Hidden Hazards

Environmental injustice can be defined as the phenomenon where racialized and low-income communities experience disproportionate exposure to environmental burdens (i.e., living next to environmentally polluting facilities, landfills, and abandoned industrial sites) and fewer environmental benefits (i.e., access to green space).

Peterborough City and County, Ontario are no stranger to such inequalities. There are two Indigenous reserves within the colonial administrative boundary of the County, and both have experienced long-term boil water advisories due to  insufficient water treatment .   In the City of Peterborough, low income urban residents tend to be in close proximity to the city’s greatest polluters, such as the now-closed  General Electric facility , and the repurposed  Westclox building. 

There is an important story to be told about this area and the environmental struggles it faces, though it is one that has been shrouded in secrecy. The  Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough ,  Kawartha World Issues Centre , academics at Trent University and the University of Toronto, and a team of students from Fleming College's GIS program have all teamed up to bring this story to the public. On a quest to find answers, more questions arise. The following story is only the first few pieces of a puzzle that is still developing.

Highlighting study area, First Nations land and facilities required to report to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)

There are several factories in the City of Peterborough that have damaged the environment. For example, the old Westclox building was a  source of trichloroethylene (TCE)  contamination during its operation from the early 1920s until the mid-1980s. TCE has remained in the soil, which was  recently uncovered two years ago  as part of the construction for the new Canadian Canoe Museum.  Peterborough Public Health  notes that TCE "health risk is dependent on several factors," which include level, length, and susceptibility to exposure.

The effects of General Electric have been well documented. The factory ceased production in 2018, though by that point the damage had already been done for so many workers. Not only was there a range of toxic chemicals used at the plant, but there was a general lack of education and training given to workers regarding safe use of these materials. As a result, GE employees make up a part of a so-called  ‘cancer cluster’ , indicating higher rates of incidence among GE employees than among Ontarians as a whole.

In addition, employees were given  cheap excess asbestos  to insulate their homes around the factory. Many current owners of these homes may be unaware of this toxic legacy. Thus, the surrounding neighbourhood may be more affected than is currently known.

The new occupants of the General Electric property are BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc., a company which manufactures “ nuclear fuel bundles from uranium dioxide fuel pellets made in Toronto, and zircalloy tubes manufactured in house ”. The company is licensed for a maximum capacity of “ 150 Mg of uranium per month. ”

Neighbourhood residents have organized against the production of fuel pellets because they are concerned about the potential for beryllium contamination, a heavy metal and known carcinogen.  Trent University researchers  noted that while the concentrations remain safe, beryllium levels have “steadily and significantly increased in soil samples taken in the vicinity of BWXT since recording began in 2014.” They further note that this is “likely driven by significant increases in air concentrations, which is particularly worrying because beryllium can be toxic if inhaled.” The highest concentrations were found around the Prince of Wales School.

Many Indigenous communities across Ontario and Canada have experienced decades-long boil water advisories and a lack of clean drinking water. The two reserves in the County of Peterborough have dealt with this ongoing issue.  Hiawatha First Nation’s water system  upgrade has been in the works for a few years, while  Curve Lake First Nation  brought a class action lawsuit over their lack of clean water. Progress has been made in these Nations, though there is still a way to go to truly improve their access to clean water.

With the press coverage of the toxic legacy at GE, the soil contamination from Westclox and the lack of clean drinking water at Hiawatha and Curve Lake, it would be reasonable to assume that data has been generated tracking these harms; however the current reality is characterized by knowledge gaps and incomplete data. Given the negative view of housing near industrial areas and stigmatizing expressions like “the wrong side of the tracks”, the lack of robust data stewardship around the connection between income, race, heightened exposure to neighborhood contaminants and risk of chronic illness is baffling.

Significant questions arise from these gaps in knowledge. For instance, it is fair for communities to expect that governments are tracking the rates and types of waterborne illness on reserves with known water issues. But this simply isn't the case. Why isn’t this data being collected and maintained in a way that is mappable and actionable? And who should be held accountable for this lack of data to inform justice-oriented solutions to environmental problems?

Despite the roadblocks that the lack of data create and a census data structure best described as a labyrinth, clear trends did emerge that demonstrate a need for community and government action, especially where income and proximity to neighborhood contaminants undeniably meet.

Income | Proximity to Environmental Harm | Community Housing | Greenspace

aka You Can't Drink Money

The national conversation around lack of safe water for First Nations people in Canada has been ongoing for years and is widely known within the international community as a  human rights violation . Considering that the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act first came into effect in  2013 , it is a reasonable public health expectation that part of the accountability process would include a large-scale effort to collect robust data on waterborne illness prevalence on all reserves.  Policy makers have not been collecting data  and tracking diseases known to stem from water contamination in First Nations communities in a way that is quantifiable and mappable.

The inability to quantify and map the extent of the unsafe water toll on Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations stems from this nationwide dearth of conclusive data collection. It’s easier to avoid specific and actionable steps, without detailed epidemiology on the ground. Put simply,  “the ‘black hole’ of information is intentional because it allows authorities to duck responsibility” .

Improving our approach to data

Improved data collection and healthier communities are intertwined -- without data on how race and income intersect with environmental harm, municipalities are inclined to minimize or ignore the issue and the public remains uninformed on the true scope of the issue of environmental injustice. Similar to the federal government’s lack of tracking on waterborne illness on reserves, a lack of data lets policy makers off the hook and puts residents in harm’s way.

Given the urgency of measurable action to improve health and quality of life outcomes for residents of wards that are less ‘politically convenient’ to address, the goal for the first phase of this project is to motivate and bolster community members working to advance a healthy Peterborough County. Municipalities have much to gain from prioritizing and fully funding public health; the pandemic has illustrated the devastating consequences of ignoring the systemic fault lines that lead to worse outcomes. 

Cities that focus on chronic disease prevention and environmental accountability instead of a ‘too little, too late’ reaction will be the best poised to deal with the complex threats posed by climate change and the growing chasm of social, economic, and racial inequality that destabilizes communities.

The pandemic ushered in a growing recognition that social and environmental determinants of health are far more important than their current resourcing would imply. But we’re flying in the dark. In many cases we need more far more information in order to better understand, and address, the impacts of environmental racism.

The public deserves less data avoidance and more data collection, less data gatekeeping and more data stewardship.