Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune

On Feb. 15, a group of Montreal activists called the Raging Grannies staged a singing protest at the Roddick Gates to condemn the asbestos industry’s influence at McGill. The Grannies sang about the harmful effects of asbestos and criticized the use of Canadian taxes to support projects like the planned reopening of the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine in Asbestos Quebec, which would facilitate the export of asbestos to countries where its use is not regulated.

“Fee, fie, fiddlie-i-o, our taxes have better places to go,” the women chanted.

They also condemned the asbestos industry with chants like “stop exporting death from Quebec!”

The protest follows anti-asbestos activists’  call for the removal of asbestos exporter Roshi Chadha from the McGill Board of Governors. Chadha took a leave of absence from the board in early February, following two letters to McGill calling for her removal—one from medical doctors and health care researchers and one from individuals who have lost family members from asbestos-related diseases. Chadha is the director of Seja Trade Ltd., a company that exported asbestos from the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, until the mine’s operations were suspended last fall. Her public relations agent has stated that the company is not responsible for what happens as a result of the asbestos once it is overseas.

Elizabeth Vezina, one of the Raging Grannies, said that she was very concerned about what effect asbestos has outside the McGill and Montreal communities. Companies like Chadha’s export asbestos to developing countries like India, where the material is used for purposes such as cement roofing in schools. While the use of asbestos is outlawed in Quebec, there are no regulations stopping mining companies from exporting it elsewhere.

“There’s no such thing as safe handling of [asbestos],” Vezina said. “We’re sending it to countries that don’t have the same regulations as we do here. We’re spreading misery.”

The protest comes following demands for an independent investigation into McGill’s ties with the asbestos industry. In 1965, the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association (QAMA) partly funded the research of McGill Professor of Epidemiology J.C. McDonald on chrysotile asbestos, which makes up 95 per cent of asbestos sold in the world and 100 per cent of the trade in the past two decades. 

This research has been criticized for minimizing the negative health effects of asbestos, and for its continued use by lobbying groups to defend mining and exporting asbestos. Dr. David Eidelman, Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and dean of medicine issued a statement about the controversy. 

“It is true that Prof. McDonald drew different conclusions about the possible safe use of asbestos than most authorities do today,” Eidelman wrote. “Holding scientific views that are different from those of the majority does not constitute research misconduct.”

Eidelman recently announced an internal investigation of the research, to be led by Prof. Rebecca Fuhrer, chair of the department of epidemiology. 

As an asbestos exporter, Chadha is seeking to reopen the Jeffrey mine, which provided more than half of the funds for QAMA before its activities were suspended last fall. However, there is strong opposition to the project. The Quebec Medical Association has stated that this project goes against public interest and will lead to asbestos-related deaths, and all of Quebec’s Directors of Public Health agree that the project will increase asbestos-related diseases.

Although plans to reopen the Jeffrey mine continue, Vezina feels encouraged by growing opposition to asbestos use in India.

“There are many groups in India working very hard to get the import banned, so once they get the mine up and running, hopefully they won’t be able to export [the asbestos] anyway,” she said.

While asbestos might not be a daily concern for McGill students, Vezina feels that it is nonetheless important for them to know what is going on at their university.

“Students have all kinds of things they should be standing up to; we really hope that your generation will start to make some differences. The corporations’ control over finances of the university and over the government is too much; we need to start saying no,” she said.

Lotfi Gouigah, a second-year graduate student in communication studies who observed the protest, agreed with the Grannies.

“I think it’s important to be graduating from a university that is not linked to big lobbies that influence its research findings,” Gouigah said. “We should make sure that research is independent. Students should take a stand.”