For those of us living in cities and urban centres or near industrial activity, pollution can be easy to spot. We see the visual markers of smog billowing up along the horizon. We see the garbage bags line the streets once a week for pick up. Sometimes, it’s noticed in the odour of chemicals we breathe in. But, in some cases, Pollution is a master of disguise and impacts our environments in ways we can’t observe with our senses.
Pollution is the introduction of materials into the environment at unnatural levels or where they didn’t previously exist. These materials are called pollutants. This is why breathing out carbon dioxide isn’t considered pollution, but why greenhouse gasses can be. When we breathe, or a lightning-strike forest fire occurs, the carbon dioxide and gasses released are released in balance with the environment. Our ecosystems are designed to be able to process those amounts, as new plant life grows from the ash-fed soils, or the trees around us process the carbon dioxide for their growth for example. But when coal is burned to fuel electricity, we release such a high amount of gasses that our natural environment cannot process them in balance and the result is pollution.
Pollution wasn’t always a bad guy, they were just a lil ball of soil once upon a time, but year after year of facing mining discharges, oil spills, and industrial waste, they’ve been transformed into Pollution. Because it’s that easy: what was once clean water or soil, can become a pollutant itself.
When we talk about industrial pollution, it can often come with the implication that polluting is illegal — but that’s not always the case. The reality is that industrial activity leads to pollution — and we know that settler governments have long favoured a thriving industry — so in many cases, pollution is completely legal! In fact, Pollution often appears in environmental approvals themselves when projects such as mines are given explicit amounts of different pollutants they are allowed to release into the environment.
We see Pollution across the land, air, and water of our Earth, but let’s take a look at how in some occurrences, Pollution’s effects far out-live the visible impacts.
On October 13, 2016, the Nathan E. Stewart tug ran aground off the shores of Heiltsuk Nation territory through tough-to-navigate waterways of the Central Coast of B.C. At first, the diesel and toxic lubricants left a milky oil-sheen across the surface of the water. You could see the glistening oils in the waters and the oil on the shore and creatures. As time has passed, the oil itself has become more difficult to see, but the impacts are still felt and seen. Eight years on from the spill, the Nation continues to deal with Pollution in the waters and at the marine harvesting sites of their coastal territory. The clam beds, a key part of the Heiltsuk Nation’s food source and economy, were covered in oil and chemicals and harvesting in the area is still too risky.
In 2014 and 2015 Pollution was brought to the Gitxaała Nation’s waters in the Great Bear Rainforest and Sea by Banks Island Gold and the Yellow Giant mine. The mine was found to have been exceeding the allowed discharge of zinc and dumping mine waste in the forest and surrounding wetland areas. The illegal discharge devastated Lax k’naga dzol’s (Banks Island) salmon-rich creeks and near-shore areas, which are host to a wild expanse of ocean where whales, wolves, bears, fish, seabirds, and other marine life live. The company quickly went bankrupt and the mess was left for Gitxaała to clean up.
Grassy Narrows First Nation has been dealing with a nearly invisible form of Pollution, although its impacts can be seen in how it has changed the physiology of those who live and sustain themselves off the ecosystem that was altered after allowed discharges of a chemical. Decades ago, a pulp mill dumped over 10 tonnes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River and because of the compound effects of mercury through the food chain, it continues to harm the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation to this day. While we can’t see the mercury in the water, or as it moves up the food chain through microorganisms, into the walleye, into the members of Grassy Narrows, it is easy to see the harm it has caused.
In Kebaowek First Nation territory, Pollution is showing up as nuclear waste. Nuclear development on a very large area of unceded Algonquin territory started over 70 years ago with the construction of Chalk River Laboratories. It was built on the shores of the Kichi Sibi without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Algonquin Nation. And, although we cannot deny this waste exists, the question remains: how do we handle it with as little harm to the surrounding ecosystems as possible? With a Near-Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) planned to be built by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) about 1km away from the shores of the Kichi Sibi (Ottawa River), Kebaowek Nation is concerned about the potential for nuclear Pollution to make its way into the river system that is a water source for millions of people. Kebaowek First Nation has opposed the NSDF proposed by CNL since the beginning, due in large part to the potential concerns of Pollution showing their face in the waters of the Kichi Sibi or on the land.
In Wet’suwet’en territory, two Likhts’amisyu Clan House Chiefs are looking at the cumulative impacts of Pollution that affect us all. Through a legal action that is grounded in caring for all living things, they aim to hold the Canadian government accountable for promises to take action against the threat of climate change. We see Pollution in the form of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses entering the atmosphere from factories, our cars, and electrical generators, and of course, we know how these are linked to the while we also see the ongoing increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change. We see the powerful storms and out-of-control forest fires, the warmer waters damaging salmon spawning and the decreased snowpack contributing to droughts. Pollution is a monster of injustice that is globally significant, and its expansive reach can feel overwhelming. By holding Canada accountable to its Paris Agreement commitments and by pointing out the s.7 Charter rights violation that is meant to ensure life, liberty, and security of the person, the Likhts’amisyu Clan House Chiefs are taking action to address Pollution for our collective future.
For many years, the solution to Pollution was thought to be dilution. But, as we continue to see increased changes in weather patterns and long-term impacts of industrial Pollution on communities and ecosystems, we now know that dilution isn’t enough. We need to stop pollutants from entering ecosystems in order to keep the Earth and ourselves safe and healthy. We need holistic remediation efforts to address the existing issues of Pollution and to hopefully help them break free from their toxic shell. RAVEN supports Indigenous-led litigations that aim to restore the clean soils, waters, and environments that have been changed by Pollution and redefine our relationship to creating unnecessary waste. Donate to support this work.
