THOMSON: Toxic air force buildings and a toxic policy of concealment at the Snowbirds base?

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is a quiet community known for its ties to prohibition-era gangster Al Capone, and as the home of Canada’s famous aerobatics team, The Snowbirds. Unfortunately, it is also where a concerning trend of unexplained illnesses and deaths may be linked to environmental contamination at 15 Wing Moose Jaw.The Western Standard has recently learned that approximately two years ago, former and current members of the Canadian Armed Forces and civilian federal employees, began to notice that an unusual number of their friends and colleagues were acquiring serious and unexplained illnesses. Some of them had died prematurely, after a short period of poor health.Suspecting the cases may be connected, they began to investigate, using open-source data, and their personal and professional connections.The results were alarming, suggesting that at least 50 deaths— and approximately 200 significant illness — had occurred within the relatively small cohort of current and former employees of 15 Wing who had worked in seven specific buildings on the base at one time or another.The federal government, including the Department of National Defence and the CAF, appears to be well aware of contamination issues on its properties, including both those currently occupied and vacant.Back in 2005, the Government of Canada initiated a program called, The Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP.) As per the government's website, “The objective of FCSAP is to reduce environmental and human health risks from known federal contaminated sites and associated federal financial liabilities, while focusing on the highest priority sites.”The plan has created an inventory of federal sites that have been identified where contamination is present. Known as the Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory (FCSI) it currently lists 4,980 active sites (includes 2,496 priority sites for remediation,) 1,838 suspected sites and 16,845 closed sites (completed or no action required.) The buildings which the Moose Jaw employees identified during the course of their investigations, are on that list.Interestingly, while the list is technically accessible to the public, it is not something that federal contaminated site custodians, such as the Department of National Defence (DND), and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have actively advertised to their members.Why? There is no legitimate reason why federal employees should be going uninformed or unaware of the exposure risks they face in their workplace, due to legacy contamination. Was this mismanagement and poor communication? I choose to believe it was never intentional. However, those who remain suspicious would certainly know that from a liability perspective, it’s not inconceivable a lower awareness threshold among federal employees favours the employer... That is, if employees don’t know they were exposed, then they don’t know their health problems may be work related, and subsequently won’t file a claim against the government.So while the information wasn’t hidden, nor was any significant effort made to cast light upon it either.Fortunately, details pertaining to the disturbing observations noted at 15 Wing, as well as other bases and federal properties like it across the country, are soon likely to be exposed in detail by the Standing Committee on National Defence (NDDN).Earlier this year, the committee decided to study the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces approach to current and legacy contamination sites. As per the official minutes of the September proceedings, the committee will:“hold no less than six meetings, and invite relevant governmental officials from the Department of National Defence, the Department of Veteran Affairs, Health Canada, and the Treasury Board; that the committee invite individuals and their advocates impacted by Agent Orange in New Brunswick, TCE and other contaminants in Valcartier, burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, Veterans With Cancer, and other individuals impacted by contaminated DND sites; and that the committee invite Occupational Health experts, academics and researchers on contaminated sites, and environmental contamination advocacy organizations, and that pursuant to standing Order 109, the government table a comprehensive response.”Given the scope and factors to be assessed, it is going to be a massive undertaking. But it is necessary and overdue. It also mirrors current efforts already underway in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Defence (DoD) to investigate US Military legacy contamination sites and forever chemicals.The committee should attempt to establish a budget and schedule meetings quickly, lst this important work is derailed by the unstable nature of the Liberal minority government and the calling of a snap election.When the committee does sit, it may well find that as with foreign interference, Ottawa had explicit knowledge of a serious problem and failed to act in a timely, and appropriate manner. Or worse, intentionally misled Canadians.Except this time, former federal employees, contractors, and civilians may have died .

THOMSON: Toxic air force buildings and a toxic policy of concealment at the Snowbirds base?

Related Stories