. It was its own laboratory analyzes and internal technical opinions which documented the severe cadmium exceedances and the very high ecological value of the peat bog.
The two federal government departments in Ottawa responsible for enforcing the Fisheries Act (pollution section), the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and the Migratory Birds Act (MBA).
Normally used to build a school, a hospital or a public road, expropriation was here imposed by the Loi 93 (Bill 93) to wrest from the Ville de Blainville natural land that it wanted to protect, in order to transfer it for landfill purposes by a private company.
Adultism consists of underestimating or dismissing a person's speech, intelligence or legal actions simply because they are under 18 years of age. However, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 12) guarantees the right of young people to be heard in decisions that affect their future.
When rain or groundwater comes into contact with buried or processed materials, it picks up heavy metals (like cadmium) and other chemicals. This water must be rigorously treated before any discharge.
