In Canada, roughly 40% of the petrochemical industry is located in an area known as Chemical Valley near Sarnia, Ontario, and the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. Chemical Valley emits approximately 10% of Ontario’s total emissions, more than 45,000 tonnes of air pollutants annually, Al Jazeera reports.
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Surrounded by pollution, the Aamjiwnaang people are exposed to highly toxic levels of several pollutants. According to The Guardian, the level of carcinogenic chemicals in the air is 44 times higher than safe levels. As a result, stories of miscarriages, stillbirths, dialysis, and chemotherapy are common within the Aamjiwnaang community and Anishinabek News reports that between 2001 to 2012, four new cancers were reported every year in Aamjiwnaang on average.
Spills also happen frequently in the refineries in Chemical Valley. Between 2015 and 2017 alone, there were over 500 spills or leaks, according to “Local Activism for Global Climate Justice,” edited by Patricia E. Perkins. Unfortunately, Indigenous people all over the world are subject to this kind of environmental racism. “Indigenous people globally were among the populations at highest risk of being affected by pollution, with oil and gas exploration, mineral extraction, toxic waste dumping and industrial development among the top sources of exposure.”
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