Share Your Story – ECOASIS

Share Your Story

Does Anybody Care ?
Renée Gabrych

I am tired of living in hell
Olly Gabrych

Housing Crisis for People with MCS
Line

Two days later, the landlord threatened to evict me
Ruth

Sometimes I had to become homeless
Anonymous

Sometimes I had to become homeless

Anonyme

For many years I lived in a housing co-op as a tenant and had to constantly watch out for neighbour’s chemical use and even the renovations they were doing. Even planned renovations were an issue since the products made me have to leave my residence and become homeless while they off-gassed. Sometimes I had to become ‘homeless’ for months. Also following renovations, I had to live in my apartment with the windows open even in very low temperatures, so that the chemicals could off-gas, and I could breathe without pain. I now own a home. And as I get older, the burden of my health condition [makes] it hard to manage a home and I worry about financial security since the costs of maintenance are high.

Who is ECOASIS For?

ECOASIS is more than a housing complex, it is a community for anyone who experiences the disability of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), a health condition that leaves many vulnerable, neglected, and isolated in today’s society.

Quebec has long ignored the population experiencing MCS and has failed to provide the proper services, resources, and support that it urgently needs. It is time to create awareness of this disability, within the general population, on the rising prevalence and seriousness of MCS in Quebec (251, 000 diagnosed cases, Statistics Canada, 2020).

ECOASIS aims to fill the gap of healthy, affordable housing that is currently being ignored, and to provide a healthy space for the MCS community to regain strength, health, and social connection.

The foundation for any healing process is a healthy living environment. ECOASIS is that foundation; affordable, healthy housing with clean air, clean water, organic food, and a strong supportive community.

A New way to Live and Build

ECOASIS is the first project of its kind. A project that will benefit us, and future generations, on living without pollutants in our environment. ECOASIS will focus on having the best indoor air quality possible; and its benefits to personal and public health, and our environment.

ECOASIS will provide a solid foundation for good health and a new way of living by using the least-toxic available products across all facilities and applications, to ensure an optimal level of air quality. This will be achieved not only through product choices, but also through a variety of methods to encourage offgassing of chemicals, which include a process known as ‘baking’ as a means to clear harmful VOCs from the ECOASIS living spaces and by using the highest efficiency ventilation systems available.

ECOASIS will exemplify a new way of building by reducing electricity consumption, leaning into solar energy, planning for and installing effective mechanical ventilation, choosing the most healthy and eco-friendly building materials, and ensuring strict management of the worksite to prevent significant chemical exposures.