Depiction Of Mining In Quebec In The Movie The Hole Story

Introduction

The Mining industries, as portrayed in the movie, The Hole Story, have a negative impact on the environment, this often leads to tension with governance. With the mines providing over 500 jobs, its not as simple as shutting down the mine. Bullard’s three types of equity is directly applicable to this case study. Procedural, geographic, and social equity have been showcased in this movie multiple times.

Discussion

Bullard’s Three Types of Equity

Procedural equity is the extent that governing rules and regulations are applied uniformly across the board and in a non-discriminatory manner, unequal protection can be a result of undemocratic decisions. The Hole Story shows how procedural equity applies directly to the way mines operate and function. Although today there a unions and constant inspections, this was not the case in the early stages of mining in Quebec. Having non-English workers in an all English environment and keeping various ethnic groups separate (to prevent unionization) is un-fair and undemocratic, therefore a direct application of procedural equity.

Geographic equity is the geographic configuration of communities relative to environmental hazards, and locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) such as landfills, sewer treatment plants and lead smelters. As shown in the movie, in Sudbury, communities are right next to copper smelters, copper smelters are environmental hazards and a locally unwanted land use. Thus, geographic equity is very simply applied to this case study as well.

Social equity is the role of sociological factors such as race, ethnicity, class, culture, and political power. This is exactly the case in the movie as well, the nation's environmental laws, regulations, and policies are not applied uniformly. The mining industries can not be sued for any ecological destruction they might cause, whereas any ordinary person would get charged for littering, the city essentially hades out licenses to damage the environment. This results in neighborhoods, and communities being exposed to elevated health risks. And so, Social equity is present and applicable to this case study.

Environmental Justice

Environmental justice is a principle of democracy, it combines environmental protection with civil rights. “[Environmental Justice] demands that those who have been excluded from environmental decision making, traditionally minority, low-income, and tribal communities, have the same access to environmental decision makers, decision-making processes, and the ability to make reasoned contributions to decision-making process as any other individuals”. If we define environmental justice as such, then yes, The Hole Story is about environmental justice. As mentioned in the movie, in the early stages of the silver mine in Cobalt, labour was carried out by Europeans (mostly from Finland and Italy). Various ethnic groups were deliberately kept away from one another to discourage unionizing. As good as their salary was, three times more than in rural Europe, the conditions they worked in were if not as bad, even worse. As a result of poor ventilation, their lungs were full of dust, and 40% of the miners suffered from silicosis, with an average life expectancy of 46 years. Miners could not voice their concerns, as mines were run in English. Europeans could not speak English, so they did not have the ability to make contributions to any decision-making process as any other (English speaking) individual.

Governance Tensions

In 1926, a law was passed in Quebec, allowing the mine of Noranda to design and run their own town, where the mine manager would act as mayor and police chief. Noranda was exempted of all taxes, and no one could claim damages caused by gasses and smoke produced during the operation of a smelting mill. Noranda controlled everything, sub-soil, soil, and sky. Today, the mines must pay seven cents for every tone of gravel scraped off their property to the city in which they operate in (Sudbury), the city receives zero. The city must “beg” for money form these mines, to build roads, parks, and other infrastructures. “I have acquired a new skill, it’s called begging” (John Rodriguez Mayor of Sudbury 2006-2010). Glencore Horne smelter is the last copper smelting plant in Canada, and was America’s biggest polluters, spewing out 25 million tones of sulfur smoke in to the atmosphere. Its placed right beside communities and people’s homes. The pollution caused by the smelting plant is detrimental to the health of the people living around the Smelting plant, especially children as they are the ones playing in the dirt and often ingest some too. Quebec’s issues with the mining industries have been going on since mining first began in the 1950s. “Justice” is very hard to achieve in this situation, as the mining companies can not be shutdown either, Sudbury would lose 500 jobs, which would hurt Quebec’s economy significantly. A solution must lie between closing the mine and destroying the environment. The city, in which the mines operate in, can put a cap on the chemical waste they produce. This will lessen the effects of the mines by-products on the health of the environment and the public. Along side smelters, building recycling plants can better their ecological foot prints.

Conclusion

The way the Quebec government works, and functions are show cased in the move, The Hole Story, and thus, Bullard’s Three Types of Equity are directly applicable to this case study. The mines have a large and negative ecological footprint but employs many people and provide many jobs. There are tensions with governance because of this as the government must juggle between ecological and economical health. Solutions are hard to implement; the mining companies do what they want when they want. References or Works Cited