Québec City, April
6, 2004 – The commission of the Bureau
d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement
(BAPE), composed of Michel Germain, president, and
Pierre André and Jacques Locat, commissioners,
continues the first part of its public hearing on
the stakes involved in seismic surveys in the St.
Lawrence gulf and estuary with a visit in the Magdalen
Islands on April 13, 2004, at 7 p.m. The
public hearings, held at the Cap-aux-Meules civic
centre, located at 460, chemin Principal, may extend
past April 13, depending on the needs of the public
and the commission.
A TWO-PART HEARING
1. Getting information
The first part of the hearing, attended by the experts
convened to answer questions by the participants,
will enable the public and the commission to get as
much information as possible about seismic surveying
and to consider the related issues.
Note that a live audio broadcast of all the sessions
of the first part of the hearing will be available
at the BAPE website at www.bape.gouv.qc.ca. Questions
may also be sent to the commission on-line. The commission
will collate these questions for use for its question
period and the public question period.
2. Expressing your opinion
During the second part of the public hearing, scheduled
to begin May 18, 2004, the commission will gather
opinions and suggestions from the public. It will
hear any individual, organization, group or municipality
wishing to voice an opinion on the subject, whether
as a brief or an oral presentation.
The BAPE’s mandate began on March 15, 2004,
and will end with tabling of its report with Environment
Minister Thomas J. Mulcair, by August 31, 2004 at
the latest. The Minister then has 60 days to release
the report.
WHERE TO CONSULT THE DOCUMENTATION?
All documents pertaining to the file
are available at the BAPE documentation centres in
Québec City (Bureau du BAPE, Édifice
Lomer-Gouin, 575, rue Saint-Amable, 2e étage)
and Montréal (Bibliothèque centrale
de l’Université du Québec à
Montréal, 1255, rue Saint-Denis), on the BAPE
website at www.bape.gouv.qc.ca and at the reading
rooms in the communities visited by the commission.
For the Magdalen Islands, the reading room is located
at the Cap-aux-Meules municipal library, at 315, chemin
Principal.
For more information, contact Danielle
Dallaire, coordinator of the commission secretariat,
or Marie-Ève Chamberland, communications consultant,
at (418) 643-7447 or toll-free at 1-800-463-4732.
You can also reach the commission by e-mail at sismiques@bape.gouv.qc.ca.
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Source: Marie-Ève Chamberland
Communications Advisor
(418) 643-7447 or1-800-463-4732
sismiques@bape.gouv.qc.ca
