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Asbestos Legal Issues in Canada

It has long been apparent that asbestos has resulted in the death of thousands of Canadians since use of the mineral began in the late 19th century. For almost as long, politicians have differed over the safety of the material and its mining and manufacturing. Many have long defended Canada’s profitable chrysotile asbestos industry, which continues today, though only one of the original 13 mines is still in operation.

The Politics of Asbestos

As early as the 1920s, when the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company formed the Department of Industrial Hygiene at McGill University, it was suspected that asbestos was sickening workers and causing some sort of "dust disease" of the lungs. A study conducted by the organization in the 1930s discovered that, of 200 men who participated, 42 developed asbestosis. However, the findings were never published and lawyers for asbestos manufacturers in Canada and the U.S. suggested to company executives that asbestosis receive "minimum publicity."

The cat-and-mouse game would continue for decades, with the medical community and labor unions expressing growing concern about the use of all types of asbestos, and conversely, political and corporate officials who were concerned with profits trying their best to spread the belief that asbestos was safe in all forms.

Today, Canada still exports tens of thousands of tons of chrysotile (white) asbestos to developing countries. The country is the fourth-largest exporter of the mineral in the world, despite the fact that every reputable health organization in Canada has rallied to put the brakes on the asbestos industry.

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Asbestos Ban Controversy

For decades, the Canadian government and the government of Quebec – where the remaining asbestos mines are located – have been financially supporting the Chrysotile Institute (CI), an asbestos lobby group. However, in March 2011, Ottawa chose not to allocate funds for CI for the coming fiscal year, marking a step in the right direction for asbestos ban supporters. In addition, a federation of 300,000 unionized Quebecers also pulled their funding, and experts attest that the asbestos industry has been left in a weakened state.

Canada has long resisted a universal ban of asbestos as proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other countries. At the 2008 Rotterdam Convention, Canada, India, Pakistan and a few other countries voted to keep chrysotile asbestos off of a United Nations "watchlist" of dangerous chemicals. After many hours of deliberation, chrysotile asbestos was not added to the watchlist, and Canada continues to be a major exporter of chrysotile asbestos to many countries who do not monitor asbestos exposure or regulate its use.

The Canadian Cancer Society and the International Labour Organization have largely been ignored in their push to ban asbestos in Canada. To date, all 27 European Union countries, Australia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Japan have banned asbestos in their countries. The government of Canada continues to hold out on an asbestos ban, due in part to its $100 million dollar chrysotile asbestos industry.

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