New environmental study underway this summer in Aamjiwnaang First Nation
By Colin Graf
AAMJIWNAANG FIRST NATION— Community members from Aamjiwnaang First Nation should discover within the next year whether air pollution is affecting medicinal plants that are harvested and used in the area, located next to the heavy industry of Sarnia’s Chemical Valley.
Researchers from Ryerson University in Toronto will be in the fields and woods of Aamjiwnaang this summer collecting samples of four plants selected by the community in consultation with the First Nation’s Environment department. Cedar, Bloodroot, Heal-All, and Wild Ginger were chosen from a list of 11 found in the area that are known as traditional medicines, says Aamjiwnaang Environment Department head Sharilyn Johnston. Samples of the plants’ parts— roots, stems, leaves, or fruit or berries— that are usually used for medicines will be gathered, she explains.
The samples will be analyzed for “a whole suite of metals” along with a group of chemicals known as PAHs, including known carcinogens, according to Dr. Eric Liberda of Ryerson University in Toronto. Liberda, who is heading the study, hopes to compare the results to samples taken at two other southwestern Ontario First Nations; Kettle and Stony Point, and Deshkan Ziibing (Chippewas of the Thames).
After the comparisons are completed, Liberda expects to conduct a risk assessment for people who may be consuming the plants. Workers from the community will be speaking with Elders about “what part of the plants, how much, how often” they might use them to help understand the risks, he eplains.
The study is part of The Sarnia Area Environmental Health Project, a multi-faceted study by Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks that aims to help address concerns of Sarnia area communities about air pollution and other environmental stressors from the industry. Launched in 2020, the project “will help enhance understanding of the links between the environment and health in the community, with a focus on assessing exposures to chemicals in air,” according to the Ministry website.
According to the Ministry website, the Ministry “has heard concerns from the Aamjiwnaang community regarding the consumption and use of local medicinal plants,” and the study “will include a review of chemicals in air that would most likely be taken up by plants.”
Collecting samples should start near the end of July, Liberda expects, and he hopes to have analysis results by early next winter and complete his report for all three First Nations around March 2022. Further consultation with Elders will be needed about the proper harvesting times for different parts of the plants this summer, he adds.
Samples of all 11 plants initially suggested for examination will be collected and frozen for further study if money is available in the future for that work, Liberda notes. That list includes Mayapple, Witch Hazel, Wild Geranium, Yarrow, Staghorn Sumac, Wild Bergamot, and Joe Pye Weed.
Preserving traditional knowledge of plant medicines is another aspect of the study. Fears that pollution could make the plants unsafe to consume are causing concern that the community “might lose this Indigenous knowledge,” Liberda says. His work aims to take “a proactive approach to prevent loss of traditional knowledge while also trying to find out if there is anything [harmful] inside the plants.” Recording Elders’ understanding of the plant medicines should help prevent a “generation gap” in case people stop using the plants out of fear of contamination, he says.
There is a growing interest in medicinal plants in Aamjiwnaang, says Johnston, attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cedar is “so significant” in ceremony, from birth to “a cedar bath at the end of life,” she says. Wild bergamot— “everybody kind of refers to it as Grandma’s Tea”— has been used in the community for colds, flu, and respiratory problems, she adds.
The plants are still important to the community, and are even in the Anishinaabe Creation Story, she explains.
“Everything that you need is here, the Creator doesn’t make anything you don’t need.”
The woodlands of Aamjiwnaang that provide habitat for some of the plants being studied are more significant to the whole region than some people realize, Johnston says. Looking at an aerial view of Lambton County, one can see that the First Nation provides 10 per cent of the entire county’s forest cover, she claims.