Toxic Free Aboriginal Communities

The Seton Lake Indian Band suffers from high rates of cancer and other illnesses and the Band wants to know why. After reading our CancerSmart Consumer Guide some Band members asked LEAS to work with them to identify possible environmental causes of these`illnesses.

The Reserve is situated on Seton Lake near Lillooet, B.C. It should be`pristine; it's anything but. We're looking at several possible sourcesof environmental contamination: arsenic leeching into Carpenter and`Seton lakes from tailings dumps at the upstream Bralorne Gold Mine, high-voltage power lines that criss-cross the reserve, possible buried`PCB-laden transformers, and pesticide spraying along Hydro and BC Rail rights-of-way.

We've been engaged in several so-far frustrating attempts to obtain information about pesticide spraying under B.C.'s Freedom of Information Act. The project is quickly turning into a community right-to-know issue. We've prepared a state of evidence report based on what we know and what we still need to find out. We plan to build on this document and make it available to other Indian Bands as a resource for understanding environmental contaminants, health effects and community right to know.

This environmental and aboriginal justice project is a partnership of LEAS, Seton Lake Indian Band, Wilderness Committee and faculty members at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. We've held several successful community meetings and used the participatory research model of body and community mapping to shape the discussion around health and environmental concerns. Information from the meetings was used to develop and administer a health survey.

The work has been made possible by grants from McConnell, Catherine Donnelly and Vancouver foundations, Tides Canada Foundation, plus contributions from WMAN Foundation, Wilderness Committee, board members Stuart Rush, Larry Stoffman and Cathy Walker and doctors Jim Brophy and Margaret Keith, who have been working with the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia, Ontario. William Alexander (Beej) is designated by the Band Council to coordinate the project.

We're continuing our work this summer with soil and water testing by scientists from Thompson Rivers University, with funding from Health Canada's First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program.

Thanks to the major sponsors of this project:

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