Important Petition Update : Recently we learned that our petition’s first  ask for seven hours of peace and quiet from aircraft noise (during the night ) was addressed  some 65 years ago in August of 1959 (!). The Dorval City Council in a unanimous resolution sent to the attention of the then Federal Minister of Transport , George Hees established a first precedent on “ the noise problem in Dorval.”
     The resolution was simple and to the point. It read : “ Unanimously resolved , to request the Honourable Minister of Transport NOT to grant permission to pure jet aircraft to land or take off at Dorval Airport during NORMAL SLEEPING HOURS.” This resolution resulted a year later , in a series of flight operation changes at the then Dorval Airport ( predecessor to present day YULMontréal-Trudeau international airport). The flight changes were announced in a letter from the Minister of Transport to the City of Dorval on July 26,1960 assuring among other things that “…no flights by jet aircraft are to be scheduled to arrive or depart at Dorval between the hours of midnight and 6:00a.m. ; and that no training flights by jet aircraft are to take place between 10:00p.m. and 7:00a.m. “(source :letter from the Office of The Minister of Transport to the City of Dorval dated July 26,1960) . The Minister of Transport George Hees signed his 1960 letter with these words “ You may rest assured that we will continue to do everything possible to overcome the noise problem at Dorval.”
     The Dorval City Council resolution (1959) and the Ministerial letter ( 1960) give further legitimacy & bolster our petition because they establish the principle of protecting & respecting “ normal sleeping hours” from aircraft noise and more importantly actually set a clear precedent and time period for no flights during the nighttime from midnight to 6:a.m.

     In 2024 the ADM authority at YUL Montréal-Trudeau should not only be improving on this precedent but refrain from undermining it with a 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. no scheduled flights period . Five hours is not enough ADM. The minimum no nighttime flight period should be seven hours, health science tells us as much ! Don’t rollback what we already gained in 1960 !!