Open in full screen mode According to the alleged authors, inserting nails into trees allows sabotage equipment and make deforestation more costly and dangerous. (Archive photo) The Canadian Press Acts of sabotage were committed on the site of the future Northvolt battery factory in Montérégie, where people drove nails into trees that the Swedish company plans to cut down. In an email exchange with The Canadian Press, Northvolt spokesperson Emmanuelle Rouillard-Moreau indicated that individuals entered the site in order to insert nails and/or nail bars into around a hundred #x27;trees in the night from Monday to Tuesday. Northvolt deplored the use of this type of tactics which carries significant risks for the safety of workers and surrounding communities, while making the recovery of trees impossible. The anonymous perpetrators of this sabotage posted a demand on Montreal Counter-information, a site that aspires to provide Montreal anarchists with a space to disseminate their ideas and actions across intersecting networks and trends. < source srcset="https://images.radio-canada.ca/q_auto,w_700/v1/ici-info/transit/16x9/photo-radio-canada-ivanoh-demers-terrain-northvolt-ambience-hiver-ce- morning-on-the-future-field-of-northvolt-photo-taken-in-saint-basile-le-grand-and-saint-mathias-sur-richelieu-canada-on-january-19-202-5982. jpg" media="(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 1023px)"> People entered the site to insert nails and/or nail bars into around a hundred trees during the night from Monday to Tuesday, according to Northvolt. Consult the complete file View full file FollowFollow The alleged saboteurs are calling for broad mobilization against the destructive project that constitutes the Northvolt mega-factory and are asking to attack this machine for crushing living things by targeting its weak points. Putting nails into trees, according to them, sabotages the equipment and makes deforestation more costly and dangerous, because if a chainsaw hits a nail, it -this will damage or break the chain, and thus slow down Northvolt's activities. Let's sabotage the equipment, block the construction sites and harass the elected officials in the pay of the industry, we can read in the press release. These actions are completely unacceptable, reacted in the afternoon the Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne. In a free and democratic society, people have the right to express themselves, but if people have objections, there are other ways to do that, he said in margin of a press conference. As he had done the day before, he repeated that the Swedish company was environmentally conscious and keen to work with the community.
The battery sector
The battery sector
Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, is an ardent defender of the arrival of Northvolt in Quebec. (File photo)
He described the arrival of Northvolt in Quebec as a generational opportunity.
Let us be proud, as Quebecers, of having been able to attract one of the largest companies to come and set up with us in an area of the future, in the field of the environment, indicated Minister Champagne.
Furthermore, the hearing concerning the request for an injunction filed last week against Northvolt, which was to take place Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse, was postponed until Wednesday.
In a press release published Tuesday morning, the Swedish multinational declared that this decision was taken following a request made by the City of Saint-Basile-le-Grand and of an agreement between the parties.
The company added that it will not comment further, out of respect for the ongoing legal process. Work on the site of the future factory remains suspended, she said.
This is the second time that the #x27;hearing regarding the request for injunction is postponed.
The procedure began last week, but Judge David R. Collier of the Superior Court of Quebec postponed the hearing, scheduled for Friday, to Tuesday to allow the defendants to read the case. .
The Swedish multinational began felling trees at the beginning of last week on the site of its future battery factory in McMasterville and Saint-Basile-le-Grand, in Montérégie.
The issue of the Northvolt plant in Montérégie has already caused a lot of ink to flow, especially on the environmental level, due to practices that many describe as questionable and harmful to the environment. (Archive photo)
This work was, however, interrupted while the Superior Court considered the requests for provisional and interlocutory injunctions filed by the Quebec Environmental Law Center and three citizens.
In the meantime, Northvolt could not carry out work to fell trees in wetlands and 500 meters from them on the site of the future factory, the judge ruled.
The Quebec Environmental Law Center and the three citizens argue that the work at the factory is worrying for biodiversity and that the land of the multinational is a habitat for many threatened or vulnerable animal species.
A provisional injunction normally lasts 10 days, but the Quebec Environmental Law Center and the three citizens are also requesting an interlocutory injunction.
De For her part, the lawyer representing Northvolt said last Friday that a 10-day provisional injunction would cause irreparable harm to the company.
Northvolt wishes to reiterate its commitment to participating in decarbonization by offering a sustainable model for battery manufacturing. We wish to continue to achieve this mission with and for the communities, underlined the company in its press release published Tuesday.
The site planned for the construction of the battery manufacturing and recycling plant is located on 171 hectares of land in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville.