"An area of Fort Albany (on Anderson Island) is contaminated with PCBs. Concentrations of up to 21,000 ppm were found in soil, and 550 ppm in plants, providing clear evidence that contamination is entering the food chain. Material that contains over 50 parts per million (ppm) PCBs is regulated under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and soil contamination over this concentration represents a legal contravention."
Findings of the Environmental Sciences Group, 1999; v1. In "Remediation of Site 050 of the Mid-Canada Radar Line: Identifying Potential Sites of Concern Utilizing Traditionals Environmental Knowledge", by Leonard J.S. Tsuji, John Kataquapit, Billy Katapuk & Guy Ianucci (p. 159)
Findings of the Environmental Sciences Group, 1999; v1. In "Remediation of Site 050 of the Mid-Canada Radar Line: Identifying Potential Sites of Concern Utilizing Traditionals Environmental Knowledge", by Leonard J.S. Tsuji, John Kataquapit, Billy Katapuk & Guy Ianucci (p. 159)
CONTAMINATION OF THE WESTERN JAMES BAY & WESTERN HUDSON'S BAY REGIONS DUE TO ABANDONED MID CANADA LINE (MCL) RADAR SITES (1957- Current day)
KEYWORDS: Mid Canada Line Radar Sites, Mid Canada Line Radar Site 050, Mid Canada Line Radar Site 500, Winisk, Weenusk, Peawanuck, Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Severn, contamination, Cold War, ICBM detection, Mushkegowuk Council, Grand Chief Stan Louttit, PCBs, DDT, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, asbestos, mercury, Fort Albany, First Nations, James Bay, cancer, auto-immune disease, leukaemia, respiratory disorders, cognitive disorders, behavioural disorders, developmental delays, transfer of contaminants through breast milk, menstrual abnormalities, fish, wildlife, toxicological absorption, bioaccumulation, long-term health effects of exposure to toxins, ingestion of toxins, contaminated soil, contaminated water, contaminated air, site remediation, occupational health and safety, perceptions about contamination, petition, long-term health study needed. .
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Listen to Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit (1950-2014) speaking about extensive environmental contamination in the western James Bay Region.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=guVouBah7IU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=guVouBah7IU
See the SERIES OF SHORT DOCUMENTARIES about the Mid Canada Line Radar Sites. VERY powerful!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRw4TLhKYYQ&list=PLB4324E0E12599E6A
NOTE: Almost all records on the Mid Canada Line Radar System are still restricted and cannot be accessed by the public. Why? Go to Library and Archives Canada - Online Research - type in Mid Canada Line Radar. Restricted. Restricted. Restricted.
Information about PCBs: www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1316112284889/1316112526106
When in Fort Albany First Nation during the summer of 2015, someone made a comment about potential negative health effects in the community because a radar station constructed by the Department of National Defence in the late 1950s and abandoned in the mid-1960s had been left to rot, with many toxins and chemicals leaching into the lands and the water systems. This is indeed the case. Not until the early 2000s did this site begin to be 'decontaminated'. However, what seems to have been missed is a comprehensive health study on the population dating from 1957 to current day to see how harshly the health of residents had been - and continues to be - impacted due to the leaching of PCBs, lead, mercury, asbestos, DDT and other chemicals into the lands and water system. In other words, it is not enough that the lands have been 'decontaminated'. What needs to be known is the contamination of the human body taking in these toxins/chemicals over the course of a great number of years.
In reading a recent article on the 'safe' level of PCBs when measured in the soil, the safe level should be 50 ppm (parts per million) or less. When measured at the Ft. Albany site, this level far exceeded the safe level. One reading, in the late 1990s, was 21,000 parts per million, in other words highly toxic to the lands, animals, water system and thus, to the people of Ft. Albany and those living in the western James Bay Region.
In reading articles on PCB absorption into living entities, there is great concern because PCBs may be linked to a number of illnesses including cancer, respiratory problems, leukaemia and auto-immune diseases. Those who eat fish from waters polluted with PCBs are at highest risk for these diseases. PCBs, once they enter a living creature deposit mostly in the liver and fats of the body. They do NOT break down and leave the body over time. Instead, they accumulate. Bioaccumulation of PCBs is a critical area that people in the region need to be aware of, especially considering that chemicals/toxins were (out of neglect of the Canadian government) likely leaching into the lands and waterways for over 40 years.
BIOACCUMULATION
PCBs (for example) leach from the radar site into the land (this begins from the time of site construction).
The land floods, or there are heavy rains.
This water takes the PCBs from the land and transfers it into the waterways.
The water and everything in it then becomes contaminated.
The PCBs find haven in plankton, which is then eaten by small fish.
The small fish, already storing PCBs from the contamination of the water, then also store the PCBs that were in the plankton they ate.
