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Nearly 500 people — including public health department workers — have been working in a building with asbestos and mould owned by the city of Montreal, their union representative says.

The building, located in La Fontaine Park, houses the CIUSSS Centre-Est-de-l’Île, a daycare and borough employees in charge of maintaining the park.

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The situation has reportedly forced a number of employees to leave work on sick leaves related to inhaling mould particles.

One worker, who asked not to have her name published for fear of repercussions, said the mould can easily be seen on ceiling tiles and window edges.

Since moving into the building for work, she’s seen her pre-existing asthma symptoms worsen — she loses her breath, or gets a tightening feeling in her chest — and has needed to start taking medicine to help with her itchy eyes.

“You can smell it once you walk in, it stinks,” she said. “It smells like humidity, like old earth. It changes from one room to another, sometimes it just smells like dust, like when you haven’t cleaned your house for a long time. But it smells almost everywhere.”