Quebec promises faster work to help Gatineau flood victims
The Quebec government has agreed to release more information to Gatineau city officials on flood-ravaged homes in an effort to speed up the permit process for renovations and demolitions, with hundreds of people still displaced and cold weather on the way.
That development, announced at Gatineau City Hall during Tuesday’s presentation on the full scope of the May flooding, came as welcome relief to Coun. Sylvie Goneau.
The Bellevue Ward councillor, and mayoral candidate in Gatineau’s November election, is also one of many residents ordered to demolish her home, deemed to be in a high-risk flood zone along Rue Hurtubise, a low-lying neighbourhood devastated in the May flood.
“This is my house for four generations, and these are people I’ve known since I was a child,” Goneau said. “So of course to see everybody, to have people share their stories just makes me very sad. To hold people in my arms crying from exhaustion and confusion and not knowing how to go about fixing it, it’s very frustrating not only as an elected official, but as a neighbour and as any human would.”
Goneau said she was alarmed to learn during Tuesday’s presentation that only 167 permits — including 27 demolition permits — had so far been processed by the city.
“That’s concerning when you consider more than 1,110 people were affected by the flood. It’s a substantial amount of people who haven’t yet gone through the process.”
Goneau blamed the province for delays in providing detailed information on which homes have applied for permits, citing “confidentiality issues” involved in divulging home addresses, she said.
“We’re now seeing a better collaboration (between province and municipality). The intention to help, the goodwill is there. It’s just … it’s government,” Goneau said with an air of exasperation. “But this isn’t the time when you want government to be sluggish.”
Goneau said both levels of government have a shared interest in “preserving the integrity of the neighbourhood,” so city officials on Tuesday sent the province a list of addresses they feel should be exempt from demolition.
“For the majority of flood victims who have not received their report (from the province), or who are not able to move forward because of the bureaucracy, these people are mentally exhausted, and it has had a physical impact on a lot of people. This is closure, and people are looking forward to closure,” Goneau said.
“The water has receded many months ago, and we still feel trapped as flood victims, because you’re still not able to turn the page and move on to something else.
“Then there’s the fear with winter just around the corner, and a lot of walls and floors still open, basements that no longer have heat or insulation. So now the concern is, not only are they displaced from their homes, but how can they salvage their home so they don’t go back to a house where the pipes have burst from the cold.
“And added to that is the fear of, ‘Is my house secure?’ Because nobody is staying in it. So there’s already all that anxiety, and the nights are getting cooler and winter is coming.”
Goneau said the residents she’d spoken to over the past four months have more questions than answers, primarily about what kinds of renovation work qualify for compensation — and how much.
And, for those ordered to demolish their homes, “Is the cheque really in the mail?
“It’s been frustrating to not see things move faster,” said Goneau, though the councillor also reserved some criticism for her own municipal government. “For me, as a politician, to hear that the actual evaluation of how the City of Gatineau dealt with the floods — we just gave the contract away to an outside firm, and it turns out we won’t get the report back until after the elections,” which are set for Nov. 5.
“We’re complaining about government not stepping up to the plate and being proactive and efficient, yet we’ve waited this long to actually go out and get a proper evaluation of how we dealt with the flood waters.”
The water has receded many months ago, and we still feel trapped as flood victims, because you’re still not able to turn the page and move on ...