Journal Staff
A meeting with Ontario’s environment minister to discuss funding for a local health study went well, but produced no hard details, says Lambton’s Medical Officer of Health.
“It seems like the minister and the ministry are taking their responsibility very seriously, fulfilling their commitment to run a health study,” Dr. Sundit Ranade said.
Ranade and members of the former Lambton Community Health Study board and Aamjiwnaang First Nation members met Nov. 29 meeting with Environment Minister Chris Ballard.
Ranade said much of the meeting was devoted to local stakeholders sharing community feedback collected earlier.
A study into the impact of industrial emissions on local health was begun in 2007 but abandoned in 2016 due to a lack of government support.
Ranade said the province is looking at funding, timelines and the scope of the new study.
“I got the sense that there’s an urgency about it,” said Ranade.
“We raised the point that we’ve seen this urgency before, and nothing has happened.”