Asbestos plan changes little

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) has announced the launch of the Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) Plan, but the strategy - essentially, do nothing - is proving unsatisfactory to some, coming years after the community first discovered in 2019 that asbestos-laden soils had been used to fill in lots across the territory.

The MCK has said the “leave it in place” approach is the best path forward, the one recommended by expert advice provided by Arcadis - an engineering consulting firm - and others. It is being characterized as a safe solution to the problem of broken pieces of asbestos pipe in the community’s ground, even though some areas early on were completely remediated - namely Lot 106.

But fragments of ACM pipe kept turning up in the community.

Community members are asked not to disturb soils that may contain ACM, and land that has been identified as containing it will be checked annually during the spring thaw, with surface pieces removed. Community members should also report any pieces of ACM transite pipe that turn up.

“According to the Arcadis reports, they’re saying that environmental exposure to ACM is a very low risk,” said Tracey Snow, special projects coordinator for MCK’s Public Safety Unit, who said the department hasn’t received many reports of broken pipe in recent years.

“There’s no danger leaving it in the soil. If you found a piece and you put it through a grinder and started inhaling it, there’s a chance the fibres could become released; that’s what you would have to do to have potential exposure,” said Snow.

The situation arose after ACM sewer pipes were dug up in 2016. A subsequent decision was made to use a large quantity of the soils from this work as landfill, particularly on Lot 106, according to the executive summary of a report commissioned by Deloitte that was made public in 2021.

This summary concludes that the presence of ACM pipe and do-nothing approach when they’re under pressure to deal with something they don’t want to deal with,” said Paul.

“The MCK delayed the cleanups to avoid the associated costs. No one litigated, so they probably felt confident in doing nothing. They got rid of the MCK employees they held responsible, hired Deloitte to make a nice report, and now they’re washing their hands of removing it or any type of approved remediation. They spent a lot of time and money to just leave it in place,” he said.

According to the Deloitte executive summary, Council chiefs and Legal Services only became privy to the situation in 2019.

The Eastern Door has viewed documents on MCK letterhead that demonstrate that Council seems to have revised a promise to remediate his lot, something which at least has not been done to his satisfaction.

An August 2019 letter from John Skye, then with the Capital Unit, in response to a request from Paul to remove soils containing ACM cement pipe from his lots, confirms that the MCK undertakes to remove “all material and pipe containing asbestos deposited by the Capital Unit” during that time frame at MCK’s expense.

However, it qualifies that no baseline testing was done on the lots prior to the deposits, so MCK would only be removing and cleaning up those put there by Capital.

A March 2022 letter signed by former MCK grand chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, five months after a letter from Paul, says his Lot 34-2-32 would be removed from the global remediation plan based on his prior agreement with Capital.

“The remediation of this Lot will therefore be prioritized, and work will begin with a complete soil characterization to be carried out as soon as possible.”

In May 2023, Paul received another letter, this one saying the remediation was completed and further works would not be undertaken.

The work that was done, on two separate occasions, was combing - an alternative to complete soil removal. Paul said he witnessed the combing and found it insufficient.

The letter refers to an upcoming management plan: “In this management plan your concern regarding the future use and movement of these soils will be addressed,” it reads, going on to say, “We understand your frustration concerning this ongoing issue, but we can assure you that are taking your concerns and the health and safety of the community seriously.”

Paul refused to sign the waivers that were provided to him throughout this time.

“It’s definitely not considered remediation. My lot was supposed to be cleaned up using the guidelines implemented for Lot 106 in the year 2019, which was removal and replace with clean soil. The MCK delayed the cleanups to avoid the associated costs,” he said.

“I’m angry,” he said. “I’m going to be angry till I die over it.”

Repeated requests for comment from an MCK chief on the file to discuss the plan, including MCK grand chief Cody Diabo, were not returned by deadline.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter