Cassiar, British Columbia’s history as a former asbestos mining town has resulted in former residents developing mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancers. More than three decades after the mine closed, it has become one of Canada’s most heartbreaking examples of how widespread asbestos exposure can devastate a population.
Mesothelioma Risk Affected Entire Community
As is true of other notorious mine locations, including Libby, Montana and Wittenoom, Australia, Cassiar’s asbestos mine has been linked to numerous cases of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases. The mine operated from 1953 to 1992 and reportedly produced over 100,000 tons of chrysotile asbestos per year at its peak. Over 40 years of mine operations, more than 50,000 people moved in and out of the town of approximately 1,500 residents to work at the mine.
Today, it’s increasingly clear that the mine’s 40-year operation led to asbestos exposure that has caused mesothelioma in both workers and their families and children. One of the most troubling recollections of those affected is of a massive tailings pile, rising over 300 feet high, and of green asbestos dust settling over the entire town. Children playing in the snow were warned to “eat between the green,” and kids’ soccer games sent clouds of asbestos dust into the air. The situation inside the mill where the asbestos was processed was even worse, with workers reporting that the air was so thick with asbestos that they could barely see.
Mesothelioma Claims Face Compensation Challenges
Former Cassiar residents say they were never warned about mesothelioma risks, despite growing scientific consensus about asbestos dangers dating back to the 1930s. One woman’s father died of mesothelioma within a year of leaving Cassiar in 1971, and her sister later died of lung cancer at age 47. She says that all but one of her childhood friends have since died of cancer.
After 30 years spent working maintenance in Cassiar’s mill, Floyd Joseph was diagnosed with mesothelioma that doctors suspect was related to occupational asbestos exposure. However, WorkSafeBC, the agency that manages British Columbia’s workplace health, safety, and insurance, denied his mesothelioma-related compensation claim, saying they found “no reference to an association with exposure to asbestos”—despite his decades of working in heavily contaminated areas. The agency claims it has only received two asbestos-related claims from Cassiar workers. This is in sharp conflict with statements from former residents and occupational health advocates who say they’ve helped many former workers file mesothelioma and asbestos disease claims.
Mesothelioma Advocates Call for Action
Occupational safety experts say British Columbia needs to track health outcomes for former Cassiar residents and improve the support systems available for mesothelioma victims. With asbestos remaining the leading cause of workplace illness and death in the province, advocates say that the government should lower its standards of proof for compensation claims from known exposure sites like Cassiar.
The use of asbestos has created a global epidemic of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed and needs information, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net today at 1-800-692-8608.
