Each year, over 2,000 Canadians die because of cancer and diseases caused by asbestos exposure, making of asbestos the number one killer of workers in Canada. Even when Canada no longer exports asbestos, the country still imports automotive parts and construction products that are asbestos-containing materials.
On May 10 of the present year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the first federal government commitment to move ahead on a plan to ban asbestos in the country. The statement was made in Ottawa at a building trades union policy conference, after a question from a trade union leader about the impact of asbestos on workers over the benefits it might provide for the national economy.
Following the conference, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office reiterated that currently the government is examining its strategy on asbestos, considering a ban as a potential option. Labour and public health groups across the nation have been waiting to hear that kind of engagement from the government.
What is the current government doing?
Before this past May 10, there has been no approach from the government to ban asbestos. The Canadian Labour Congress president expressed the same day that he hopes an official announcement from the government about the plans to implement the ban before the summer. In April, Public Services and Procurement Canada declared that has plans to ban asbestos in the department’s construction projects.
Public Services department is working in a registry of buildings that contain asbestos, followed by other departments, and according to the Prime Minister in the same conference, there will be a government-wide action to register all buildings containing the material. You can check here a national inventory of federal buildings containing asbestos by CBC.
What to expect
A complete ban of asbestos and a list of federal buildings containing it is not enough for the Canadian Labour Congress. They are looking for a legislation that bans the use, import, and export of any asbestos-containing materials, a registry of not only federal buildings containing asbestos but also of all national public buildings, and a registry of all national workers that have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
59 countries worldwide have banned asbestos, including Europe, Japan, and Australia. Asbestos exposure is the principal cause of deaths at the workplace in Canada, affecting its victims decades later. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended substituting the material, and along with the Canadian Cancer Society and the International Labour Organization has called for a ban on all forms of asbestos.
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