At a public meeting on April 19, Ritchot’s council approved an application to open a meat-processing plant in Ste. Agathe. The decision was made in front of a full house.
The proposal was for a conditional use permit to establish an abattoir (slaughterhouse) and meat-packing facility in the Riel Industrial Park.
A second request was also made by the applicant for a variation to the RM’s 10-acre requirement, reducing it to 5.4 acres on two lots on Batoche Way.
Prior to the meeting, council received 57 letters and emails demonstrating opposition to the abattoir setting up shop here. Over the course of the Wednesday evening meeting, council heard from 13 attendees, all there to voice adamant opposition.
One individual approached council in a demonstration of support, citing the upstanding character of the applicant, Muuxi Adam. This attendee was not a resident of Ste. Agathe.
After much deliberation, council voted in favour of accepting the conditional use permit. However, the vote was divided, with three in favour and two against.
A second vote followed for the land variation request. It was also approved by council with the same division of votes.
The Applicant and His Request
Muuxi Adam attended the meeting via video in order to delineate every detail of his proposal for the proposed plant, Iman Freshest Meat. The facility is expected to comprise 3,000 square feet of space with the potential to expand to 5,000 square feet sometime in the future.
Here, Adam and his five to eight employees intend to process, from start to finish, approximately 3,000 chickens per week for bulk sale.
Adam’s poultry will cater to a distinct local market, as the birds will be processed as halal meat, which requires a specific butchering technique.
Adam says he’s been running his halal meat distribution business for years. Unfortunately, he’s been unable to source halal chickens from any meat processors in the province. Currently, Adam’s company ships halal meat from Maple Leaf in Alberta.
“The issue is, we like to buy local,” Adam told those gathered. “We like to support the local farmers.”
Adam assured those in attendance that no live animals would be stored on site at any time and no other animals, apart from poultry, would be processed at the Ste. Agathe plant.
“The highest levels of animal welfare will be maintained,” said Adam. “Poultry will be processed as received and there’ll be no holding of live birds onsite for future processing.”
According to Adam, the facility will be equipped with high-tech automation, allowing them to process 500 to 600 chickens per hour, from the delivery truck right to the freezer.
All organic waste resulting from the process, including blood and condemned birds, will be stored indoors in leak-proof containers and picked up by a rendering company or disposal truck headed for the Brady Landfill, usually on the same day that the butchering takes place.
“We intend to run a very clean and neat operation,” Adam said.
New technologies will be used and practices put in place to ensure that odours are contained within the facility.
Finally, he added, a provincial inspector will be onsite every time a butchering process takes place.
“In order for us to receive the license, we have to apply to the province of Manitoba for a class-two facility,” Adam said. “On top of that, we have to comply… with the Canadian Food and Inspection agency… Our facility will not only meet but it will exceed all the requirements for the environment and food processing.”
Objections, Rebuttals, and Responses
More than one person in attendance argued with Adam’s claim that only three litres of water will be required to process each bird.
Concerned for the community’s resources, another resident told council that he’s done his own research and the actual water consumption for poultry processing is anywhere from 20 to 37 litres per chicken.
“That is [a lot] of water going into the sewer system,” he said. “He has a plan of starting with 3,000 chickens per week, granting up to 3,000 chickens per day. That’s over 100,000 litres of water going into the sewer system, which is the same as approximately 225 average households. Can the lagoon handle that?”
He questioned, too, whether an environmental impact study would be prudent before approval of such a plant. His concerns revolved around unpleasant odours, airborne pathogens, pests, and the like. All these things, he added, would affect property values in the area. Based on his research, every community with a similar abattoir business has experienced a reduction in resale value.
In response, Councillor Shane Pelletier cited the Granny’s Poultry facility in Blumenort. That, he said, is an exponentially larger operation, and to date there is no evidence that property values have been negatively affected or that odours are a concern to locals.
