Aamjiwnaang: A Canadian Community Under Siege
Visitors and other outsiders who pass through the now infamous “Chemical Valley,” which makes up much of Sarnia, Ontario, (about 100 km due west of London) still joke about the abusive smell that hovers menacingly and endlessly over the city’s south end.
Very few, visitors or others fail to realize that whole families are trying to stake out a life under those ominous clouds of escaped or released toxic gases. In fact, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, immediately amidst this bastion of square miles of pipes, stacks and release valves; appear to be at the mercy of “mad scientists;” who, can’t seem to stop a leak from any one of their massive compounds (by petroleum conglomerates.) These industrial giants create a chemical maze; emitting smoke, haze and stench over which no one, who should, seems to have any control.
It doesn’t take a report from the area plants or governments to realize that something toxic is not to be breathed or otherwise ingested into humans without paying some serious physical consequence. So the picture remains as it has for decades, if you live there, you find there are ceaseless hissing sounds from the plants and, smoke and steam billowing upward without end from any direction, no matter where you stand on Aamjiwnaang territory.
Meanwhile, Aamjiwnaang residents scramble like pilots on a flight deck when yet another area warning siren goes off signalling parents to grab their children and seek inside cover. While all homeowners tightly close their doors and windows and duck-tape all possible cracks in the home wherein mists of toxic chemical could seep.
There has been meeting upon meeting with the plants and the citizens, apparently dealing with these extremely difficult yet real-life scenarios. Today, many feel lives are at stake despite zero tolerance, regarding leaks and spills having been in place since 1987. Still the dangerous releases of all makeup go on, if not day after day, then week after week or month after month. No one, no single chemical conglomerate seems able to stop their leak or spill, needless to say, neither collectively, have they proved it can be done despite promises to do so.
The CEOs of these monoliths scurry for answers to leaks and spills only to report that it couldn’t be helped – for so many years that has been the standard. As if a flurry of activity after the fact is a sign of caring – only to show the same report time after time.
Well, who does or should know why they (the leaks) can’t be helped? After so many years at least that much should be known; rational thinking dictates it.
While we wait. While the status quo prevails. And, with that Aamjiwnaang alone seems to be paying the heaviest price. Several chemicals, including dioxin, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and hexachlorobenzene, a chemical used in rubber manufacturing, have been associated with excess female births or, perhaps even more dangerous; pre-empting successful male births.
Samples taken from around Talfourd Creek, a well known “playful” waterway that wends its way through the Aamjiwnaang reserve have been found to be contaminated with both PCBs and hexachlorobenzene, among other chemicals.
"There is certainly growing evidence that environmental chemicals, even at fairly low levels, can alter sex ratios," says Shanna Swan, a professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia, who has conducted research linking poor sperm quality to pesticide exposure.
Another shocking eventuality resulting from these toxic releases, one strongly believed linked to the virtual immersion of Aamjiwnaang residents into the gaseous atmosphere of unknown toxins, are children being born with unimaginable physical figurements. Of most concern is the male child of Karla, he was born with a full left arm which contains no bones from above the elbow; about the middle upper arm, to his finger tips.
Karla says that she, through research was able to compare her son’s birth defect with those children of the Chernobyl (Russia) nuclear plant disaster. She found each defect mysteriously and frighteningly similar. These children are, too, being born with full body parts but no bones in the same arm as Karla’s child.
The plant at Chernobyl was the site of the worst man-made nuclear disaster of our time; contaminating and disfiguring animals and humans alike for miles around. Disaster upon human and disaster is still occurring at birth for many, many of these victims. Underscoring for all-time what leaks and spills can lead to. The humans and animals from Chernobyl are still dying from forms of cancer from that 1970s calamity, though they have moved away from and live many miles from the original site.
To their great credit, having tired of endless, meaningless explanations of why their territory is so, without precedent, contaminated beyond safe means, Aamjiwnaang this winter called a (summit) meeting with all stakeholders – those responsible for polluting and/or cleanup.
As a result, Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, met with members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia on Tuesday, January 24, 2006, to discuss jurisdictional responsibilities for environmental issues. Representatives from federal, provincial and municipal governments and agencies also attended the meeting.
“This meeting led to greater understanding for all of us about the environmental situation here,” said Miller after the meeting. “There is now greater clarity on the mandates of the various levels of government on who does what and who doesn’t do what.”
There was general agreement at the meeting that attempts should be made to find opportunities to do things differently and to find ways to make information flow more readily between parties.
“We were able to reach an agreement on plans for the future,” said Ron Plain, Chairperson of the Aamjiwnaang Environmental Committee. “We also plan to continue the dialogue beyond this meeting in order to tackle other problems.”
Empirical evidence; empirical law appears to show there is no fail-safe means to end the leaks and escapes of toxins, perhaps because of the sheer size of each site. Can the scientific community conclude the same within natural laws as well?