VARENNES, Que. – Several homes in the Montreal area were temporarily evacuated on the morning of March 21, after a leak of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) occurred in the chloride process unit of a Kronos Canada pigment-manufacturing plant in Varennes. The company, which creates a whitening agent called titanium dioxide, estimated in a press release that about three cubic metres of TiCl4 had spilled in the production unit at approximately 10:00 a.m. that day. The release added that the leak had resulted in no injuries or contamination to any Kronos employees and that the situation was under control. “Kronos Canada has implemented all usual environmental emergency and safety rules and procedures,” the company said, adding that it was “working in cooperation with the environmental and municipal authorities to take all appropriate measures to protect the population and the environment.” Three plant workers and two local residents received medical treatment following the leak, according to media reports.