A bigger fish then eats that smaller fish. The bigger fish is already retaining PCBs in its body because of the contamination of the water from rains or flooding carrying chemicals into the waterways. The bigger fish then becomes more contaminated from eating the contaminated smaller fish that has consumed contaminated plankton, plankton that was contaminated from toxins that entered the waterways through leaching.
People, then, when eating the fish (especially when consuming fish) over a great number of years have taken into their bodies an ENORMOUS amount of PCBs that the body holds onto, contaminating the body, potentially in a very damaging way.
PCBs on the surface of the soil can be spread when disturbed.
PCBs can be present in precipitation.
I will post as many articles and threads that I can find.
Former Grand Chief Stan Louttit had started petitioning the government a number of years back. I am wondering if anyone has since begun to carry this torch. Have you? Please let me know by going to the Contact Us page of this site. Please ensure to clarify that you are writing because you saw this page on this website.
SEE MORE BELOW.
Thanks, Sue
In reading a recent article on the 'safe' level of PCBs when measured in the soil, the safe level should be 50 ppm (parts per million) or less. When measured at the Ft. Albany site, this level far exceeded the safe level. One reading, in the late 1990s, was 21,000 parts per million, in other words highly toxic to the lands, animals, water system and thus, to the people of Ft. Albany and those living in the western James Bay Region.
In reading articles on PCB absorption into living entities, there is great concern because PCBs may be linked to a number of illnesses including cancer, respiratory problems, leukaemia and auto-immune diseases. Those who eat fish from waters polluted with PCBs are at highest risk for these diseases. PCBs, once they enter a living creature deposit mostly in the liver and fats of the body. They do NOT break down and leave the body over time. Instead, they accumulate. Bioaccumulation of PCBs is a critical area that people in the region need to be aware of, especially considering that chemicals/toxins were (out of neglect of the Canadian government) likely leaching into the lands and waterways for over 40 years.
BIOACCUMULATION
PCBs (for example) leach from the radar site into the land (this begins from the time of site construction).
The land floods, or there are heavy rains.
This water takes the PCBs from the land and transfers it into the waterways.
The water and everything in it then becomes contaminated.
The PCBs find haven in plankton, which is then eaten by small fish.
The small fish, already storing PCBs from the contamination of the water, then also store the PCBs that were in the plankton they ate.
A bigger fish then eats that smaller fish. The bigger fish is already retaining PCBs in its body because of the contamination of the water from rains or flooding carrying chemicals into the waterways. The bigger fish then becomes more contaminated from eating the contaminated smaller fish that has consumed contaminated plankton, plankton that was contaminated from toxins that entered the waterways through leaching.
People, then, when eating the fish (especially when consuming fish) over a great number of years have taken into their bodies an ENORMOUS amount of PCBs that the body holds onto, contaminating the body, potentially in a very damaging way.
PCBs on the surface of the soil can be spread when disturbed.
PCBs can be present in precipitation.
I will post as many articles and threads that I can find.
Former Grand Chief Stan Louttit had started petitioning the government a number of years back. I am wondering if anyone has since begun to carry this torch. Have you? Please let me know by going to the Contact Us page of this site. Please ensure to clarify that you are writing because you saw this page on this website.
SEE MORE BELOW.
Thanks, Sue
ARTICLE: What are the human health effects of PCBs? www.clearwater.org/news/pcbhealth.html
Government of Canada Website on PCBs (it's highly hypocritical!)
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/pcb-bpc-eng.php
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/pcb-bpc-eng.php
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Academic Articles and Government Sponsored Documents
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Newspaper Articles |
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An Order to Clean Up the Mid-Canada Line Radar Sites: MNR-66 (2000)
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A Legacy of Death
by Teviah Moro (3 Feb 2005, The Daily Press, Timmins) |
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Grand Chief Stan Louttit's Original Petition Letters (and responses from government officials) to clean up the remaining Mid-Canada Line Radar Sites in Ontario ( 2004-2005) www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/pet_132_e_28859.html
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Ontario's Cold War Poisons Aboriginal Lands
by Sean Mallen (The Ottawa Citizen, 6 Sept 2005) |
