
You’ve heard the sirens sounding; you’ve a funny taste in your mouth; or maybe it’s stinging in your eyes. The radio says there’s an “incident” at a local oil refinery but not-to-worry; the company says there’s “no off-site impact” and their air monitoring machinery at their fence line detects nothing. Who do you turn to? This scenario plays out much too frequently in the south end of Sarnia, according to residents of the Aamjiwnaang native community whose boundaries are surrounded by the cluster of refineries and petrochemical plants known as the “Chemical Valley.” And often enough they turn to Ontario’s Environment Ministry, whose 16 listed local employees try to keep tabs on local industry, and whose Spills Action Centre takes spill reports and answers residents’ questions about leaks 24/7.
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While the two monitoring stations are supplemented by others run by a Chemical Valley cooperative, the Ministry relies too much on industry to monitor themselves, she says. “The M.O.E. just says “They’d better not lie,” she scolded the officials at the Wed. meeting.
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“I don’t see any other community surrounded by 63 industries where people never get an answer to their questions,” said mother-of-four Vicki Noel, who remembers one teenaged son walking home during the January 2013 leak of mercaptan and hydrogen sulphide from Shell in Sarnia, feeling sick for two days after with the taste of sulphur in his mouth. Officials at the community day-care weren’t informed of the shelter-in-place order from their municipality and only began shutting down their ventilation system after the local fire department tested their air for a natural gas leak. By that time, some of the children were suffering from sore throats and red eyes. Over 30 residents complained of symptoms after the leak. Protests took place later that week, remembers Noel. “It’s not right when five year old children have to be protesting in the streets, she complained to Vice.Ada Lockridge is trying to make up for what she sees is a lack of Ministry monitoring. Linking up with the non-governmental group Global Community Monitor, when leaks occur, she opens up a “bucket” to take her own samples. At $30 a bucket, $40 for shipping, and $500 for analyzing the samples, the NGO is paying a hefty price to fill the gap.Still, it may not be the leaks that are the biggest worry for Aamjiwnaang. Lockridge remembers recently taking a background air sample at the community’s cemetery, tucked in a corner behind the Suncor refinery, and finding “quite a few toxins.” “This is really scary if we’re not tasting, seeing, or smelling [the chemicals]. “We don’t even know we’re being exposed to anything.”Knowing what’s going on in the air around them; timely and trusted information, is the one thing she and her community are looking to the province for. Even after years of living with fear, anxiety and frustration, Aamjiwnaang is still begging the watchdogs to keep better guard, start barking a little louder, and perhaps add a little more bite.