FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
In 2014, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) completed its seven-year environmental assessment of the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP). This was undertaken to address public concerns about the impact of the mine’s clean-up activities, including those it may have on the local population’s exposure to contaminants.
As a result of the environmental legacy that Giant Mine, Con Mine, and other mining projects had on the Yellowknife area, one of the Review Board’s requirements was that the GMRP design and implement a Health Effects Monitoring Program for Ndilo, Dettah and Yellowknife, to look at people’s exposure to arsenic and other contaminants of concern.
This Program needs to start before any remediation work begins at Giant Mine in order to determine baseline levels – that is, what the levels are now.
The Giant Mine Remediation Project has been working with stakeholders over the last two years to prepare and design this program. We are now ready to implement it.
In 2014, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) completed its seven-year environmental assessment of the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP). This was undertaken to address public concerns about the impact of the mine’s clean-up activities, including those it may have on the local population’s exposure to contaminants.
As a result of the environmental legacy that Giant Mine, Con Mine, and other mining projects had on the Yellowknife area, one of the Review Board’s requirements was that the GMRP design and implement a Health Effects Monitoring Program for Ndilo, Dettah and Yellowknife, to look at people’s exposure to arsenic and other contaminants of concern.
This Program needs to start before any remediation work begins at Giant Mine in order to determine baseline levels – that is, what the levels are now.
The Giant Mine Remediation Project has been working with stakeholders over the last two years to prepare and design this program. We are now ready to implement it.
The purpose of the Monitoring Program is to establish a current baseline of levels of arsenic (and other contaminants) in residents. This will allow the Program to compare levels now to levels during and after remediation so they can make sure the remediation activities will not have a negative impact on the health of residents and can take action, if needed, to address any negative changes.
Aside from arsenic, other chemicals of potential concern in the study include antimony, cadmium, lead, manganese, and vanadium. These are being measured because other research and studies have shown that they are present at the Giant Mine site.
Arsenic is found at naturally low levels in the water of many NWT lakes and rivers. However, past gold mining activities have resulted in additional quantities of arsenic being released in the immediate environment surrounding the City of Yellowknife.
In order to understand the presence, the extent, and the mobility of arsenic around our communities, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), in collaboration with universities, monitors arsenic in water, sediments, soils and fish. Preliminary results of these projects will be shared with the Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) and other interested departments and governments. Final reports will be publicly available. More information is available at here.
In addition, the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP) commissioned an updated Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment (HHERA) study which gathered existing data, and in some instances collected samples of water, soil, sediment, plants, and animals to test for arsenic and other contaminants of concern. The results from this study were shared in public meetings in October 2017 and ARE AVAILABLE here. This is one of several Human Health Risk Assessments completed since the year 2000 to help GMRP determine the health risks associated with mining operations at Giant Mine.
If you are concerned about your exposure to arsenic around your communities, the Health Effects Monitoring Program will provide you and other residents an understanding of the current exposure to arsenic and other contaminants of concern. If you participate in the study, you will receive your individual results and what those numbers mean. In addition to that, your involvement will contribute to the overall assessment of our population health, and be able to measure the success of the remediation project with respect to impacts from contaminants.
There are tests available to measure arsenic in your blood, urine, hair, fingernails, and toenails. These tests can determine if you have been exposed to above-average levels of arsenic in recent months. They cannot predict whether the arsenic levels in your body will directly affect your health, and they cannot measure historic exposure to arsenic.
The Health Effects Monitoring Program will specifically measure the different forms of arsenic present in your toenail clippings (representing the past three to six months exposure) and urine (representing past two to three days exposure).
Total of 1900 Yellowknife households have been randomly selected to participate in the monitoring program using a sampling plan prepared by Statistics Canada. From that number, about 800 randomly selected households and apartments have been contacted and visited this past fall (2017). The remaining 1200 selected households will receive an Invitation Letter in the mail between April 10-12, 2018 informing them that their home was selected to participate in the Health Effects Monitoring Program. Our team of Research Assistants will be following up with those households that do not respond to us after receiving the letter. Data collection will take place between April 16 and June 24, 2018. We will ask up to one adult (18+), and one child (3-17) if present, for their consent to participate.
All Yellowknives Dene members who live in Ndilo, Dettah and the Yellowknife area are encouraged to participate. Sign-up sheets will be posted in the communities and the Community Project Coordinator will follow up with participants to schedule interviews and sample collection.
