Former Frederick Street resident begins legal action
Tanya Collier MacDonald
Cape Breton Post
Monday, Aug. 14, 2003
A former Frederick Street resident
is declining to comment on
a notice of intended action she
has at the Supreme Court of
Nova pcotia that cites several
government departments and
the Joint Action Group as defendants.
"I don't want to say anything,
" Debbie Ouellette told the
Cape Breton Post, following a
JAG roundtable session in Sydney, Wednesday.
In May 1998, Ouellette asked
to have her family moved from
their home on Frederick Street
when a yellow-coloured goo was
spotted oozing from a brook
bank near their residence.
At that time, soil samples
showed elevated levels of lead,
polyaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAH) and arsenic - which was
found to be 18.5 times higher
than acceptable limits set out by
the Canadian Council of
Ministers of the Environment.
In 1999, Ouellette and other
Frederick Street residents
accepted a voluntary buyout
offered by governments and
moved off the street that borders
Sydney's coke oven site.
Ouellette was also a member
of JAG until she resigned in
November 2002.
In the notice of intended
action, the author states that the
notice is based on the "intentional
and negligent acts or the
omission of facts, and which
acts or omissions included;
negligence, and failing fiduciary
duty and failing to take adequate
action which resulted in
loss and damage to the plaintiff
and the injury loss and damage
was aggravated by the failure of
the defendants to take necessary
precautions to ensure the safety
of the plaintiff and to secure the
plaintiff's interests and to protect
the health of the plaintiff
under the Nova Scotia and
Canadian Environmental Acts."
JAG's legal council from
Sampson McDougall Barristers
and Solicitors notified members
that once a statement of claim
is filed by Ouellette, each party
has a certain amount of time to
file a formal defence to the
action.
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