First Nation demands PC action on environmental racism—residents exposed to toxic levels of benzene, sulfur dioxide, other poisons 

For more than six months, members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation have been living under a state of emergency.

Triggered on April 25th, the emergency declaration was made to protect residents of the Sarnia-area First Nation from harmful levels of toxic benzene, a known cancer-causing chemical, spewing from nearby industrial operations. 

Aamjiwnaang is in the epicentre of an area known as Chemical Valley, where 40 percent of Canada’s chemical industry operates. 

On April 25th, the meter across from one of the main emitting plants near Aamjiwnaang recorded levels of benzene—which is highly carcinogenic—of 191.3 micrograms. That is more than 400 times the allowable annual exposure rate under the provincial government’s benzene limit of 0.45 micrograms per cubic metre. 

It wasn’t an isolated incident. Since the monitor was installed across from the INEOS Styrolution plant, dangerous levels of benzene have been repeatedly recorded, leading to illness in the community, including chronic respiratory issues and community members ending up in the hospital. 

There are approximately 2,500 members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, 900 live in the area, a quarter of them are children. 

The harm from this industrial encroachment into Indigenous territory dates back decades and has completely eliminated the ability for members of the First Nation to practice their Charter protected rights without the fear of falling ill. 

“As it stands, there is practically nowhere in the vicinity of Aamjiwnaang where our members can practice their constitutionally protected aboriginal and treaty rights without worrying about the bioaccumulation of chemicals in traditional plants, animals, fish and birds,” Darren Henry, an Elected Councillor for the Aamjiwnaang First Nation told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday. 

Henry, along with Aamjiwnaang Elected Chief, Janelle Nahmabin; and the First Nation’s Environmental Coordinator, Lynn Rosales were at the Legislature demanding the Doug Ford PC government finally act on the reams of data and evidence of significant harm that is befalling members of their community. 

Despite government studies, consultations and outdated regulations, the PCs have not taken action. It has not only allowed the harm to continue, the PC government has actively facilitated operations causing illnesses so severe they can lead to death. 

The harmful effects of toxic fumes released from petroleum and chemical operations around the Aamjiwnaang First Nation can have particularly negative impacts on children.

(Ecojustice)

The petroleum and chemical industries that surround the Aamjiwnaang First Nation have been granted permission by the PC government—and governments before them— to emit harmful levels of benzene and sulfur dioxide (SO2) that are making residents sick, with few options to escape the dangerous noxious fumes. 

Alerts are now in place to ensure children remain inside when certain pollutants reach harmful levels in the air. This permission is granted through an Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA), a permitting process for industries and other businesses that have the potential to harm the environment. Approval to operate is granted under an ECA once sufficient mitigation measures are put in place, but it can still allow for the release of emissions beyond healthy levels. 

The desecration of the air around Aamjiwnaang is well documented. In 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated residents of Sarnia breathe some of the most polluted air in all of Canada. In 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights visited Aamjiwnaang and declared the situation “profoundly unsettling”. 

“Deeply connected with their land, the residents on the reserve have been invaded by industry as far back as the 1940s. They are now almost entirely surrounded by over 60 industrial facilities whose presence creates physiological and mental stress among community members because of the risk of impending explosions or other disasters and because of chronic exposure to unquestionably poisonous substances,” the former rapporteur, Baskut Tuncak wrote in his report. “The environmental injustice to which the Aamjiwnaang are subjected is an ongoing tragedy, the legacy of land use planning that would not be allowed today.”

Despite the flood of information about the harm being done to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, little action is ever taken. 

On Thursday, Chief Nahmabin called for a new path forward; extending an olive branch to the PCs to finally end the environmental racism and break the pattern that has consistently seen governments place the interests of industry over those of the First Nation. 

“The decades of overstepping our rights has led us to where we are today. It’s well documented that Aamjiwnaang has been voicing our concerns for many years,” Nahmabin said. 

