Beausite Métal Inc. has been fined $40,000 after pleading guilty in a Quebec court to violating the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, following its failure to comply with a federal environmental protection compliance order related to PCBs.
According to a court bulletin, the guilty plea was entered on December 17, 2025, and stems from the company’s failure to carry out corrective measures required under an environmental protection compliance order related to the handling and disposal of equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
PCBs are toxic industrial chemicals known to persist in the environment and accumulate in the tissues of humans and wildlife, posing long-term risks to aquatic ecosystems and species that rely on them. Canada’s PCB Regulations, introduced in 2008, are intended to prevent releases of the substances and accelerate their phase-out by limiting storage periods and setting deadlines for destruction.
In addition to the fine, the court ordered Beausite Métal inc. to implement a series of measures to restore compliance with the Act and its PCB Regulations.
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Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) enforcement officers first inspected Beausite Métal’s site in Val-des-Sources, Quebec, on May 4, 2022. The inspection identified unused equipment — including electrical transformers, pole-top transformers, capacitors and ballasts — containing PCBs at concentrations exceeding the regulatory limit of 50 milligrams per kilogram.
On July 25, 2022, enforcement officers issued an environmental protection compliance order requiring, among other measures, the disposal and destruction of the PCB-contaminated equipment by a specified deadline. The company challenged the order before the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada, but the tribunal upheld the order on October 11, 2023.
Follow-up inspections conducted between May 22 and May 24, 2024, found that key requirements of the order had not been met. The PCB-contaminated equipment slated for disposal and destruction remained on site, according to enforcement officers.
Failure to comply with an environmental protection compliance order constitutes a violation of subsection 238(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.
As a result of the conviction, Beausite Métal inc. will be added to the federal Environmental Offenders Registry, which publicly lists corporate convictions under select federal environmental laws.
