ELMIRA — Ron Harpelle says there are over 22,000 toxic sites in Canada, but the one in Elmira “happens to be very dramatic.”
Harpelle and Kelly Saxberg are filmmakers from Thunder Bay with a production company called ShebaFilms. Their documentary, “Toxic Time Bomb,” is about Elmira’s notorious Uniroyal debacle: the irresponsible disposal of chemical waste into Canagagigue Creek.
The waste was produced from making Agent Orange, a powerful
herbicide containing dioxin that was sprayed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War
to clear foliage.
Along with Agent Orange, the plant also made DDT, NDMA and
other harmful, cancer- and deformation-causing chemicals from 1948 to 1970.
The documentary received its premiere earlier this month at
a livestreamed Vietnamese-French film festival within a larger arts and
discussion event, bringing attention to the use of Agent Orange during the
Vietnam War. The event is also focusing on the continuing suffering and
negative health effects still happening today.
“If you ask the average Canadian, they have no idea of our
role. They think the Vietnam War was someone else’s war. We did participate
because we manufactured Agent Orange,” said Harpelle. “There is a Canadian
connection and Canadians should be aware of it.”
As a result, Elmira’s aquifer, the source of its drinking
water, was poisoned and rendered undrinkable. Elmira’s water is now piped in
from Waterloo. The Canagagigue Creek, which drains into the Grand River, was
also poisoned.
“Toxic Time Bomb” is also a documentary about the
decades-long struggle of activists in the area to advocate for the cleanup of
the chemicals, said Saxberg.
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