Aamjiwnaang’s Elected Chief, Janelle Nahmabin speaks at Queen’s Park Thursday.

(Ecojustice)

These requests, historically, have fallen on deaf ears. 

“We’ve had conversations going back years, and yet they just sort of play the game of pass the buck and nothing ever actually gets done. We’ve made very specific regulations and we don't really get a response,” Scott Grant, an air pollution control engineer working with the First Nation, said.

One of the changes Aamjiwnaang is seeking is an update to the Lambton Industrial Meteorological Alert (LIMA) Regulations. Applying to the heaviest emitters in Chemical Valley, it requires all industrial operations to reduce SO2 emissions if levels in the area get too high. This regulation is a key to address cumulative impacts of SO2 output by requiring all emitters to cut back if levels are exceeded. These regulations have not been updated since the 1980s, and emissions are allowed to reach levels above what experts now know are unhealthy exposure for SO2. 

“The science has improved significantly so we now know we must have much lower levels of SO2,” Grant said.

Aamjiwnaang is recommending this threshold be changed to align with the WHO guidelines and the Ontario Air Quality Standards, which would see alert thresholds for action taken when SO2 in the air reaches 10 parts per billion (ppb) instead of the current 70 ppb. The government consulted on updating this regulation in 2017, but no action was ever taken. 

“It’s unconscionable that this hasn’t been updated for Aamjiwnaang,” Grant said. 

In another egregious example of the government failing to act, the PC government released the results of the Sarnia Area Environmental Health Project earlier this year. The document detailed the harm from SO2 in Chemical Valley, especially during a process known as flaring, the burning of acid gas, which according to Ecojustice occurs during operational failures and equipment startup and shutdowns. 

“Although the report recommended that steps be taken to reduce flaring, the Ministry has taken no action and SO2 levels remain high,” a brief from Ecojustice details. 

The type of change to regulations requested by the First Nation is not unprecedented for the government. In 2018, new standards were introduced that lowered the amount of SO2 industrial operations were allowed to release into the air. It means the hourly maximum of recorded SO2 outside the fenceline can not exceed 40 ppb.  

However, refineries like many of those in Chemical Valley were exempt from this standard. Instead a separate regulation was created which allowed them to continue releasing harmful levels of SO2 as long as controls were put in place for other emissions and certain technology and reporting mechanisms were installed. According to Ecojustice, refineries were given “exceptionally long” timelines to meet these requirements.

Along with legal experts from Ecojustice, the First Nations have made a number of other recommendations to improve the monitoring mechanisms to ensure the devices in the community have the ability to trigger a LIMA alert; while potentially updating or denying the ECA approvals for companies in the area when they are up for renewal.

Currently, Cabot Canada, a chemical plant that manufactures components for tires and other industrial rubber products, has its ECA under consideration on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.The renewal application is requesting emission levels 500 percent above set standards.

“The situation at Aamjiwnaang is not a knowledge problem, it’s an inaction problem,” Henry, an Elected Councillor with the First Nation said. “We want to be part of the solution, we want to feel that the air we are breathing is not slowly killing us. We want to live in peace with the peace of mind that our children will not get sick, and die before us.”

Rosales, the First Nation’s Environmental Coordinator, echoed the concern.

“As we look toward tomorrow, and recognize that we are the conduit from our past, to our future and that it’s time to put aside our differences and work collectively to ensure that there will be clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe and good land for sustainable living for all of humanity, but most of all we need to ensure that there is a future for the next seven generations.”

Gary Wheeler, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks said the ministry continues to meet with the First Nation “on a regular basis” to try and find ways to improve air quality in the area. 

“We acted quickly to address elevated levels of benzene in the community and have also introduced new regulations that will result in a significant reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions by 2028.” 

These new regulations require petroleum refineries in the area to implement new control mechanisms and monitoring devices to ensure SO2 levels are reduced. It’s unclear if the regulations apply to other refineries in the area outside the petroleum industry and why the reduction won’t happen for another four years. 

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