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NOTE: THE FOLLOWING 2014 GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT STATES: "The contaminants were deemed to have had an existing or potential adverse impact on human health and the environment." There is NO 'have had' as the toxins, especially PCBs, are retained within the body and ACCUMULATE OVER TIME. REPORT: Evaluation of Remediation of MCL Cleanup Sites (Government of Canada, 2014) epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/301/weekly_acquisition_lists/2015/w15-45-F-E.html/collections/collection_2015/mdn-dnd/D58-47-2014-eng.pdf |
Out of Site, Out of Excuses
(The Ottawa Citizen, 9 Sept 2005) Northern First Nations Residents Say the Old Radar Base is Killing Them (Winisk) (The Guelph Mercury, 3 Feb 2005) |
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The below is a document on PCBs from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. The Canadian government knew that PCBs were toxic as of the late 1960s, so why did they not decontaminate the Mid Canada Line Radar Sites then? Or at least in the early-1970s? Instead, PCBs and other highly toxic chemicals were permitted to leach into the soil, the waterways and the food chain for 45 years or more. Lands, waterways, animals and human beings were contaminated as a result of this negligence. Article (2016): "Association Between Background Exposure to Organochlorine Pesticides and the Risk of Cognitive Impairment: A Prospective Study that Accounts for Weight Change"
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Natives Face Other Toxic Dangers
by Beatrice Olivastri (Toronto Star, 1 Nov 2005) A Cold War Haunts the North by Sean Mallen (The Montreal Gazette 5 Sept 2005) |
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Article (2015): "Menstrual Cycle Perturbation by Organohalogens and Elements in the Cree of James Bay, Canada"
Article (2015): "Human Exposure to Soil Contaminants in Subarctic Ontario, Canada"
REPORT (2015): Remediation of the Winisk First Nation Cluster of Mid-Canada Line Radar Sites
Article (2011): "Identifying Barriers to Traditional Game Consumption in First Nation Adolescents in Remote Northern Communities in Ontario, Canada"
Article (2011): "Traditional Food Consumption Behaviour and Concern with Environmental Contaminants Among Cree Schoolchildren of the Mushkegowuk Territory"
Article (2011): "Dietary Exposure of PBDEs Resulting from a Subsistence Diet in Three First Nations Communities in the James Bay Region of Canada"
REPORT (2009): "Maternal and Infant Health and the Physical Environment of First Nations and Inuit Communities: A Summary Review"
ANNUAL SUMMARY REPORT (2007-2008): "FIRST NATIONS AND INUIT HEALTH BRANCH: Research & Monitoring Section Environmental Research Division"
THESIS PAPER (2008): "Abandoned Mid-Canada Radar Line Site 500 in the Western Hudson Bay region of sub-Arctic, Canada: A source of organochlorines for the people of Weenusk First Nation?" by Jonathon Andrew Bertrand Article (2008): "The Use of Leeches to Monitor Aquatic PCB Contamination at Mid-Canada Radar Line Site 050: Four Years Post-remediation"
Article (2007): "The Use of Leeches and Logit Log-linear Contingency Models to Assess and Monitor Aquatic PCB Contamination Originating from Mid-Canada Radar Line Site 050" (Fort Albany, Ontario)
Article (2005): "Elevated Levels of PCBs in First Nations Communities of the Western James Bay Region of Northern Ontario, Canada: The Use of Correspondence Analysis to Identify Sources of Exposure:
Article (2005): "The Mid-Canada Radar Line and First Nations' People of the James Bay Region, Canada: An Evaluation Using Log-Linear Contingency Modelling to Analyze Organochlorine Frequency Data"
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Article (June 2006): "An Aboriginal Perspective on the Remediation of Mid-Canada Radar Line Sites in the Sub-Arctic: A Partnership Evaluation." Authors: Brandy Sistili, Mike Metatawabin, Guy Iannucci, and Leonard J.S. Tsuji |
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Article (December 2004): "Protecting the Health of First Nation Personnel at Contaminated Sites: A Case Study of Mid-Canada Radar Line Site 050 in Northern Canada"
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Article (2001): "Remediation of Site 500 of the Mid-Canada Radar Line: Identifying Potential Sites of Concern Utilizing Traditional Environmental Knowledge." By Leonard J.S. Tsuji, John Kataquapit, Bill Katapatuk and Guy Iannucci
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Article (2001): "Remediation of Former Military Bases in the Canadian Arctic"
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Mid-Canada Line Radar Site: Documents Covering the 1970 to 2002 (analysis of Fort Albany First Nation site for toxicity would have been performed during this period) are RESTRICTED. These cannot be obtained from the Canadian government. WHY????
collectionscanada.gc.ca/lac-bac/results/arch.php?FormName=MIKAN+Items+Display&PageNum=1&SortSpec=score+desc&Language=eng&QueryParser=lac_mikan&Sources=mikan&Archives=&SearchIn_1=&SearchInText_1=mid-canada+line+radar&Operator_1=AND&SearchIn_2=&SearchInText_2=&Operator_2=AND&SearchIn_3=&SearchInText_3=&Media=&Level=&MaterialDateOperator=after&MaterialDate=&DigitalImages=&Source=&ResultCount=10&cainInd=
collectionscanada.gc.ca/lac-bac/results/arch.php?FormName=MIKAN+Items+Display&PageNum=1&SortSpec=score+desc&Language=eng&QueryParser=lac_mikan&Sources=mikan&Archives=&SearchIn_1=&SearchInText_1=mid-canada+line+radar&Operator_1=AND&SearchIn_2=&SearchInText_2=&Operator_2=AND&SearchIn_3=&SearchInText_3=&Media=&Level=&MaterialDateOperator=after&MaterialDate=&DigitalImages=&Source=&ResultCount=10&cainInd=
