An all-day forum on the Quebec government’s response to last spring’s floods isn’t satisfying many residents.
While the public security minister says he’s chairing the symposium to listen to the people, many flood victims say fewer meetings are needed and more action is required.
“The delays of the process is unbelievable. It’s unbelievable,” Michel Papineau, a flood victim from Gatineau told Global News.
He was testifying at the forum and told Global News that it took six months to get an inspection report following the May floods.
Papineau insists home inspection engineers need to be given decision-making powers, not civil servants.
“Get the expertise close to the citizen and then it’s going to expedite the process,” he said.
Officials at the Public Security Department have handed out more than $100 million and more than six thousand claims filed and treated.
But more than one 100 people are still held up in hotels.
Pierrefonds resident Itsik Romano says he has received about $20,000 in government aide to help him rebuild his basement but that’s less than half of the amount promised.
“Cut down on the red tape, cut down on the bureaucracy. Cut down on the files, the back and forth between us and the city, us the government and give us basically the help that we need so we can move forward,” he told Global News.
Many are just hoping the government will put more efficient response measures in place before the next natural disaster strikes.