Quebec town can sue DND over tainted water: court

Residents in the town of Shannonmay proceed with a class-action lawsuit against the Department of National Defence and SNC-Tech over contaminated drinking water in the community, the Quebec Superior Court has ruled.

Residents in the town outside Quebec City are seeking more than $200 million in damages for health problems they say were caused by water tainted with an industrial solvent used on the neighbouring Valcartier military base in the 1950s.

The class-action lawsuit alleges Shannon's water table was contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a substance Health Canada has said is a potential carcinogen.

Residents say they've experienced unusual health problems, including many cancer cases.

"A lot of people were sick. It changed our lives," said Marie-Paule Spieser, a Shannon resident involved in the lawsuit. About 400 of the town's 2,000 residents are involved in the lawsuit.

They accuse DND and SNC-Tech of covering up problems caused by TCE. SNC-Tech, a division of Groupe SNC Lavalin, owns the facilities on the military base where the solvent was used.

The Defence Department says the federal government is taking the problem seriously, and has already spent $38 million on Shannon's water.

"We've provided new sources of water, and scientific studies of the problem, and numerous tests on residences," said Pierre Babinsky, a DND spokesman.

The claims haven't yet been proven in court. JudgeBernard Godbout ruled on March 23 the lawsuit could proceed.