Northeast Edmonton residents still waiting for answers about former Domtar site
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed results from a provincial health study
It's been almost a year and a half since a northeast Edmonton neighbourhood was told about some higher-than-average cancer rates among former and current residents.
The Homesteader homeowners still don't have any answers.
And neither, at least for the time being, do Alberta health authorities, according to a message posted on the province's Homesteader health website.
The province said the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the work of an investigation seeking explanations for a higher number of breast, endometrial and lung cancers found among people who have lived for 10 years or more in the neighbourhood, located near the site of the former Domtar wood-treatment plant.
The results were supposed to come out this spring but now there is no timeline as to when the results from the study will be made public.
The provincial government announced the elevated rates of three types of cancer in the area in March 2019. Resident Dennis Kuchar has been waiting since then to learn more.
"There's a lot of questions," he said. "They talked about cancer and it was a vague answer.... They say more cancer here than anywhere else, they don't know why but it just is.
"We want to know, well, what is it?"
The study is being done by Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). The latter agency sent epidemiologists from its Canadian Field Epidemiology Program (CFEP) from May through October 2019.
"When CFEP left the field, AHS was still in the process of collecting data," Tammy Jarbeau, a spokesperson for the agency, told CBC News in an email.
The voluntary survey asked them about their medical and work history and if they had any access to the former Domtar site.
An initial analysis released in March 2019 found no difference in cancer rates in the area of the former creosote plant compared to other areas in Alberta — except for the three types of cancers, a 2019 news release said.
That analysis did find that, among people who had lived in the area for 10 years or more, there were:
- 34 cases of breast cancer in women, when 16 to 31 cases were expected among the Alberta population.
- 14 cases of endometrial cancer in women, when three to nine cases were expected.
- 22 cases of lung cancer in men, when six to 14 cases would have been expected.
The field epidemiology investigation is meant to find the public health factors contributing to the three elevated cancer types in the area.
"It doesn't mean that living in the area has caused those things. It simply means there's an association," Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said in 2019.
Hinshaw declined an interview with CBC News for this story.
Alberta Health did not provide comment before publication.
'Really big thing going on'
Fences bearing "Keep Out" signs have been up in the area for more than a year and have left residents with questions.
A dusty playground in the middle of the neighbourhood is overgrown with weeds as children are blocked from entering.
"In a newer neighbourhood like this, you shouldn't see signs that say 'Keep Out,'" said Kuchar. "It just feels strange."
"It makes it feel like there's some really big thing going on," added his wife, Tara Kuchar.
The fencing was put up around the former Domtar site after sample tests done by the province in 2017-18 found hazardous contaminants in the soil on the former site.
The province said in a 2019 news release that 183 samples from nearly 1,500 that were analyzed had levels of toxic chemicals that exceed health guidelines. The samples found dioxins, furans and other contaminants that exceed health guidelines.
In a March 2019 update, AHS said a human health risk assessment was completed and shows "there are hazards to human health from the soil at the former Domtar site but there are ways to mitigate the risk arising as a result of this."
Fencing and dust control was introduced in the area to protect residents from potential exposure, Hinshaw has said.
Mary-Ann Thurber, a city communications adviser, said in an email that the city understands how fencing around the parkette is "disappointing and frustrating" for residents.
"The City of Edmonton chose to fence off the parkette out of an abundance of caution to protect the area residents until Alberta Environment and Parks determines that the parkette is suitable for public use," she wrote. "The City of Edmonton is in contact with the province to encourage a decision."
Maureen Reagan, who lives in the nearby Overlanders neighbourhood, isn't concerned about the contamination in her neighbourhood, an older development a few kilometres away from the former Domtar site.
But she's frustrated with the lack of communication and with the giant fence behind her property.
Her home butts up against an area known as the Greenbelt, a city-owned urban park corridor between the Yellowhead Highway and Overlanders community.
The area was never owned by Domtar or used for wood processing.
However, some contamination from the former wood processing operations is located at significant depth in areas of the Greenbelt, according to the Greenbelt information website.
The area, which used to be a community space that her children and others in the area would play in, is now nothing but tall grass, weeds and full of rodents, said the mother of seven.
"We were promised the bi-monthly updates; we've never received one of those," she said.
"The only way I am getting any information is occasionally they update their website. If they are done their job, we need the fence to come down so we can start to enjoy it again."
Thurber said an executive officer order issued by AHS forced the city to close off the Greenbelt area. The fence and signage has to remain until AHS removes the order, she said.
Remediation work
The Domtar site operated between 1924 and 1987, using creosote to preserve wood. The company did some remedial work on contaminated lands around the plant in 1994, before selling the site to 1510837 Alberta Ltd. in 2010.
The new owner and developer, Cherokee Canada, plans to turn the land into a residential development and is working with the province on remediation.
- New orders issued to protect public near former Domtar site in northeast Edmonton
- Domtar creosote plant dispute goes to Environmental Appeals Board
Alberta Environment and Parks did not respond to a request for comment.
Bonny Skene, regional public affairs manager with Domtar, told CBC News that the Ministry of Environment and Parks reviewed and accepted the Human Health Risk Assessment and the Site Specific Risk Assessment (SSRA) for the Greenbelt and Overlanders community in May.
"The SSRA indicates there is no elevated health risk associated with the site," she wrote. "We currently await finalized site specific criteria for the Greenbelt and the Overlanders community in order to finalize our remediation plan. Once this is complete, we will submit the plan to the ministry."
Cherokee Canada says on its Homesteader Responds website that "significant work" has been completed and that they are aiming for remediation work to be completed later this summer.
John Dill, managing director of Cherokee Canada, did not respond to requests for comment.