On Monday evening, October 16, the Victimes des pesticides du Québec (VPQ) coalition visited Pavillon Wilson in Coteau-du-Lac as part of an awareness-raising tour.

The aim of the tour is to inform and raise awareness among the province's population of the health risks posed by pesticides, to explain the reality of the many victims, and to stimulate constructive debate on collective awareness and prevention of the damage caused by pesticides.

Three speakers took the floor at the event, which began at 6:30pm in the basement of Pavillon Wilson: Amandine François, coordinator of Victimes des pesticides du Québec, Christine Dandurand, member of Mère au Front, and Serge Boily, co-founder of Victimes des pesticides du Québec and officially recognized as a pesticide victim by the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). He contracted incurable Parkinson's disease 19 years after his contact with pesticides ended. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Mr. Boily's profession was pesticide spraying on residential, commercial and municipal properties.

The evening enabled those in the room to see that, despite the Quebec government's recognition of Parkinson's disease as an occupational disease associated with pesticides in 2021, only around twenty cases have been recognized by the CNESST to date.

Why? Because the eligibility criteria are very restrictive. The first is that you must have been exposed to pesticides for ten years. The second is that the diagnosis must occur seven years after the end of exposure to pesticides, and the last is that the victim must have contributed to CNESST during his or her career.

Faced with these strict criteria, victims often find themselves without any help in connection with their injury.

Campaigning for recognition of illnesses and setting up an aid fund

Founded in December 2019 by Mr. Boily, Victimes des pesticides du Québec has several missions. One of these is to campaign for diseases such as multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and cognitive disorders to be added to the list of pesticide-related occupational illnesses, as is the case in France. In Quebec, the only disease that enjoys this status is Parkinson's.

The organization is also fighting for a fund to be set up to help victims, as is the case in other European countries.

Gabriele Colasurdo, Director of Science and Research at Myeloma Canada and VPQ Board member, is alarmed: "We are very concerned by the fact that governments and part of the medical community do not understand the impact of certain pesticides on several serious diseases on the rise, such as myeloma, even though there is an accumulation of scientific evidence".

No public funds to support VPQ

At a time when scandals are piling up around the extreme lobbying of the pesticide industry, and Health Canada is taking no action to guarantee the protection of the health of professionals exposed to pesticides, VPQ has received no provincial or federal funding since it was founded. Serge Boily, co-founder and himself a victim, appeals to Mr. Legault and Mr. Trudeau: " How is it possible to defend ourselves without any help against a pesticide industry that makes billions? Pesticides are a collective responsibility, and it is urgent to act on the health front, to give ourselves the means to help victims and reduce risks as much as possible.And yet, today we are at an impasse". 

For this second edition of its provincial tour, scheduled to run until October 27, the organization will be making stops in Quebec City, Gatineau, Trois-Rivières and Victoriaville.During these conference evenings, the organization will give the floor to experts and pesticide victims, with the screening of the report L'héritage des pesticides produced by La semaine verte. 

The organization can count on the participation and involvement of numerous players in the field, including Louis Robert, agronomist and whistle-blower; Sophie Mongeon, lawyer specializing in the defence of workers' compensation claimants; Francesca Cicchetti, researcher and professor at Laval University; Félix Lapan, from the Union des travailleuses et travailleurs accidentés ou malades (uttam); and many others, who will offer their visions of a healthier Quebec.

This tour is made possible by the support of numerous partners (SUCO, Desjardins, Lush, Régénérations Canada, Vigilance OGM and VPQ6 organizational members).

In parallel, meetings with politicians will be held to discuss with elected officials and take action to change provincial and federal pesticide regulations.