Publication of the book Zones Sacrifiées

A new book titled Zones sacrifiées was published in February 2025 by Éditions du Quartz. On the publisher’s website, it reads: “This book emerged from a collective, activist, and citizen-driven impulse initiated by the October 13, 2024 march in Rouyn-Noranda. […] It highlights anger, hope, and indignation through a collage of photos, testimonies, and raw citizen texts.”

This work is written by a collective of authors who responded to the call of the Mères au front of Rouyn-Noranda, including Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Véronique Côté, Steve Gagnon, Jennifer Ricard Turcotte, and Isabelle Fortin Rondeau.

In an article published by Radio-Canada on February 8, literary director at Éditions du Quartz, Marie Noëlle Blais, explains: “During a protest, there is a very, very particular energy. You feel numerous, alive, and embodied. It’s as if you know you’re exactly where you need to be. But it’s fleeting, it doesn’t last long. You’re together for two or three hours, and then everyone goes back to their lives. The idea behind the book was to make that permanent, to preserve a trace. The book is, in fact, something eternal.”

This book is part of the Brûlot series, which addresses unsettling and provocative topics. In this series, there is also the book Arsenic mon amour, published in 2023, written by two young citizens of Rouyn-Noranda, Gabrielle Izaguirré-Falardeau and Jean-Lou David, who explore their relationship with the Horne smelter.