A Quebec Superior Court judge gave the green light to a class action lawsuit against Aéroport de Montréal, NAV Canada and Transport Canada in April 2018, seeking financial settlement due to damages caused by aircraft noise pollution, or for the noise to simply stop altogether.
The lawsuit covers those living under the eastern part of the flight path, but now, residents in the West Island of Montreal want to join the legal fight.
“People from Dorval, Pointe-Claire and Lachine raised their hand and said, ‘Hey we want to be part of the group’,” said Pierre Lachapelle, plaintiff and president of Les Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau, the group spearheading the legal fight.
The current lawsuit only covers residents living St-Laurent, Ahunstic-Cartierville, Villeray-St-Michel-Parc Extension and the Town of Mont-Royal, because those areas were equipped with measuring stations to monitor noise pollution. Lawyers went back to court with new evidence on May 14 in a effort to widen the scope of compensation to include people living in Montreal’s west island.
“We have been able to install two measuring stations, one in Dorval one in Pointe-Claire,” said Lachapelle.
WATCH: (April 11, 2018) Lawsuit against noise levels near Trudeau Airport gets green light
The new data collected in the West Island reveals what many have long suspected: noise pollution is worse in communities closest to the airport.
“It goes up to 94 decibels,” said Dorval resident Mario Carangi. “When it’s like this, it’s difficult.”
Carangi lives directly under Trudeau airport’s flight path. He moved into his Dorval home three years ago and despite installing new soundproof windows, he insists he can’t get a good night sleep. He hopes the judge will agree to include those hit hardest.
“I really don’t believe people here know about it, or they just assumed that the lawsuit included Dorval,” Carangi told Global News.
According to Les Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau, up to 300,000 Montrealers living along the flight path are subjected to aircraft noise pollution. With a $4.5 billion dollar investment underway to expand Trudeau airport, many worry it will only get worse.
“They’re building ten to fifteen more terminals there so it would be really nice if they could get that curfew going,” said Carangi.
While compensation would be nice, what most residents want is for airport authorities to stop making exceptions to the rules and strictly enforce the take off and landing curfew from midnight to 7 a.m.
“Other cities in the world have curfew for example Frankfurt airport — that’s a major city” Lachapelle said. “Montreal should do the same.”
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