Climate change conference highlights ignored issue

Sarah Weibe was one of many young people participating in the conference.

Casey Dorrell
caseydorrell@gmail.ca

The 850-member Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia has a pollution problem that won’t go away.

Several major oil companies operate refineries in the area in addition to the chlorine producing industry that operates there. Dubbed “chemical valley,” the plants spewed out more greenhouse gases in 2005 than all of British Columbia according to National Pollutant Release Inventory numbers, a publicly funded venture which tracks pollution in Canada.

The problems facing the Aamjiwnaang people were one of several topics discussed last weekend at a climate change conference at Dalhousie University.

The conference, “Environmental Violence and Conflict: Implications for Global Security,” saw academics from all over Canada gather to discuss climate change.

Sarah Wiebe gave a lecture about “chemical valley” and its nearby residents.

“I’d like to really raise awareness of this issue because it’s not only in Sarnia that we see this,” said the University of Ottawa doctoral candidate.

“I think we see it across Canada. I know there are a lot of First Nations reserves that are next to toxic sites.”

Almost 30 per cent of pregnancies on the Aamjiwnaang reserve end in miscarriage, 40 per cent of residents use inhalers and people are dying younger than in the rest of Canada, a 2005 study found.

The federal government refuted the research done by the Sarnia Occupational Health and Safety Clinic, saying that the sample size was too small, but few deny there’s a problem.

Although the excessive pollution in Sarnia had been widely reported two years ago, little has happened – something Wiebe blames on political inaction and confusion.

The federal government is responsible for health policy for First Nations reserves yet the province of Ontario is in charge of its environmental policy, explained Wiebe after her lecture. She said the relatively new area of environmental health has left policy makers struggling with what to do.

She also said that the first step is for the federal government to do a community health study.

“But there’s been this total refusal for them to do the science.

“The problem is that when you look at the economy, chemical production is so important. We have oil-based products in everything – bottled water to lipstick, these products are really driving the economy,” she said.

A self-described “white middle-class colonialist,” Wiebe said she was once uncomfortable speaking about aboriginal issues. She’s since changed her mind provided she’s always speaking with them rather than for them.

And there are Aamjiwnaang people voicing their concerns – people like Ron Plain, who has spoken out about the pollution in the media for years, asserting that he would never leave his home in several documentaries.

The activist recently did make the difficult decision to move citing the fact that his son was unable to walk the streets without puffing on an inhaler because of the air quality.

“I think going forward, bringing a bit of activism to an academic career is something I’m interested in,” explained Wiebe.

David Black, director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, said he was pleased with the conference, in part because of lecturers like Wiebe.

“Many of the presenters are younger scholars who are in the process of developing a depth of expertise in this area that didn’t exist 10 years ago. So that’s very promising for the future because this issue is only going to become more and more crucial.”