UN expert: Canada’s toxic waste policy shows disdain for Indigenous rights

The  Canadian genocide continues.

The Suncor tar sands processing plant near the Athabasca River near Fort McMurray. Tuncak spent two weeks touring areas of concern across the country. Photograph: Todd Korol/Reuters

Canada’s handling of toxic chemicals and industrial waste shows a “blatant disregard for Indigenous rights”, a UN human rights expert has said following an extensive fact-finding mission in the country.

Baskut Tuncak, the special rapporteur on toxic chemicals, called on Canada to improve its monitoring of hazardous materials in the country – and to better engage with the Indigenous people who live near harmful pollution.

Tuncak spent two weeks touring areas of concern across the country, including the county’s infamous tar sands and the Indigenous community of Grassy Narrows, which has fought for more than five decades to have toxic mercury removed from its waters. He released his preliminary findings on Thursday in Ottawa.

Despite the vast geographic scope of his mission, a common element in many of the most troubling areas of contamination was their proximity to Indigenous communities. Numerous communities were unable access to clean drinking water, while others had elevated levels of toxins in the water and soil.

At the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Ontario, Tuncak found the community surrounded by chemical facilities.

He told the Guardian: “I was struck by the incredible proximity of the affected First Nation to dozens of intense chemical production and processing facilities, which resulted in incredible releases of pollution and waste affecting the [residents’] health.” MORE

A new study says there are ‘strikingly high’ rates of cancer in some Ontario industrial cities

“Recent federal air monitoring data released to Global News by Environment and Climate Change Canada shows that benzene levels in Aamjiwnaang First Nation, on the south side of Sarnia, were three times the regulated annual limit in 2017.”

Dermatologist Ivan Litvinov speaks about new scientific research in an interview with National Observer and Global News in Montreal on May 10, 2019. Photo by Global News

For years, residents in some of Canada’s largest industrial cities have wondered whether toxins from petrochemical plants and other manufacturers are making them sick.

A new peer-reviewed study has found “strikingly high” rates of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in Canadian border towns, including Sarnia, Ont., a city whose manufacturing sector is referred to as Canada’s Chemical Valley.

The study reviewed 18,085 Canadian cases of AML between 1992 and 2010. It found hot spots for this type of leukemia in several Canadian cities, including Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia and St. Catharines.

Sarnia was at the top of the list.

VIDEO: Journalist Megan Robinson reports on a new study about elevated levels of a type of leukemia in several industrial cities. Video by Global News

Local residents in Sarnia have long been raising public health concerns about the impacts of industrial pollution. The city is surrounded by 57 companies which are registered to emit pollutants, including oil refineries and other chemical plants on either side of the U.S.-Canada border. MORE