Caring for the Thunderbird’s Nest: Geophysical and Machine Learning solutions to characterize and monitor inequitable Exposures to Ground and Air Pollution

ORI Grant ID
00116-2022
Research Area(s): Sustainable Architecture, Systems Integration | Funder: CIHR | Program: CCSIF
PI Name: Maria Jacome | Faculty/Department: Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology

The project will address a health and environmental crisis in the FWFN community – a cluster of leukemia in very young community members who spent time in childhood in an area with over a century of industrial development, including pulp and paper, metallurgy, coal-fired power, rail, chemical plants, contaminated dredge, industrial disposal sites, fueling stations, and other industries. The community has noted that children under five who spent time in a residential area adjacent to the industrial lands were most likely to experience this atypically young onset of leukemia. The industrial lands have been subject to Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) paid for by the government and industry as part of comprehensive land claim processes. Despite dozens of ESAs over several decades, FWFN leadership does not have relevant information in a format that is useful for the community to make decisions. They also do not trust the reporting practices of the liable parties who have been obliged by law to finance the ESAs. This project will work in a nest of collaboration with FWFN in a model of integrated knowledge translation – researchers and community learning together