Describes Canada's shameful promotion of asbestos and consequences for workers.

1. Asbestos: Canada’s
shame
November 4, 2019
Cathy Walker
Former Director, Occupational Health and
Safety Department, CAW (now Unifor)
SFU Health Sciences
HSCI 845 G100
Cecilia Sierra-Heredia’s class

2. Asbestos: Killer Dust
Are they exposed to asbestos?

3. No, they are health care
workers coping with
volcanic ash
 You can’t do anything about volcanoes
 But you Can do something to prevent
exposure to asbestos!
 This presentation will outline the history
of Canada’s promotion of asbestos and
the decades-long lobby to ban its mining
and use in the workplace
 To protect workers
 To protect everyone

4. Québec, began mining
asbestos in 1879

5. No worker protection in
the early days, King mine
1896

6. Women workers also had no
protection, 1930 Johnson
mine

7. In 1918, insurance
companies stopped insuring
asbestos workers
 Because they
were dying of
asbestosis and
cancer
 This is a recent
asbestos miner
showing his X-Ray

8. In Asbestos and in Thetford
Mines the towns were
adjacent to the mines and
tailings. St.-Maurice parish,
1950

10. Asbestos was used in
all sorts of products made
by workers

11. Asbestos insulation
sprayers, 1960s and 70s

12. Union went to Dr. Irving
Selikoff: Québec, New York
and New Jersey asbestos
sprayers

13. Selikoff Examined 1,117
asbestos insulation workers
 More than 50% already had asbestosis
determined by X-Rays
 For those exposed more than 20 years,
339 of 392 (87%) had asbestosis
 Lung cancers were 7 times the expected
rate
 Gastrointestinal cancers were 3 times the
expected rate

15. Asbestos stopped being used
as sprayed-on insulation,
halfway through building the
World Trade Centre buildings

16. But of course there was still
lots of asbestos in the
September 11, 2001 dust

17. Do you have to be covered in
dust to die from asbestos?

18. Do you have to be covered in
dust to die from asbestos?
 The answer is “no”
 Professors in CAUT
employed at the
University of Manitoba
have died from asbestos
exposure

19. But Canada pushed
asbestos production even
as world demand fell
 And when demand fell in the developed
world, the Canadian and Québec
governments continued to promote our
asbestos, chrysotile asbestos as ‘safe’
 Why?

20. Why did Canada support the
production of asbestos?
 Wasn’t it unconscionable?
 How could our federal government
oppose asbestos bans in other countries,
including bringing a complaint against the
French asbestos ban to the WTO?
 To understand the position of the federal
government, you have to understand the
history of the union and sovereignty
movement in Québec

21. In 1949, miners in Québec
were prepared to fight back

22. Miners in Asbestos and
Thetford Mines fought back
 Against the U.S. corporation, Johns
Manville
 Against the Roman Catholic Church
 And especially, against Québec Premier,
Maurice Duplessis
 They fought for four months
 The issues were wages, but especially,
working conditions, protection from the
killer dust, asbestos

23. Asbestos Strike
Québec, 1949

24. Asbestos Strike, 1949
 Iconic event in Québec history
 Symbol of Québec nationalism
 Marked the beginning of the Quiet
Revolution in Québec

25. Asbestos Strike, 1949
Who was there?
 Jean Marchand, union leader
 Gérard Pelletier, journalist with Le Devoir
 Pierre Elliot Trudeau who would become Prime
Minister

26. Who are these two?

27. What did the workers
think?
 Globe and Mail, headline, Oct. 2, 2000:
 “Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1919-2000, Still a
hero in Québec after all these years”
 Rosaire Drouin, miner, speaking of Trudeau,
 “He was sort of the ambassador for the
union. He explained to us our rights against
Duplessis." “
 “He defended the workers. He was good for
Québec and Canada. It's a long time since
we've seen a good one like that."

28. 1949’s legacy remains.
Debating anti-scab
legislation in Parliament,
October 21, 2003:
 Mr. André Bachand (Richmond—
Arthabaska, PC)
 “I am from Asbestos.”…
 “The scabs were the main problem during
the strike of 1949 in Asbestos. I am not
going to call them “strikebreakers” or
“replacement workers”; they were scabs.
There were fights, and the provincial police
were there.”

29. Some say bloodiest strike
in Canadian history
 Laurent Bernatchez bloodied by police in
the asbestos strike, 1949

30. Québec miners 1975
 As you can hear in this CBC Radio clip, patients
suffering from asbestos-related illnesses
experience shortness of breath, extreme fatigue
and persistent coughing often excreting blood:
 CBC Radio clip: 1975, Thetford Mines, Paul
Brodeur, etc. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-
608-3400/science_technology/asbestos/clip2
 Miners were still striking in the ‘70s over working
conditions

31. Québec Production
• 1960s rapid expansion of production
• Québec was the dominant world
producer and the key exporter to the US
market which consumes 50% of world
production
• 1970s, production peaked at 1.7 Million
Tons

32. Asbestos strikes in the
1970s over working
conditions and wages

33. René Lévesque became
Québec Premier in 1979
• One of the first moves of
the PQ government was to
nationalize the asbestos
industry
• The hope was that Québec
would finally gain the profits
instead of the foreign
owners

34. Québec mines cleaned up
considerably after the PQ
nationalized the mines
 Excellent ventilation
 Protective measures
 Still a risk at work, but
not an enormous one
as before

35. Fighting asbestos in
Burnaby truck plant,
1978-82; theory leads to
action

36. US Market Collapsed 1980s:
lawsuits and bankrupties

37. Canada’s Shame: Big Lie
 Our government promoted asbestos,
saying our Canadian asbestos, chrysotile
or white asbestos, was less harmful than
other types of asbestos
 Canada actively promoted the ‘safe use’
of asbestos, especially to the developing
world

38. Two main Asbestos
groups
 Amphiboles (straight
fibres)
 Serpentine (curly
fibres)

39. There’s not really a lot of
difference
 Amphiboles
 Crocidolite
 Amosite
 Serpentine
 Chrysotile:
 95% of world asbestos
 Includes Canadian
asbestos:

40. But what about Canada’s
export of asbestos?
 The Chrysotile
(Asbestos) Institute
promoted chrysotile
asbestos as “safe”
 Where is our
asbestos used in
developing
countries?