The study will be advertised by radio, local TV, social media, via news outlets, and in flyers to inform the public about the upcoming sampling in Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah.
If your house was not selected and you have concerns about the contaminants in your body, you can email the research team at ykhemp@uottawa.ca to volunteer to participate. For the North Slave Métis Alliance members and Yellowknives Dene First Nation, participation in the Monitoring Program is voluntary and encouraged.
In 2014, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) completed its seven-year environmental assessment of the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP). This was undertaken to address public concerns about the impact of the mine’s clean-up activities, including those it may have on the local population’s exposure to contaminants.
As a result of the environmental legacy that Giant Mine, Con Mine, and other mining projects had on the Yellowknife area, one of the Review Board’s requirements was that the GMRP design and implement a Health Effects Monitoring Program for Ndilo, Dettah and Yellowknife, to look at people’s exposure to arsenic and other contaminants of concern.
This Program needs to start before any remediation work begins at Giant Mine in order to determine baseline levels – that is, what the levels are now.
The Giant Mine Remediation Project has been working with stakeholders over the last two years to prepare and design this program. We are now ready to implement it.
In 2014, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) completed its seven-year environmental assessment of the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP). This was undertaken to address public concerns about the impact of the mine’s clean-up activities, including those it may have on the local population’s exposure to contaminants.
As a result of the environmental legacy that Giant Mine, Con Mine, and other mining projects had on the Yellowknife area, one of the Review Board’s requirements was that the GMRP design and implement a Health Effects Monitoring Program for Ndilo, Dettah and Yellowknife, to look at people’s exposure to arsenic and other contaminants of concern.
This Program needs to start before any remediation work begins at Giant Mine in order to determine baseline levels – that is, what the levels are now.
The Giant Mine Remediation Project has been working with stakeholders over the last two years to prepare and design this program. We are now ready to implement it.
The purpose of the Monitoring Program is to establish a current baseline of levels of arsenic (and other contaminants) in residents. This will allow the Program to compare levels now to levels during and after remediation so they can make sure the remediation activities will not have a negative impact on the health of residents and can take action, if needed, to address any negative changes.
Aside from arsenic, other chemicals of potential concern in the study include antimony, cadmium, lead, manganese, and vanadium. These are being measured because other research and studies have shown that they are present at the Giant Mine site.
Arsenic is found at naturally low levels in the water of many NWT lakes and rivers. However, past gold mining activities have resulted in additional quantities of arsenic being released in the immediate environment surrounding the City of Yellowknife.
In order to understand the presence, the extent, and the mobility of arsenic around our communities, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), in collaboration with universities, monitors arsenic in water, sediments, soils and fish. Preliminary results of these projects will be shared with the Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) and other interested departments and governments. Final reports will be publicly available. More information is available at here.
In addition, the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP) commissioned an updated Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment (HHERA) study which gathered existing data, and in some instances collected samples of water, soil, sediment, plants, and animals to test for arsenic and other contaminants of concern. The results from this study were shared in public meetings in October 2017 and ARE AVAILABLE here. This is one of several Human Health Risk Assessments completed since the year 2000 to help GMRP determine the health risks associated with mining operations at Giant Mine.
If you are concerned about your exposure to arsenic around your communities, the Health Effects Monitoring Program will provide you and other residents an understanding of the current exposure to arsenic and other contaminants of concern. If you participate in the study, you will receive your individual results and what those numbers mean. In addition to that, your involvement will contribute to the overall assessment of our population health, and be able to measure the success of the remediation project with respect to impacts from contaminants.
There are tests available to measure arsenic in your blood, urine, hair, fingernails, and toenails. These tests can determine if you have been exposed to above-average levels of arsenic in recent months. They cannot predict whether the arsenic levels in your body will directly affect your health, and they cannot measure historic exposure to arsenic.
The Health Effects Monitoring Program will specifically measure the different forms of arsenic present in your toenail clippings (representing the past three to six months exposure) and urine (representing past two to three days exposure).
Total of 1900 Yellowknife households have been randomly selected to participate in the monitoring program using a sampling plan prepared by Statistics Canada. From that number, about 800 randomly selected households and apartments have been contacted and visited this past fall (2017). The remaining 1200 selected households will receive an Invitation Letter in the mail between April 10-12, 2018 informing them that their home was selected to participate in the Health Effects Monitoring Program. Our team of Research Assistants will be following up with those households that do not respond to us after receiving the letter. Data collection will take place between April 16 and June 24, 2018. We will ask up to one adult (18+), and one child (3-17) if present, for their consent to participate.
