Friday, January 9, 2026
The government of Canada ordered Superior General Partner Inc. on Jan. 7 to pay a fine of $1.35 million by the Court of Québec for violating the Fisheries Act.
The company pleaded guilty to 12 counts of depositing sodium chlorite into water frequented by fish between June 27 and July 19, 2019, in violation of the Fisheries Act, a government of Canada release said.
The release added the company and the individual pleaded guilty to one count each of violating the same law by failing to immediately notify the authorities about the deposits. The total fine will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund.
The company owned and operated the ERCO MONDIAL chemical manufacturing plant in Gatineau at the time of the violations, the release said. Jean-François Roux, the plant’s technical and environmental director at the time of the violations, was fined $15,000.
On July 24, 2019, a representative of the plant informed Environment and Climate Change Canada that sodium chlorite had been deposited into Rivière du Lièvre in the plant’s final effluent on July 19, 2019, a result of equipment failure.
An investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada determined sodium chlorite was deposited 12 times between June 27 and July 19, 2019. Officers also found employees had been slow to identify the leak and that five days had elapsed before the ministry was notified.
Rivière du Lièvre flows into the Ottawa River and is home to several species of fish, including smallmouth bass, brook trout, walleye, and muskellunge.