41. Everybody needs clean
water, right?
 But these pipes deteriorate and break,
releasing asbestos
 And usually we exported only raw
asbestos so someone had to mix the
asbestos and the cement, usually by
hand

42. And asbestos is used in roofs
of houses and huts where it
crumbles directly onto the
people who live there

43. Asbestos bags leak,
Canadian asbestos exports

44. Brazilian worker breaking
open asbestos bags

45. Working with Asbestos in Peru

46. Funeral:
Asbestos Deaths in Peru

47. Asbestos sheet cutting unit in Mardan City, Pakistan located on the main road in a
residential area.

48. Inside this building is a flour mill; while outside is an asbestos
crushing machine and an asbestos dump. The man in the
picture has worked for 8 years on this machine and was not
convinced of any hazard related to asbestos inhalation or its
mixing with flour produced inside the building.

49. Asbestos Use in India
 How little protection
there is in developing
countries for either
workers or for the
general population.

50. Gujarat, India
 Manager of an asbestos factory: “Our
factory is so safe that our workers do not
need to wear masks.”
 The factory has received an ISO 9002
rating from a British company.
 Broken asbestos pieces are used to fill
up areas as driveways where vehicles
enter the distribution area.

51. There is a water spray on the blade of the circular
saw but the worker’s hair is white with asbestos.

53. Protesting against
asbestos factory in India:
students told their farmer
parents of hazards

54. 1996 France tried to ban
asbestos and Canada
appealed to World Trade
Organization

55. WTO was set up in 1995
to promote
the neoliberal agenda

56. French heritage of Québec
undoubtedly a factor in
Canada’s appeal
 Fortunately, Canada lost at the WTO, 2001
 But a developed country like France has
many more resources and clout than a
developing country

57. Implications of Canadian
Appeal
 The entire health community was appalled
 Canada had confirmed its role as the leading
proponent of the asbestos industry, globally
 Canadian taxpayers had paid a great deal of
money on legal costs to fight the French ban

58. Canada Day, July 1, 2009
English unionists ride
against Canadian asbestos

59. The 2000s
 Scientific and medical evidence of the harms of
asbestos resulted in a continued fall in its use in
developed world
 Canada’s production also declined but federal and
Québec government continued financial subsidies and
promotion as late as 2012
 Industry in Québec was faltering – bankruptcies and
existing mines exhausted so mining stopped in 2011
 Opposition to asbestos continued to grow in Canada
and internationally – Ban Asbestos Canada, unions,
medical associations etc.

60. Fightbacks everywhere
 CAW airport
workers
across the
country,
especially in
Vancouver,
protected
themselves
and the
public

61. CBC News:
Melissa
Fung in
India
 The National: Canada’s
Ugly Secret, by Melissa
Fung, June 10, 2009,
runs 15.14
 http://www.cbc.ca/nation
al/blog/video/healtheduc
ation/canadas_ugly_secr
et.html

62. Canadian News: Finally!
 http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-
picks/asbestos-basics/#clip190469
 Dr. Jim Brophy and Dr. Margaret Keith
long-time health & safety activists

63. How could we have
exported death to the
third world?
 Chrysotile asbestos –
it looks so innocent,
but it’s so deadly

64. For us, the asbestos
tailings are still there
Thetford Mines, 2002

65. 2010 Thetford Mines,
riding on
asbestos waste pile

66. Nearly 70 countries have
banned asbestos thanks to work
of people like Laurie Kazan
Allen of the UK
http://www.ibasecretariat.org/alpha_ban_list.php

67. Canada has finally banned
asbestos (almost)
 The Canadian government finally banned asbestos, making it illegal
to import, manufacture, sell, trade or use products made with the toxic
mineral.
 The ban, which went into effect Dec. 30, 2018, contains exemptions that
still allow its use in the chlor-alkali industry, the military, nuclear facilities
and for magnesium extraction from asbestos mining residue.
 It is The Prohibition of Asbestos and Products Containing Asbestos
Regulations
 http://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-10-17/html/sor-dors196-eng.html

68. Kathleen Ruff, Smithers
received medal of honour in
Quebec’s National Assembly for
her work to stop Canada’s
asbestos trade

69. But workers are still
exposed to asbestos
 To brake dust in auto repair shops
 To insulation in ceilings and walls in
renovation and demolition
 To asbestos cement in road work and
repair
 More than 150,000 workers in Canada
continue to be exposed to asbestos

70. Blayne Kinart,
Sarnia
chemical
plant worker
wanted
people to
know the
consequences
of asbestos
exposure

71. Paul Demers,
Epidemiologist and Director of the
Occupational Cancer Research Centre in
Ontario
“Asbestos is the leading cause of
occupational deaths in Canada”

72. Asbestos disease
continues in Canada
 More than 500 new cases of
mesothelioma every year (85% are
workers) like Blayne Kinart, Sarnia
worker
 More than 1,900 new cases of asbestos
related lung cancer every year

73. Prevention is Critical for
Workers and the Public
 Asbestos must be substituted for safer
substances in brakes and insulation
 Asbestos-containing buildings must be
thoroughly documented
 Removal and replacement of asbestos-
containing materials must be done by
licensed, experienced asbestos removal
companies

74. Thanks very much!