News Release

Government of Canada Investigating Ottawa River Sewage Discharge

OTTAWA, ON -- May 29, 2008 -- Canada's Environment Minister, John Baird, announced today that the Government of Canada is investigating the discharge of 960,000 cubic metres of raw sewage and storm water into the Ottawa River in the summer of 2006.

“Today, I can confirm that Environment Canada is investigating this incident,” said Minister Baird.  “Our Government takes this matter very seriously and will use all the resources and authorities of the Federal Government to get to the bottom of what happened.”

The investigation is being conducted under Section 36 of the Fisheries Act, which states that, “no person shall deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish or in any place under any conditions where the deleterious substance or any other deleterious substance that results from the deposit of the deleterious substance may enter any such water, unless authorized by a regulation under the Fisheries Act or another Act of Parliament.”

“As a lifelong resident of our city, I am obviously concerned about the potential negative environmental and health impacts that may have resulted from this incident," said Minister Baird.   “While I cannot comment on the details of the investigation, we certainly want to ensure that an incident like this does not happen in the future.”

For more information, please contact:

Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
(819) 997-1441

Environment Canada Media Relations
(819) 934-8008
1-888-908-8008