Vancouver, Canada (GLOBE-Net) - Thousands of abandoned industrial and military sites across Canada owned by the federal government, contain soils contaminated with PCBs, hydrocarbons, asbestos and heavy metals.   Although remediation of these sites has been declared a key federal priority, the number of such sites in Canada remains surprisingly high and the rate of remediation of these sites remains low.

Across Canada, contaminated sites have been recognized by the federal government as a significant and growing problem; but the pace at which remediation is taking place has been sluggish. The Treasury Board Secretariat maintains the government’s registry of contaminated sites. It lists a total of 18,292 possible problem locations, of which 11,751 have yet to be classified, but only 3,379 of which have been identified as definitely or most likely requiring treatment.

Many of these sites pose significant risks to human health and the environment. These include major sites with significant environmental liabilities, such as abandoned mines in the North, military sites, harbours and lighthouse stations, and sites used to store fuel. Smaller sites with lower levels of contamination include airports, government laboratories, landfills, and reserve lands.

Estimates the financial liability of all federal contaminated sites exceed $3.5 billion, 60% of which relates to sites in Northern Canada.

Until recently, federal departments were left largely on their own to manage or remediate sites for which they were responsible. Predictably, without a central fund or policy, and little by way of dedicated resources, progress was slow.

In 2003, the government committed $175 million over two years to accelerate action on federal contaminated sites. This was in addition to about $100 million per year already being spent by individual departments to manage federal contaminated sites.

The 2005 federal budget established the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FSCAP), dedicating $3.5 billion dollars to the remediation of federal brownfield sites, with goal of rehabilitating all contaminated sites in Canada by 2015.

It was noted then that many of the over 11,000 sites in Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory were in rural areas, but a significant number were urban sites suitable for redevelopment.

The 2005 federal budget also added $300 million to the Green Municipal Fund, $150 million of which is earmarked for brownfield redevelopment. Administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the GMF operates at arms-length from the federal government, and provides support to municipal governments and their partners for sustainable development projects.

For the fiscal year 2007-08, the Government targeted 279 projects as priorities, with $189.3 million to clean up or deal with the risks that they may pose. Projects often include more than one site.

An additional $25 million has been set aside for the evaluation of about 2,000 sites to determine the next steps for dealing with them.

When CFB Calgary was closed in the 1990s, the Harvey Barracks bore the scars of years of training and other military activities. The site was contaminated with residue from unexploded explosive ordnance (UXOs), the artillery range was littered with UXOs, part of the base was contaminated with lead, and two other areas contained waste materials, including paints, solvents, harmful chemicals, and metals.




Since 1994, the Department of National Defence (DND) has spent more than $66 million cleaning up the Harvey Barracks. In 2003, the Government of Canada identified the area as a candidate for priority action. Today, thanks to the increased pace of the work, the site is almost restored, and it will soon be available for residential use.


Source: Environment Canada

Contamination of many sites occurred during World War 2 and the post war period, though in many urban industrial areas, historical railway developments, old ports and reclaimed land provide examples of contamination dating back to the 19^th century. Contamination has also occurred at government laboratories, military bases, harbors and ports (including contaminated harbor sediment), airports, training facilities and reserve lands, to name a few.

To date, the Government of Canada has invested more than $600 million in this program. Thousands of federal sites have been evaluated and action is underway or completed on more than 500 sites

Classifying Contaminated Sites

The process used by federal departments in assessing contaminated sites is as follows:

Phase I: Identifying the potential for contamination.  If there is a high likelihood of contamination, the process moves to Phase II.

Phase II: Measuring the level and type of contamination.  If contamination is above legislated limits, the process moves to Phase III.

Phase III: This Phase consists of site remediation.

The process is lengthy and takes between 18 to 24 months and, depending on the scale of contamination, could cost millions of dollars.  Each year only a limited amount of money is budgeted for specific site remediation.

Differing Priorities

In 1995 the federal government established the Contaminated Site Management Working Group (CSMWG) as a direct response to the need for a more efficient and consistent approach to the management of federal contaminated sites.  Co-chaired by Environment Canada and the Department of National Defense, it currently comprises 15 federal departments and agencies, which cost share its activities.

The primary Federal Departments with Contaminated Sites are Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), Health Canada, Department of National Defense (DND), Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Transport Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Parks Canada.

Prior to the CSMWG, federal government departments carried out the identification, assessment, and management of contaminated sites on an individual basis resulting sometimes in inconsistent practices and procedures.  These inconsistencies left the federal government with an incomplete picture of its environmental risks, costs, and liabilities arising from contaminated sites.

Although a step in the right direction, the development of the CSMWG has evidently not been enough to create consistency across all departments as the agendas of each department vary.

"The different federal departments of the Government don’t appear to be aligned while pursuing the national objectives of cleaning-up our legacy of industrial and military pollution and developing world class productive companies that can compete and generate exports, wealth and economic sustainability for Canadians," says Paul Austin, a Business Export Reviewer who helps companies market environmental solutions.

"For example, Environment Canada’s primary interest is to eliminate the government’s environmental liability and do not specifically have industry competitiveness or innovation as an objective.  Health Canada is strictly interested in the human health element of contaminated sites." notes Austin.

On the other hand, he noted, Industry Canada is trying to promote new technologies and establishing Canada as a world leader in this field.  Similarly, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (FAITC) are soliciting small to medium technology enterprises to participate on trade missions to Asia and elsewhere.

Lack of Expertise

One of the problems contributing to the slow pace of remediation is the lack of expertise within the federal departments.  Because of the sheer number of contaminated sites in Canada, many public servants who are put in charge of a remediation have little or no experience with the remediation process.

This problem has also been noted by the real Property Institute of Canada (RPIC), a non-profit body established and managed by a group of senior federal officials responsible for contaminated site remediation in various government departments. RPIC seeks to develop and foster a high professional standard of real property management within the Federal Public Sector, and to provide a forum for information exchange and continuous improvement. Its stated mission is to promote professionalism and effectiveness of the disciplines of real property management within the federal public sector.

The skill shortage problem is not peculiar to the public sector. As noted in an Industry Canada commentary, seventy percent of employees in this area are highly skilled and trained in engineering, hydrogeology, and pure sciences. The most difficult employees to find are intermediate level managers (5-8 years of experience) and field technicians (as too few are graduating). "This trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future and does have a moderate to large effect on firms in the industry," notes the commentary.

Risk Management

There is also an inherent conflict of interests with current site assessments, as the proponent, i.e. the federal department, is also managing the entire process.

In order to deal with the sheer number and costs associated with contaminated sites, the federal government is increasingly requesting that consultants apply a ‘risk management’ approach.  Essentially consultants are asked to address the risks of contaminants entering the food chain, groundwater supplies, etc. instead of observing the actual levels of contamination.

If the risk is perceived to be low, or a feasible process to reduce the risk exists and is economically viable, that solution may be applied.  In either case assessment does not move beyond phase II and remediation of the site does not occur.

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