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Ali Kellner says she didn’t realize how much pollution she was breathing until she started wiping it off “my deck, my car and — to my horror — my children.”
In early July, communities in east Hamilton became covered in soot.
The mother of two said she found her one-year-old covered “head-to-toe” in soot and grime. “I had to scrub him in the bath pretty hard.”
The Ward 4 resident spoke to reporters at a news conference alongside Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and Hamilton NDP MPPs Robin Lennox (Hamilton Centre) and Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas). The opposition politicians say the government knows what’s in the soot and demanded they share that information with the public.
“The premier has the answers. It is time to share them with the people of Hamilton,” Stiles said at Woodward Park Tuesday morning.
CBC Hamilton asked the premier’s office for comment but didn’t hear back by deadline.
Ministry of Environment says fallout ‘unidentified’
The soot is a perennial concern for communities near the city’s industrial area but CBC Hamilton has heard that this month’s event affected a wider area than normal, resulting in an “unusually high” number of complaints to Ward 4 Councillor Tammy Hwang’s office. The city said it received complaints from residents as far away as up on the Niagara Escarpment.
Lennox said that over nine days, residents submitted more than 475 complaints to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.
CBC Hamilton asked the ministry for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
On July 9, ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler told CBC the province’s Spills Action Centre received reports of “black particulate fallout” in Hamilton and sent workers “to conduct field observations, collect samples where feasible and follow up on the reports received.”
He said the source for the fallout remained “undetermined” and the material “unidentified.”
No manufacturer has publicly claimed responsibility.
People living in and around Hamilton’s east end say their homes have been covered in black soot this week. Soot is not a new concern for people in the area, but Ward 4 councillor Tammy Hwang says this time is different, with people further away being affected.
Lennox called the “mysterious” soot a “distressing reality.”
“It should not be this way. It does not have to be this way,” she said. “Hamilton has waited long enough.”
The MPP said she has repeatedly asked to meet with Environment Minister Todd McCarthy on the topic but not received a response.
CBC Hamilton asked McCarthy’s office for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
“I can’t imagine the anxiety of not knowing the impact of this on your family’s health and their well-being,” Stiles said. “But more than that, I can’t understand why we’ve heard nothing from Doug Ford and the Conservative government about this issue.”
Stiles said that because this is a longstanding issue and the Ministry of the Environment has sampled soot before, it must know what it is.
“This problem is not new and neither is the lack of action and the silence,” Shaw said, but people are demanding change.
Lennox noted a recent community meeting on the topic and said she’s holding an air quality town hall Aug. 18. She also noted the upcoming byelection for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, which includes some of the affected areas.
“It’s time for this government to have to actually answer for what they’ve been doing for Hamilton East for the last eight years and why they haven’t done anything on this issue,” Lennox said.
Kellner said she’s been discussing the soot with her neighbours and is working to launch a website that will allow people to upload their soot stories into a database.
“What’s coating the inside of our children’s lungs,” she wondered aloud. “Please, Mr. Ford, make our kids’ environment safe and breathable.”