Regarding water consumption, Adam added some further clarity. His facility, he said, would be equipped with an air-chilling process as opposed to water-chilling, preventing the overuse of this natural resource.
Aleah Nelson of Ste. Agathe made her plea to council, too, asking them to consider the sheer volume of community opposition. Prior to the meeting, Nelson began a social media page to inform residents of the abattoir permit request.
According to Nelson, more than 100 people responded with their opposition.
“It is a resounding no from the community,” she told council. “Over a hundred people [represents] roughly 23 percent of our population that are saying no to this. And that’s not counting all of the people who are unaware of it.”
She echoed some of the previous concerns over noxious odours and environmental impacts. She had other worries about the proposed future expansion of the facility, questioning the applicant’s intent based on the obscurity of the details provided.
“I just don’t want this to be a short-sighted decision… when it comes to keeping people in the community happy and enjoying their quality of life,” Nelson said in closing.
A resident named Joan approached the council table on behalf of her autistic son. Her boy, she informed council, lives with extremely heightened senses.
“As a mom, this [proposal] is really scary for me,” she said. “This plant may say that there is not going to be a smell. But if there is, we can’t stay there. So I implore you to really do your due diligence. I am just speaking for the people that can’t speak for themselves.”
Yet another resident pleaded with council to consider the potential environmental impacts of placing this kind of facility in a flood zone, which could result in unintended hazardous runoff during a bad year.
She also echoed worries over the strains that the abattoir could cause to the community water and sewer system.
“If they’re just using a bunch of our resources and that’s it, then what’s the benefit to us?” she asked council. “To me, this will just be a big economic loss.”
Pelletier responded to the concerns over odour and the lack of information provided about its control.
“The fact that they don’t go into full detail on their ventilation system [is because] they can’t spend a $100,000 on engineering drawings on a building that might not happen,” Pelletier said. “The province is [very strict] on abattoirs here.”
Councillor Janine Boulanger also weighed in, hoping to counter insinuations made by some residents that suggest council as a group is in it purely for the money.
“That couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Boulanger said. “It’s never about the money for us.”
Council Debate
Following all this feedback, council began a round of debate, resulting in the addition of two further conditions to the abattoir permit. First, no storage of any kind will be permitted outside of the facility building. And air-chilling would be a requirement in order to operate.
Even so, Boulanger admitted that she has doubts about the potential risks this kind of facility might pose to the community. As well, the overwhelming objection, she said, couldn’t be ignored.
“We’ve had many discussions in the past where the residents were opposed,” said Boulanger. “Whether we agreed with them or not… we look out for the entire community. I see the entire community here. In the seven years that we’ve been here, I haven’t seen this strong of an opposition, and I can’t ignore that.”
Pelletier came to another conclusion. “This isn’t Maple Leaf,” he said. “This isn’t the corner of Marion and Lagimodiere. It’s a different thing altogether. The regulations right now are way different for this kind of facility.”
Second Variation Request
Following council’s split decision to accept the abattoir, many disgruntled residents chose to exit council chambers.
One resident hung back, making a further inquiry into the second motion to which council had yet to vote on: the variation application.
“Not only is this something that we don’t want, but now they want to do it on less land,” she told council. “That should just not be allowed. Especially if they intend to expand.”
This prompted further council debate over the reasoning behind the 10-acre requirement. In Adam’s case, it’s almost double the acreage needed for his proposed facility.
“I think you have to pick an overall size for these businesses,” CAO Mitch Duval said. “We would more than likely have patterned ourselves from other surrounding municipalities that have these types of industries.”
“The zoning is because abattoirs and slaughterhouses cover a wide range of varying industries,” Pelletier added. “[But] slaughtering a pig [compared to] a chicken is a totally different game.”
Prior to council’s vote, one final condition was added to the variation agreement. In the future, if the applicant chooses to expand beyond 4,500 square feet of space, another application for a conditional use permit would be required.
