Angered by incessant plane noise at Montreal-Trudeau Airport, Montrealers announce they are having to lock themselves at home because the volume exceeds public health standards.
“It’s uncomfortable, we can’t hear each other speak anymore. When we take the kids to the park on Sundays, it passes two minutes above our heads, sighs Jean-François Normand, who has lived in the Villeray district for 15 years.
He claims that with air travel, the volume and frequency of aircraft is increasing year after year until it becomes unsustainable.
One day he measured the noise level in his garden with his phone: 80 decibels, which is equivalent to the sound of an alarm clock, a factory or a busy restaurant.
To avoid headaches, the family man stays indoors in the summer with the doors and windows closed.
Functions
Although the Villeray district is more than 15 km from Montreal-Trudeau Airport, it aligns with the southern runway.
Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) announced that a majority of the aircraft will be diverted to this runway until June 23 due to the continuation of work on the northern runway.
But for a citizens’ initiative against noise pollution, which has been mobilized since 2012, the problem goes far beyond one-off work.
Photo Pierre Paul Poulin
Les Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau have installed community measurement stations at various locations in Montreal.
“It never ends. It’s non-stop. Either they demolish or they build,” says the founder of Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau, Antoine Bécotte.
The group has installed ten municipal noise monitoring stations in Montreal, including some in Ahuntsic, Villeray and Saint-Michel, locations aligned with the runways but where ADM does not have a station.
The data collected shows that the noise generated by aircraft sometimes peaks at 70 decibels, and in some places as high as 85 decibels.
Beyond the standards
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that aircraft noise should not exceed an average of 45 decibels during the day and 40 decibels at night.
“That’s an average. Real life events are much more disturbing. […] The noise comes from the surrounding noise, it is very recognizable,” emphasizes Mathieu Gauthier, scientific advisor at the Quebec Institute of Public Health.
“Noise levels can have a variety of health effects, such as cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders, reduced quality of life,” explains Louis-François Tétreault, an expert at the Montreal Regional Health Department.
In an email, Aéroports de Montréal said it was “too early” to assess the complaints related to the work on the northern runway.
The spokesman, Eric Forest, declined to comment further as no class action lawsuit has been heard from the Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau on the issue.
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