Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure
In August 2014, the Mount Polley Mine tailings dam was breached, releasing millions of cubic metres of tailings water and tailings into Polley Lake, Quesnel Lake, and Hazeltine Creek in British Columbia (BC), Canada. To date, no assessment has identified the communities impacted by this event, nor h...
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Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health
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ftunivictoriaojs:oai:journals.uvic.ca:article/17786 2023-05-15T16:15:13+02:00 Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure Shandro, Janis Jokinen, Laura Stockwell, Alison Mazzei, Francesco Winkler, Mirko S. 2017-09-20 application/pdf https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/17786 https://doi.org/10.18357/ijih122201717786 eng eng Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/17786/7448 https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/17786 doi:10.18357/ijih122201717786 Copyright (c) 2017 Janis Shandro, Laura Jokinen, Alison Stockwell, Francesco Mazzei, Mirko S. Winkler http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND International Journal of Indigenous Health; Vol 12 No 2 (2017); 84-102 2291-9376 2291-9368 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2017 ftunivictoriaojs https://doi.org/10.18357/ijih122201717786 2020-12-02T19:57:40Z In August 2014, the Mount Polley Mine tailings dam was breached, releasing millions of cubic metres of tailings water and tailings into Polley Lake, Quesnel Lake, and Hazeltine Creek in British Columbia (BC), Canada. To date, no assessment has identified the communities impacted by this event, nor how they were impacted, from a social or health perspective. This qualitative study uses a community-based participatory research approach to identify (1) First Nations impacted by this incident and (2) impacts to Aboriginal health experienced by these communities. To address these gaps in knowledge, the First Nations Health Authority funded the project team to complete the first two phases of a health impact assessment. This work draws attention to the strong links between First Nations, the land and resources, culture, and associated health outcomes. In considering the importance of Aboriginal health and culturally appropriate health pathways, the project team identified 4 key impacts: environmental dispossession, emotional stress, altered dietary patterns, and changes in physical activity. The similarity in impacts associated with the Mount Polley tailings dam failure for many First Nations in BC is best understood through an in-depth understanding of the importance of the Fraser River as a source of salmon for their communities. This work documents the unidentified and unfulfilled need to ameliorate the extent of emotional trauma prompted by real or perceived threat to salmon health, a threat exacerbated by a lack of reliable information from trusted sources in the aftermath of the breach. Relevant recommendations are also provided. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations University of Victoria (Canada): Journal Publishing Service British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canada Fraser River ENVELOPE(-62.243,-62.243,56.619,56.619) International Journal of Indigenous Health 12 2 84 102 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Victoria (Canada): Journal Publishing Service |
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ftunivictoriaojs |
language |
English |
description |
In August 2014, the Mount Polley Mine tailings dam was breached, releasing millions of cubic metres of tailings water and tailings into Polley Lake, Quesnel Lake, and Hazeltine Creek in British Columbia (BC), Canada. To date, no assessment has identified the communities impacted by this event, nor how they were impacted, from a social or health perspective. This qualitative study uses a community-based participatory research approach to identify (1) First Nations impacted by this incident and (2) impacts to Aboriginal health experienced by these communities. To address these gaps in knowledge, the First Nations Health Authority funded the project team to complete the first two phases of a health impact assessment. This work draws attention to the strong links between First Nations, the land and resources, culture, and associated health outcomes. In considering the importance of Aboriginal health and culturally appropriate health pathways, the project team identified 4 key impacts: environmental dispossession, emotional stress, altered dietary patterns, and changes in physical activity. The similarity in impacts associated with the Mount Polley tailings dam failure for many First Nations in BC is best understood through an in-depth understanding of the importance of the Fraser River as a source of salmon for their communities. This work documents the unidentified and unfulfilled need to ameliorate the extent of emotional trauma prompted by real or perceived threat to salmon health, a threat exacerbated by a lack of reliable information from trusted sources in the aftermath of the breach. Relevant recommendations are also provided. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shandro, Janis Jokinen, Laura Stockwell, Alison Mazzei, Francesco Winkler, Mirko S. |
spellingShingle |
Shandro, Janis Jokinen, Laura Stockwell, Alison Mazzei, Francesco Winkler, Mirko S. Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure |
author_facet |
Shandro, Janis Jokinen, Laura Stockwell, Alison Mazzei, Francesco Winkler, Mirko S. |
author_sort |
Shandro, Janis |
title |
Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure |
title_short |
Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure |
title_full |
Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure |
title_fullStr |
Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure |
title_full_unstemmed |
Risks and Impacts to First Nation Health and the Mount Polley Mine Tailings Dam Failure |
title_sort |
risks and impacts to first nation health and the mount polley mine tailings dam failure |
publisher |
Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/17786 https://doi.org/10.18357/ijih122201717786 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) ENVELOPE(-62.243,-62.243,56.619,56.619) |
geographic |
British Columbia Canada Fraser River |
geographic_facet |
British Columbia Canada Fraser River |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
International Journal of Indigenous Health; Vol 12 No 2 (2017); 84-102 2291-9376 2291-9368 |
op_relation |
https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/17786/7448 https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ijih/article/view/17786 doi:10.18357/ijih122201717786 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2017 Janis Shandro, Laura Jokinen, Alison Stockwell, Francesco Mazzei, Mirko S. Winkler http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.18357/ijih122201717786 |
container_title |
International Journal of Indigenous Health |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
84 |
op_container_end_page |
102 |
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1766000938346086400 |