All Yellowknives Dene members who live in Ndilo, Dettah and the Yellowknife area are encouraged to participate. Sign-up sheets will be posted in the communities and the Community Project Coordinator will follow up with participants to schedule interviews and sample collection.
The study will be advertised by radio, local TV, social media, via news outlets, and in flyers to inform the public about the upcoming sampling in Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah.
If your house was not selected and you have concerns about the contaminants in your body, you can email the research team at ykhemp@uottawa.ca to volunteer to participate. For the North Slave Métis Alliance members and Yellowknives Dene First Nation, participation in the Monitoring Program is voluntary and encouraged.
Unfortunately, there is currently no technology that will allow us to measure your historical exposure to arsenic. Unlike metals such as mercury, which accumulates in our body over time, arsenic travels through our body creating damage, and then leaves a few days later (3-4), mainly through urine.
The review of all the participant’s medical records, taken together with their current results, may help our research team make associations of possible health effects that could have been caused by past exposure, but will not be able to assess levels or duration of any past exposure.
If you’ve been part of a historical study (we know there have been several), we would like to know. If you received your results at that time, we’d be happy to have you share that information with us.
If you did not receive your results at that time, we have found data for some of the studies, though not all of them. If we do have access to your results, we will share those with you. That will be included with your results and interpretation from this current study.
For most Yellowknife residents, the interview will take place at your home, at your convenience, and last approximately 30 minutes. Interviews with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) members will take approximately 45 minutes because the interview will also include a brief medical exam (as requested by YKDFN leadership), and a medical questionnaire conducted by a research nurse working for the Program.
The Program will also carry out follow-up sampling five years later for participants younger than 18 years of age, and within 10 years for both adult and children participants.
You will be asked to answer some questions about your lifestyle, and the types and amounts of country food (for example, fish, berries, etc.) you eat.
You will be asked to provide biological samples, which include toenail clippings and urine. Collected samples of urine and toenails will be used to find out whether your body has been exposed to arsenic, cadmium, lead, antimony, manganese, and vanadium.
In addition, our genetics play a part in how well our body gets rid of arsenic. The study will also request a sample of your saliva in order to conduct a DNA test to check whether you have particular genes that help a person get rid of arsenic more efficiently from their body.
The research team will review all of the participants’ medical records to see if there are any medical conditions that are associated with arsenic exposure. The study will be limited to looking at possible associations at the population level since it is not possible to link arsenic exposure to diagnosed diseases at the individual level.
Yes. Each participant will receive their individual results, with interpretation, in a personal letter in the Fall 2018, for the first round of participants, and in the Spring 2019 for the second round of participants. Your personal results will not be shared with anyone. Only population level results (that is, looking at the group as a whole) will be shared publicly. The Program will also hire a local nurse to follow-up with individualsfound with high levels of arsenic, explain their results, and help lower their exposure. The nurse will also be available to answer any questions or concerns from any of the participants.
A local nurse will be hired specifically to answer questions and work closely with those individuals whose levels of arsenic are above the recommended individual guidance value, to further investigate possible causes (such as smoking, food consumption, etc.) and to help identify ways to lower their exposure. As well, additional tests may be performed (such as a blood test) to confirm exposure, if necessary.
All the data collected (questionnaires, toenails, urine, and saliva) from individual participants will be managed in a secure manner and will be housed at the University of Ottawa. Only the Principal Investigator, along with three authorized research students, will have access to the data. The data will only be used for the purpose of this study. Your name will not be kept with the data. Only the Principal Investigator will be able to link names with individual results.
The study is also obligated to obtain Ethics and Scientific Research Licenses, on a yearly basis outlining strict privacy protocols.
Currently, the Health Effects Monitoring Program is focusing on the entire population of Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah. However, even if your household was not randomly selected, any individual who is interested to find out their current exposure to arsenic and other contaminants can ask to participate on a voluntary basis.
The Research Team is also planning to conduct a separate study specifically looking at exposure of individuals who worked or are currently working on mine sites.
Unfortunately, our study is focusing on human health only. We will not be able to interpret results of exposure among domestic animals.
