Description
Near the Ontario-Michigan border, Canada’s densest concentration of chemical manufacturing surrounds the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. Living in the polluted heart of Chemical Valley, Indigenous community members express concern about a declining rate of male births in addition to abnormal incidences of miscarriage, asthma, cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.
As this book reveals, Canada’s dark legacy of inflicting harm on Indigenous bodies persists through a system that fails to adequately address health and ecological suffering in First Nations’ communities like Aamjiwnaang.
Everyday Exposure uncovers the systemic injustices faced on a daily basis in Aamjiwnaang. Exploring the problems that Canada’s conflicting levels of jurisdiction pose for the creation of environmental justice policy, analyzing clashes between Indigenous and scientific knowledge, and documenting the experiences of Aamjiwnaang residents as they navigate their toxic environment, this book argues that social and political changes require an experiential and transformative “sensing policy” approach, one that takes the voices of Indigenous citizens seriously.
Contributor Notes
Sarah Marie Wiebe is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Victoria and holds a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Institute for Studies and Innovation in Community-University Engagement (ISICUE). She has published on the politics of reproductive justice, ecologies of Indigenous citizenship, and community-engaged scholarship. She has also worked with Indigenous communities in Ontario and British Columbia on community filmmaking projects such as Indian Givers and To Fish as Formerly.
Awards
- Winner, Charles Taylor Book Award
Editorial Reviews
Based on extensive time spent in the community learning directly from Aamjiwnaang’s citizens and experiencing the community’s pollution crisis in an embodied and empathetic way, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the legacies of environmental racism in Canada today.
— Canadian Literature Volume 235, Concepts of Vancouver Special Issue
Everyday Exposure provides a thorough analysis of the lack of health and environmental protections for First Nations peoples at all levels of government and identifies the need for government regulation to redress what have become complex reporting practices, a better understanding of cumulative environmental effects, and improved health services being administered by Health Canada.
— Canadian Law Library Review (volume 43 No. 3)
