The City of Côte Saint-Luc is calling on the Government of Canada to recognize and acknowledge the ecological value and biodiversity of federal land north of Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport, require the Aéroport de Montréal (ADM)—which leases the land—to halt all and any development, and conserve these lands for a National Urban Park in the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) like the Rouge National Park in Ontario.
The creation of these Urban National Parks was mandated by the Prime Minister of Canada in December 2021.
The municipal council of the City of Côte Saint-Luc adopted Resolution 220722 to this effect on Monday, July 11, 2022. The title of the resolution is: Resolution Requesting the Federal Government Collaborate with the Cities of Montreal and Dorval to Preserve and Protect Federal Lands North of Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport, in the Areas Known as the Technoparc and Golf Dorval. The full text of the resolution is available at www.CoteSaintLuc.org/resolutions. Watch the reading from the City Council meeting.
The area north of the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport there is an invaluable integrated 215-hectare wetland ecosystem consisting of fields, forests, and marshes. The land is owned by the Government of Canada and leased to the Airport de Montreal (ADM). This integrated wetland ecosystem includes the ecologically important Monarch butterfly fields (Champ des monarques) used by the Monarchs to feed and reproduce during their migration to and from Montreal, a city that has been named a Monarch Gold metropolis. Unfortunately, in the last weeks, the ADM mowed the butterfly fields and damaged 19 hectares of habitat which is equivalent to 2 M square feet or 35 football fields. This further added to the threats of fragmentation and destruction of the whole 215-hectare ecosystem.
The City of Côte Saint-Luc encourages all municipalities on the island of Montreal to adopt similar resolutions in order to ask the Government of Canada to act to conserve the federal lands north of the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport.
Quotations
“The Government of Canada has a stated objective to create or contribute to the creation of an urban park in Québec by 2030. The federal land north of the airport at the Technoparc and Golf Dorval— including the Monarch butterfly fields—are a good location for such an urban park. Transport Canada must advise and require ADM to halt all and any development on such lands.” – Mayor Mitchell Brownstein
“Côte Saint-Luc is calling upon the federal government to do the right thing and we are asking all mayors and councils of the CMM to do the same. These Monarch butterfly fieldsand all adjacent lands should be the next National Urban Park for the Montreal Metropolitan Community.” – Councillor Dida Berku