Some residents of a mining town in northern Quebec tell CTV W5
they no longer want to profit financially from heavy industry if it means the
price they have to pay is their health.
For years, a copper mine in Ruin Noranda, 600 kilometers northwest of Montreal,
has been spewing a cocktail of heavy metals into the air.
Residents are wondering if dangerous levels of cadmium, lead, mercury and
arsenic are being dumped and poisoning those near the Horne Smelter, owned by
the international conglomerate Glencore.
Smoke from Canada's only copper smelter has been belching pollution in Ruin
Noranda for almost a century. Ruin Noranda is known as a wonderful city with
vibrant culture and art festivals.
According
to a 2022 study by the Quebec Institute of Public Health, people who live
closer to a steel plant have higher rates of cancer, shorter life expectancy
and a higher rate of low birth weight.
But Marie-Elise Viger, Glencore's environmental manager, says the plant is not
the source of dangerous levels of pollution.
“The
levels are on the normal side,” Wieger told W5. He says he moved to Ruin
Noranda from Montreal about 15 years ago. “It's a safe environment. So I feel
very comfortable … raising my children here.”
In
2011, Quebec set a safety standard for arsenic emissions from power plants at 3
nanograms per cubic meter – the world's strictest limit.
Glencore
is overvalued and will issue at least 15 times that amount. Its subsidiary is
privileged under the grandfather clause. Quebec confirms how much the plant
emits each year.
Glencore's Horne Smelter has been spewing a cocktail of heavy
metals into the air for years. (W5)
Some have health
problems
Residents
have long feared that living near the smelter would expose them to harmful
levels of chemicals such as arsenic.
Mireille
Vincellet is one of them. He thinks that the pollution of the metallurgical
plant is the cause of his asthma?
“When I
go for a run and the air quality is bad, it's hard to breathe,” Winslett told
W5. “I have to go back and get my puffer to continue.”
Dr.
Koren Mann, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, presented a study
investigating the incidence of lung cancer in Ruin Noranda and the possible
exposure of patients to airborne metals, including arsenic, a human carcinogen.
“It
actually seems like the smoking rate is lower. So you would probably expect
less … cases of lung cancer than what we're seeing,” he told W5. “So there's
probably something else going on. And we're testing the hypothesis that it's
the metals that are contributing.”
In
2019, Quebec Public Health tested the fingernails of children who lived near
the smelter.
Winslet's
son, who was two and a half years old at the time, had four times more arsenic
in his fingernails than children in the neighboring community. Her daughter's
fingernails showed 13 times more arsenic.
“It was
a shock,” Winslett said. “I feel guilty raising my kids here. But then I'm
angry at the government. I thought they were going to protect us, and I'm so
mad they didn't.”
Overall,
the rate of children growing up next to the Horne Smelter was up to four times
higher than that of children living in a nearby town.
Mireille
Vincelette says she's out of breath as she runs outside and wonders if
pollution from the copper plant is to blame. (CTV W5)