By Michael Boriero
The Ami.e.s des boisés de Granby, a group of concerned residents protecting the environment, is calling out the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) for razing a forest to build the Maison des aînés à Granby, despite promising to maintain a five-metre protective strip.
Last Friday, the group gathered next to the construction site to point out the government’s failure at protecting the forest. Michel Laliberté, a communications officer for the Ami.e.s des boisés de Granby, told The Record Quebec has blatantly ignored the wishes of the residents.
According to Laliberté, the city held several public consultations to discuss the project before the province began construction in July. He said municipal officials, representatives from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS, and folks from the SQI were all in attendance for the consultations.
“This is where the CIUSSS, after speaking with residents and the city, came to a compromise. They said they’d build here, but they would keep a five-metre protective strip of trees and they wouldn’t cut everything down, but then the government didn’t respect it,” Laliberté explained.
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