Inukjuak, a village on the northeast shore of Hudson Bay, refuse isn’t something that disappears in the back of a garbage truck. It stays close by. It then burns.
Shaomik Inukpuk told Quebec’s environmental review panel that “burning of the domestic trash is a big problem” Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), during consultations last June with northern Indigenous communities.
He wasn’t the only one to raise the issue.
During the consultations held in Quebec, Inuits and Naskapi communities expressed concern about the garbage problem.
The permafrost is hard to dig landfill sites north of the 55th parallel. Waste is burnt in the open since there are no incinerators. Nunavik has 14 such landfills, one per community.
Quebec law requires that garbage be burned at least once per week, weather permitting, to control trash production and prevent wild and domestic animals scattering any residual materials. The purpose of burning garbage is to prevent soil toxins.
The BAPE’s report last month raised concerns about the practice and its effects on the environment and the health of the communities nearby.
Given the stakes, the BAPE is shocked that no public health study in Quebec has been done to assess the environmental contamination and exposure of the population living near northern landfills.
Distance from home is not an issue
The regulation doesn’t set a minimum distance between homes, northern landfills, and most of thoselandfills can be found within a few kilometres of villages.
However, in some cases, like Inukjuak or Kuujjuarapik they are only a few hundreds meters from the nearest houses “inside the community,” according to Inukpuk.
This means that garbage smoke can be detected in the air and it can also be detected by the animals and fish that they depend on for their food.
“The smoke is unsafe for our environment. Inukpuk stated that the dump smoke is threatening the environment because the residents still rely on country food.
Potentially dangerous health effects
The 698-page report by the BAPE on Quebec’s garbage situation was published last month. It included a number of recommendations. ChapterThese are the problems facing northern Indigenous peoples.
It confirmed what many northerners had suspected: It’s not good to have garbage burning next door.
The report notes that household waste left in small dumps is difficult to burn. Garbage fires “reach temperatures that are too low to cause complete combustion and generate large quantities and many contaminants, including dioxins, polycyclic aromatic Hydrocarbons, and furans.”
It cites research showing that smoke can easily reach surrounding areas when it is pushed by wind.
There are very few eco-centres that collect toxic materials, batteries and old parts in the north. People are not allowed to throw toxic materials, but there are safe alternatives. It is difficult to identify what’s in the trash bags when they are picked up.
The BAPE report stated that ground burning practices pose a danger to the health and well-being of local communities due to the release of potentially toxic substances.
According to a federal government brochureOpen burning of garbage can lead to headaches, nausea, and skin rashes. Exposure to certain toxic chemicals in smoke, including dioxins, furans, can lead to some cancers, as well as impairment of the immune, reproductive, and endocrine systems.
The BAPE report stated that “the potential risks to the well-being of neighbouring communities are therefore real,” especially for vulnerable groups like children, the elderly, and people with existing health problems.
Quebec’s Health Ministry stated in an email that it is aware of the health effects associated with northern landfills.
BAPE stated that, in the absence data, it was “imperative” for documentation to show the extent of exposure of neighboring communities to the contaminants emitted from such burning. It also demanded that the provincial Environment Ministry examine the contamination of wildlife and land.
The Health Ministry states that the BAPE recommendations are worthy of being analyzed, but notes that “no public issue related to northern landfills was brought to our attention until now.”
Koffi Banabessey was not able to answer the question of the BAPE in June when he was asked by the ministry representative how he rated the priority of the study on a scale from one to 10.
Banabessey stated that the priority would be 10, “because that would have very important.”
The ministry does not have any plans for a study in place anytime soon. It cites “the context of pandemic did NOT allow the necessary resources” as the reason.
However, the problem dates back to COVID-19.
“Several of these sites, opened in 1980s, are almost full today,” says the Kativik Regional Government in its Nunavik Residual Materials Management Plan. This plan was completed in 2015.
Vronique Gilbert at the KRG, assistant director for environment and land use planning, said that the Kativik government did not ask Quebec to study the health effects of northern landfills.
However, Kativik does not consider it a problem.
Gilbert stated, “It is certain the open burning of stuff – potentially plastics or other materials that can be hazardous or emit gases that are dangerous to your health is not ideal.”
“What is not allowed elsewhere, Quebec should not be tolerated at Nunavik,” stated the Makivik Corporation which represents Nunavik’s Inuit in a brief presented in June to the BAPE.
“We urge Quebec to take action to support our region’s adoption of safer practices in order reduce those risks and protect our communities’ health.”
More information is needed
Virginie Nol-Aloise was an environmental health advisor at the Nunavik Region Board of Health & Social Services (NRBHSS). She described a typical burning situation.
“Most of time, the burn temperatures are too low. It is not always possible to sort the waste. Sometimes we light a campfire in the morning and 15 minutes later the wind changes and the smoke goes right into communities,” she said.
She also listed potential health effects from open-air burning of waste materials for the BAPE.
They can cause irritation of the mucous membranes, worsening asthma, and coughing.
Federal warnings regarding certain cancers and impairments of the immune, endocrine and reproductive systems have long-term effects. These warnings are not applicable to Nunavik because it’s, most often, short-term exposure,” Nol-Aloise said.
There’s also “the smell,” she said. “It is not a health risk, but it is a discomfort that people have been complaining of, and it is mostly related to the smoke coming from the opposite direction.”
The health board has not yet received any formal complaints.
The board stated in an email that they hear most about nuisances, such as unpleasant odours and visual pollution. “There is no evidence or connection between these nuisances, Nunavik health issues.”
However, the NRBHSS said that “having no data,… it is currently impossible for us to make the connection between the health problems experienced in Nunavik and the northern landfills in Nunavik”.
The health board was asked if it had asked the Health Ministry for such a study. It replied that it did.
