Iqaluit dump an environmental liability?

The following letter is addressed to Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General of Canada and Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development.

I understand that you made a presentation to the Standing Committee on Operations of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly last February 5, 2002.

You are quoted in the Feb. 8 issue of Nunatsiaq News as stating that the Nunavut Government should be identifying and evaluating the cost of cleaning up contaminated sites and you further said:

“I want to be very clear that I am not saying that there are serious environmental issues in Nunavut. I don’t know this. My point is that the new government does not have all of the information it needs to answer this important question.”

I do not doubt that the Nunavut Government must gather further information to gain a true picture of its environmental liabilities. However, some environmental liabilities are well known and require immediate action.

The Government of Nunavut still promotes the dangerous practice of burning municipal garbage in open pits. This practice is a holdover from the 1950s.

However, the type of garbage that we now produce is quite different. The environmental and public health effects are well documented (particularly by the United States Environmental Protection Agency). Burning of municipal trash at low temperatures results in the release of dangerous chemicals such as furans and dioxins and heavy metals.

The smoke is also a dangerous irritant that exacerbates conditions such as asthma and other respiratory problems that are prevalent in Nunavut. In the case of the City of Iqaluit, the burning of garbage occurs less then a kilometre from residential areas and even closer to areas that are used for traditional practices such as camping and fishing. We frequently are assaulted by the noxious smoke, owing to changing winds and the inversions that are typical for Iqaluit.

The Government of Nunavut, which permits this hazardous practice through its general sanitation regulations under the Health Act, has no action plan to eliminate open-pit garbage burning.

Beyond the significant environmental and public health effects, it means that Nunavut will not, in the foreseeable future, be able to sign on to the Canada Wide Standards for Dioxins and Furans. It also means that Canada, which fought hard for the creation of the international toxins treaty to stop the long-range transport of toxins to the Arctic, is not keeping its own house in order.

I bring these matters to your attention so that you may report on them in the future and perhaps spur the government into action.

c.c.

Ed Picco, Minister of Health and Social Services, MLA Iqaluit

Paul Okalik, Premier and Minister of Justice, MLA Iqaluit

Hunter Tootoo, MLA Iqaluit
Paul Crowley
Iqaluit
pcrowley@nunanet.com