Meltech cancels plan to build mask factory on Montreal’s Monarch Fields

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Environmental groups rejoiced Tuesday at news that Meltech Innovation Canada Inc. has decided against building its planned mask manufacturing plant on the so-called “Monarch Fields,” a site frequented by monarch butterflies in the green space north of Trudeau airport known as the Technoparc lands.

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“It’s good news, but the fight is not over,” said Katherine Collin, a spokesperson for TechnoparcOiseaux, the group that has led the fight for conservation. “This is a very good step forward and we are grateful, but now we will focus our efforts on making sure the entirety of the space is protected.”

Conservation groups, and particularly birdwatching enthusiasts, have been lobbying for years to get official conservation status for the area, comprised of 215 hectares of forests, fields and marshes they describe as the last significant expanse of natural green space on the Island of Montreal. It is among the best birdwatching sites in the province, with 241 different bird species spotted in the area.

The federal government (Transport Canada) owns about 150 hectares of the land, which it has leased to the Aéroports de Montréal, while the city of Montreal controls the rest in its partially developed Technoparc. The ADM has pledged to conserve 22 hectares of the land it leases, and the Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has promised to work with the federal government to conserve some of the rest. But Collin stresses that currently, none of the land has official protected status.

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“Nothing, as it stands now, is safeguarding this land from another development project,” she said. “Until Transport Canada agrees to modify its lease with ADM, any part of the 150 hectares is at risk of being developed.”

She added that the ADM’s current land development plan includes several lots earmarked for commercial and industrial development.

The Green Coalition requested last August that then-federal environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson grant an official designation for the Monarch Fields to stop the Meltech project, but his successor Stephen Guilbeault declined to do so in November. The project was being assessed by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, and the ADM held public consultations on the project last summer as part of that process.

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Groups and individuals who participated in that process learned of Meltech’s decision in an update posted Tuesday on the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s website, which reads: “Faced with various options for the location of its non-woven fabric plant, Meltech Innovation Canada chose not to select the site on Chemin de l’Aviation at YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport for its project. Because of Meltech’s decision not to locate on the YUL site, the environmental impact assessment procedure under the Impact Assessment Act is no longer relevant. Consequently, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) are closing this file.”

Officials at Meltech Innovation Canada could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. The company has not announced an alternative site for the project, a 3,400-square-metre building to be used to produce rolls of non-woven fabric required for the manufacturing of personal protective masks.

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Collin thanked the hundreds of scientists, ornithologists and others who participated in the public consultation and helped collect data to help TechnoparcOiseaux demonstrate the ecological importance of the area.

“We have seen more and more people becoming deeply attached to nature during the pandemic and they do not want to see last of our green spaces paved over.”

Members of TechnoparcOiseaux met with officials from Meltech and the ADM last July at the site to explain their concerns and to encourage the company to choose another site, but Collin said she can’t be sure why Meltech made its decision.

“Of course, we are not against idea of domestic manufacturing of PPE,” she said. “It just shouldn’t be built on precious green space.”

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