Walpole Island is nestled at the heart of the Great Lakes, surrounded by natural resources and a breathtaking landscape that supports the indigenous population.
But these are darker waters than would appear at first sight.
Dean Jacobs, consultant manager for the Walpole Island Heritage Centre, was among the speakers at the fourth annual Ivey Symposium on EcoHealth Toxicology held Oct. 20, titled “When people poison their environment.”
As Canada’s southernmost reserve, Walpole Island is home to just under 4,000 citizens.
The surrounding waters and marshes of the St. Clair River have provided drinking water and food for the community, but in recent years it has also become a cocktail of pollutants, some from chemical plants upstream in Sarnia’s Chemical Valley, others from operations on both sides of the border. Similarly, air pollution from Detroit and surrounding areas drifts towards Walpole Island.
With the rising fear of health problems from contamination, the community began asking questions about the links between health issues, such as cancer, and their environment.
“The question from the community was what are the sediments and contaminants, (and) is there a relationship to our human health?” says Jacobs, adding in addition to disrupting the culture, lifestyle and economy of Walpole Island First Nation. “There is a fear in our community about ‘chemophobia.’
“We are blaming everything – cancer, poor health – on the water.”
Walpole Island First Nations’ top industry – hunting and fishing – is in jeopardy from pollution. This has economic, as well as nutritional, implications because the community has grown fearful of eating fish.
The community decided to partner with The University of Western Ontario to find answers to these questions, but it wasn’t a decision taken lightly.
Over the years, members of Walpole Island First Nation have been the subjects of several academic studies. “We’ve been resisting working with others because we have been studied to death,” he says.
In 2004, they approached Western professor Jack Bend of the Department of Pathology, to carry out a feasibility study for an epidemiological assessment of the impact of toxic pollutants, particularly methylmercury, on the health of adults and children consuming contaminated water and natural foods, such as fish and muskrats.
Jacobs says the partnership with Western is different because rather than being the ‘subjects’ of a study, they have been named as principal investigators.
“We understand that we are in it for the long haul and we have a partner in it for the long haul,” says Jacobs. “Now we are a part of the research, we own the research and the results.”
The research collaboration is already producing useful information.
Julie Hill, who recently completed her master’s degree at Western, spoke at the symposium about the results from monitoring environmental contaminants in Walpole Island volunteers.
Her research found the tested volunteers had the same levels of persistent organic pollutants as the American population to which it was compared. Persistent organic pollutants are chemical substances which accumulate in body tissue, take a long time to break down, accumulate through the food web and may cause adverse health effects.
Nor did the tests show higher concentrations of heavy metals than in those populations to which they were compared.
However, it did reveal the tested volunteers had higher stress levels, which may stem from chemophobia or stress about chronic disease in the community, among other factors, says Hill.
As community-based participatory research projects continue to evolve and develop, Jacobs says Walpole Island First Nation has a responsibility to share its knowledge with other First Nation and surrounding communities.
“Along the way we will use the results to educate our community … we know enough now, there are things we can do to benefit the community collectively,” he says.
“It’s empowering our community in a different way and that’s a good thing.”