Kamloops doctor calls for independent health review of Ajax

NEWS — A Kamloops physician today called for a full and independent health impact review of the Ajax open-pit mega mine proposed for the southwest boundary of the city.

Dr. Jill Calder, speaking to an overflow crowd of close to 300 at the TRU Clocktower Theatre, said a health study should be given the same importance as environment studies.

“What should be done is a full health impact assessment that is not rolled up in an environmental assessment,” she said.

Calder is a member of the Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment, one of several groups opposing the mine, but she said she isn’t against Ajax, just its location.

“I’m actually pro-science. I’m anti this mine in this location.”

Calder, who focused much of her talk on air pollution, pointed out that “we live in an area that has inversions…. There’s no way to totally mitigate the impact, so they will be raising our particulates.”

Using graphs and studies from other areas, Calder contended that “more polluted cities have people die more rapidly.”

The physician urged that those who oppose the mine “dial it back” on emotion and fight it with facts.

She said studies have shown that air pollution raises blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks.

“There are people that are very worried that what we breathe today will affect our grandchildren two generations from now,” she said.

“I guess I am sounding an alarm but I don’t want to be alarmist. I feel I’m sounding an alarm and I am a little bit like Paul Revere,” she said to applause.

Aberdeen will feel the first brunt of any increased air pollution caused by the mine but Sahali and possibly the downtown area will likely also be affected, she said. Other areas, such as Valleyview, “are really hard to know but it’s not just an Aberdeen problem.”

Calder also raised concerns about the review process and said the public won’t have enough time to respond to KGHM International’s application, which has been delayed and is now expected to be filed in a few months.

“I’m a bit worried that we will not be able to play catch-up to 10 bankers’ boxes full of material,” she said.

“We feel that there should be more of a panel approach,” but she cautioned that a federal panel review, long regarded as the gold standard by environmentalists, might not be much help now that “Stephen Harper is busy dismantling scientists in Ottawa.”

She also said that while the Interior Health Authority does an excellent job dealing with health emergencies, it doesn’t have the staff or resources to pre-assess the project.

“We feel that the medical health officer is an under-manned department.”

Calder said baseline studies are needed in addition to the independent health impact assessment.

Acknowledging that the some 500 jobs KGHM says will be created by the mine have drawn support by a lot of residents, she said the jobs will be temporary but the impact of the mine will be permanent.

She said health impact and job losses that will offset job gains should be considered, and “we really question how lands will be reclaimed. Reclamation costs may be inestimable and incalculable.”

Calder received a standing ovation at the end of her speech. During the question and answer period, one member of the audience, Dr. Dennis Karpiak, said, “It’s absolutely mandatory that this mine not be built in proximity to the city,” and said all members of City council should have been at the presentation.

Calder replied that council is “finally speaking up.” During a meeting with Mayor Peter Milobar, she said, the mayor’s “eyebrows went from normal position to up to his forehead” as he listened to the doctors’ concerns.

Another audience member asked if she was optimistic about a health impact review.

“If it was a done deal I’d be putting my house on the market and planning to leave,” said Calder.