Overdue cancer investigation nearly complete for former Domtar plant, province says

A long overdue investigation into elevated cancer rates among residents living near a former wood treatment plant in northeast Edmonton is expected to be released this year.

The investigation began in the Homesteader neighbourhood after a preliminary health study released in 2019 found that residents living near the site of a former Domtar plant had elevated rates of cancer.

According to Alberta Health officials, the results of the epidemiological investigation should be published in 2025, more than five years after it was due to be made public.

It's the first clear timeline provided by the provincial government about the health study in years — as cleanup of contaminated lands is deemed complete, clearing the way for new residential development where the wood treatment plant once stood. 

In a statement to CBC News, Alberta Health said the study findings and methodology will be subject to scientific peer review before it is made public. 

Officials did not say who authored the research or which journal would review the study.

"To ensure rigour and an independent peer review process, academic experts are synthesizing the results into a manuscript for submission to a reputable scientific journal," the statement reads. 

"This approach is necessary to maintain the integrity and credibility of the work, as premature release could potentially compromise this vital process."

Once the study is released, it will represent the final chapter of a protracted legal saga over the redevelopment of the plant site and the toxic waste the operation left behind.

The plant operated from 1924 until 1987, using toxic preservatives such as creosote to treat railway ties, telephone poles and other wood products.

It was that chemical waste that seeped deep into the soil.

In 2010, a Toronto-based firm Cherokee purchased the land with the intention of developing a residential area.

About 100 homes were built before legal issues arose, as the developer and the province clashed over the environmental cleanup and who should pay for it.

In 2018, more than 100 residents received letters warning them their homes were near contaminated lands.

Fences were put up, along with signs warning that the soil was toxic with hazardous levels of dioxins, furans and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

The following year, as the preliminary health study was released, the province promised to complete a more detailed investigation into the elevated cancer rates among residents and if contamination from the plant was to blame.

Conducting the field epidemiology investigation was considered a standard public health practice and the results were meant to guide public health officials in reducing the risk to residents. 

Alberta Health had promised to make the findings public by the spring of 2020, but blamed ongoing delays on the COVID-19 pandemic.  

"The field epidemiology investigation for the Homesteader health assessment was paused in March 2020 when available epidemiology resources were fully deployed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," a ministry official said in a statement last month.

"Alberta Health has since engaged academic epidemiologists from the University of Alberta to help complete the work, which is expected to be finished in 2025." 

The study is being done by Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Federal epidemiologists were dispatched to Edmonton in 2019 to complete several months of field work. 

That same year, the Ministry of Health contacted residents to participate in a voluntary community survey, focused on risk factors for breast, endometrial, and lung cancer, including family history, proximity to the Domtar site, and time spent outdoors in the neighborhood.

Remediation work over the years has involved burying or trucking away the contaminated soil, environmental testing and dust control measures.

As the years passed, reminders of the neighbourhood's toxic legacy, including fences and warning signs, have slowly been removed.

Last fall, the remaining executive orders for the cleanup of the plant lands were lifted, as Alberta Environment issued reclamation certificates for the three remaining parcels of land where contamination had been found.

Cherokee has not responded to requests for comment but has long maintained that the neighbourhood is safe. 

While the cancer study findings remain outstanding, Alberta Health Services considers the general risk to the public as low. 

However, until more is known from the epidemiology investigation, residents of the area are encouraged to take added caution with health screening and talk to their doctors about the elevated cancer rates.