Who put a gag order on the consultants who are conducting the city of Pointe Claire’s public forums for its urban plan that forbid any resident from discussing the future of the wooded area north of Highway 40 known as Fairview Forest?

That is the question residents who recently attended a consultation meeting were asking members of Pointe Claire council last week. And so far, the answer is still not entirely clear.

It’s a situation described by one resident as “outrageous.”

“The evening’s consultation had been long awaited, long anticipated as its focus was on the environment – a hot topic, as we know, in Pointe Claire,” said resident Ralph Stocek, describing the public forum held Oct. 25. “Yet, we were forbidden to discuss the most important environmental decision the city faces – Fairview Forest.”

“What exactly were the instructions from the city that allowed such an outrage to occur?” Stocek asked council last week.

According to Stocek and others who took their turn during the question period at last week’s council meeting, the consultant hired by the city to host the public forums to solicit residents’ input on the city’s urban plan informed those in attendance that due to what was referred to as “judicial considerations,” the topic of Fairview was off limits.

“What judicial consideration forces the city to cancel public input on the most important issue facing Pointe Claire?” Stocek asked. “What judicial consideration forces Pointe Claire to abandon the democratic participation by its citizens on the future of its last protected forest?”

In 2022, shortly after the city of Pointe Claire imposed a development freeze on many parts of the city as part of the process of updating its urban plan, Cadillac Fairview, which owns the forest west of its shopping mall, filed a lawsuit against the municipality.

Resident David Johnston referred to the inability to discuss the forest as a “gag order.”

“They couldn’t bring it up,” Johnson said, referring to the topic.

Said Stocek: “The consultant said nobody would be allowed to discuss Fairview Forest.”

“No mention of it, he emphasized,” Stocek added, referring to the consultant, who reportedly continued: “No mention of Fairview Forest would appear in any of the documentation and any of the reports coming forth.”

“The political wars and the legal battles are one thing, but the voice of the citizens should not be denied like that,” Stocek continued. “In my mind, the city’s actions here are kind of suspect.”

“Why can’t we say Cadillac Fairview?” asked Lynn Conway when it was her turn to ask council a question. Conway attended the Oct. 25 consultation meeting as well.

“We should still be able to say what we would like north of Highway 40 west of St. John’s,” she added. “We weren’t allowed to say anything like that.”

In response, Pointe Claire Mayor Tim Thomas promised to inquire what instructions were given to the consulting firm Groupe BC2 for the session. Contacted Monday, Thomas said he has yet to get an answer from city administrators.

“I have demanded a meeting with the (city director general) and the consulted,” Thomas said in an interview.

“I am concerned a key part of our consultations is flawed,” he added. “We should have to revisit this part of the consultation. You can’t alter your methodology. You need to get an accurate reflection of people’s views.”

According to a city spokesperson, participants at the Oct. 25 consultation were clearly told the topic for the session was residents’ private property, and that the forested land would not be discussed. The reason Fairview Forest would not be discussed was the ongoing legal action launched by Cadillac Fairview.

“We understand that people are frustrated,” said Lucie Lemieux, Pointe Claire’s director of  communications.

She said the consultant said he would not deal with Fairview Forest and would not include any reference to the woods in his report in an attempt to focus the gathering on the narrow topic of private lots after one participant lost his temper. “It was not the topic of the day,” Lemieux said. The 43-acre forested area owned by Cadillac Fairview is currently under two development freezes imposed by the city of Pointe Claire as well as the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal.