Healthy Land, Healthy Future – A community study to examine the health issues and their relationship to environmental contaminants within the Takla Lake First Nation and Tsay Keh Dene Traditional Territories

Industrial development involving the mining, logging, and sawmill industries has led to the destruction of travel corridors as well as key wildlife habitats, hunting grounds, and traplines in the territories of Takla Lake First Nation (TLFN) and the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation (TKDFN). Concerns from members of both communities about the impacts of industrial contaminants on country foods have led to a shift toward non-traditional food sources.

In this study, community members were interviewed to provide information about their traditional diet; capture their views on the impacts of environmental pollution; document any decline in personal harvesting practices; and identify common food harvesting sites as well as potentially contaminated areas of concern. Water and soil samples were then collected and analysed for 29 elements (i.e., silver, aluminum, arsenic, boron, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, potassium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, nickel, phosphorus, lead, antimony, selenium, silicone, tin, strontium, titanium, vanadium, and zinc).

According to the results of the study, heavy metals and other contaminants were detected in soil and water samples throughout the territories of the TLFN and TKDFN, including exceedances of mercury, zinc, arsenic and lead in soil and of aluminum, barium, cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel , selenium, zinc, chromium, lead, and thallium in water The overlap between harvesting sites and areas where there were concerns about environmental contamination suggested that the level of risk to human health for community members engaged in traditional activities was unacceptably high. The conclusion the investigators drew was that the traditional territories of TLFN and TKDFN have been severely harmed by industrial and economic expansion. They indicated that without a healthy land, there can be no healthy future for the members of either community.