Testimony : Samuelle Ramsay-Houle From Les Pierres du Nord Company

Samuelle Ramsay-Houle, is the owner of the Les Pierres du nord company is specialized in colourful decorative stones as well as a type of schist stone in landscape design. The company has two quarries, one in Abitibi and the other in Témiscamingue. In this video, Samuelle Ramsey-Houle explains the source and integration of her environmental values into her work.

Transcription

Environmental values are at the core of the business. It comes from many ‘places’… My dad, as a prospector… is looking to exploit ore, yes, but he was always aware of nature, because he worked in nature all his life. He went across the whole land. Like I said earlier, he walked it, he dug it, he saw it, he knows it. Yes, there is a will to exploit it, but there is also a will to preserve this land, because we love it, because we embraced it.

By being in nature, we have no choice but to respect and want to preserve it, and to want… to not develop at the expense of this nature. I think there is a smart way to develop, well… at least I hope! I think we are in this niche (with the company), being able to develop a little bit, but without hurting or transforming it too much. Then again, my dad always had that concern, and it’s always been an internal battle for him, I’d say… to… and I think I have it in me as well, because it’s hard being on two fronts: to say we’re in the mining industry and we’re pro-environment, and that we want the exploitation to be done… but not at the expense of the environment. Of course, it is hard to reconcile these sectors, the mining industry and the environmental sphere, but, we always had both at heart, and I think that… that’s it… we have the will to reconcile both, to make sure we are able to exploit mines… without hurting the environment.

To view the full testimonial on TVC9 (in French), follow this link.