Good intentions aren’t enough, flood victims say
Coiteux’s proposed measures to speed up process get cool reception
A series of new measures aimed at speeding up the processing of financial aid for victims of last spring’s flooding in Quebec received a lukewarm reception on Tuesday.
Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux announced four new steps that he hopes will make the process move faster, and while victims still living in gutted homes welcomed the move, they say they have heard this before.
“I am happy that they want to put effort into improving the measure, but there is nothing really concrete in what they are going to do or change in the process,” said Île-Mercier resident Pier-Luc Cauchon, whose basement was flooded.
He said victims have heard a lot of good intentions from the government before, but they haven’t really yielded any results.
“Hopefully, they can hear us better and make a change that will make a difference,” he said.
One change he had hoped for is the decision to hold meetings with flood victims where representatives from all levels of government are under one roof to provide answers for those who are still in limbo.
Coiteux said his office would be contacting the affected municipalities “in the next few hours” to set a time and place for these meetings.
The idea is to regroup officials from the public security department, municipal affairs department and city officials under one roof so that victims can have all their questions answered at the same time.
“The government is well aware it can improve its way of doing things,” Coiteux said in announcing the new measures. “We can’t wait for the post-mortem (in December), we need to act now … to get people back to normal life as fast as possible.”
Itsik Romano, who along with Cauchon organized a rally last Sunday for flood victims in front of Coiteux’s Kirkland office, says the moves are welcome, but come a little too late.
“At least it will put people up to par” in terms of information, Romano believes. “They are going to have enough people there to meet with individual flood victims to bring them up to the phase that they can start to get some help.”
Helen Bunyan, from Pierrefonds, said these steps should have been looked at long before now.
“The minister keeps talking about the steps we have to take, but this is four months later,” she said.
Bunyan’s entire basement had to be gutted after flood water entered her Maplewood St. home, and she is moving ahead with insulating her basement ahead of winter regardless of the delays.
“They’re saying one thing, but the person who is affected, you are dealing with the reality of the situation. They are not dealing with it,” she said.
Coiteux said the changes announced Tuesday were in reaction to comments and complaints from citizens.
“We admit that things aren’t perfect and need to be improved, so we are acting,” Coiteux said, adding that he isn’t ruling out other changes if they are needed.
The minister said his goal is to get people back to a sense of normalcy as fast as possible and to make sure that the different levels of government are better prepared for when this inevitably happens again.
One lesson learned already is that all levels of government need to work together differently during exceptional circumstances like flooding and that there is a need for better communication from the government, Coiteux said.
He was joined Tuesday by Pierrefonds-Roxboro mayor Jim Beis, who welcomed the new measures that he hopes will help solve the outstanding issues.
“The goal here is that winter is coming and we need to find solutions to have folks back in their homes,” Beis said, adding that about half of the 700 files in Pierrefonds have been processed.
“The last thing that folks need today, especially so close to winter, is to be … jumping through hoops,” Beis said. “By having everyone present in the room … the resident that has an outstanding issue to resolve will have everyone there around the table for them to get the answers from and move forward.”
Other measures announced include the creation of a committee for cities with more than 100 victims that would look at how to quickly fix any problems that arise during the process, which has been criticized by victims as being slow and lacking proper communication.
Ministry officials would also work with municipal governments to look at ways to speed up the administrative process, especially when it comes to issuing construction permits.
Last, Coiteux announced plans to work with cities and the Red Cross to find more permanent solutions for victims who are still being forced to stay in hotels four months after the flooding.
The spring inundations — in early April and then again in early May — affected 286 municipalities in Quebec, flooding more than 5,300 homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents. Financial aid to cover flooding damage is estimated at almost $350 million.