Vanessa Hartley is an eighth-generation Black Loyalist descendant from Shelburne who lives in Halifax. 

In 2019, she got involved with a non-profit organization to address social and health effects of a landfill in Shelburne.

The dump has been located in the south end of Shelburne, N.S., an African Nova Scotian community, since the 1940s.

“Growing up in the south end,” she said, “I didn’t really recognize what environmental racism looked like.”

Filled with industrial, medical and other types of waste from the municipality and individual households, the dump was regularly set on fire to incinerate piles of junk throughout the years it operated.

The community is known for its high cancer rates. 

In 2016, the landfill closed as a result of the community’s efforts.

…

A team of medical researchers will be taking blood samples from residents to study potential links between the contaminated site and the cancer rates in the community. 

Dalhousie University and McMaster University are conducting the research.

Paola Marignani, a biochemistry and molecular biology scientist and professor at Dalhousie University, said she hopes the outcome of the research will support the panel’s work and help guide their recommendations. 

Her role with the research is to analyze samples for changes to residents’ DNA that may be due to toxins in the environment. 

Read the full article by CBC at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-environmental-racism-panel-shelburne-dump-1.6894634