Northport’s Silent Crisis: A Community Poisoned for Decades

To avoid posting 19 separate comments, I will share all of these in one comment. I was able to copy and paste these after reviewing less than a quarter of the comments I’ve received on blog posts (northportproject.com). I will go through the rest, and I have received over 100 emails from affected past and current residents since the results of the 2011 health survey we conducted were published. I will need to ask each of them for approval before sharing their comments.
Remember to share your and your family’s experiences in the comments, and use the hashtag #NorthportSpeaksUp.

These 19 comments represent less than a quarter of those I haven’t had time to address from my blog. This number does not include the over 500 responses we received during the 2011 health survey, nor the more than 100 emails I have received and continue to receive since the survey.
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Cindy Royko
I was born and raised in Trail. (1960-1970s). I have IBD. I had four children born outside of Trail. Two of my children died from gastrointestinal, autoimmune and mitochondrial diseases. The second generation of families who never even had contact with Trail are still being impacted by the extraordinarily toxic environment that Tech has wrought on the town. For over 100 years!

Trixie Broderius
Why are we not doing a civil suit against them,like the colville Indians… One More Northport residence that came out of Northport just had both her breast removed. And half the people that are on Facebook have never reported what disease they have.that are from Northport. And don’t know about the website. You have 80,00 hits already on Northport project. I did not fill out the survey in 2011
My health: I have had chronic pain since a teenager diagnosed in 2016 with a 15 mm thyroid nodule… And deterioration of the disc in my neck.

Jerry Miller
I lived in Northport from 1941 through 1959 and I have spent a lot of time visiting family and friends there. My mother and sister both died from aneurysms. I spent every summer swimming in the river and laying in the black sand. I also ate fish I caught out of the river. I have had cancer in stomach and have 13 inches of intestine removed.i have also lost my left kidney due to the cancer. My older sister also died recenly. COME ON TECK and EPA, get with and do something for the people of this small town who diying so young.

Rochelle
My mom died almost 10 years ago from the reprocussions of treatment of a brain tumor. However, she did have lung cancer first. We lived in the area from 1986-1995.

Chad M
My family lived about 7 miles from Northport from 1982 to 2000. In this time we learned my neighbor who I grew up with had a brain tumor. My brother also had stage four brain cancer. My mother suffered severely from some disease that no one could figure out while living in area that caused hair loss, and weakness and loss of muscle. We attended a church in Northport. Spent our summers swimming in that river……. is this coincidence??

Kitty Finnigan
This has affected my family that were raised there. I also know of a family that has lived there that has had multiple troubles with brain cancers.

Doreen O’Keefe
I also grew up in Northport and suffer from the effects. I now live in Newport and am totally against a smelter going in here. It has to stop! This is murder under cover of “providing jobs” how much money are our children’s lives worth?

Tracy D
My family lived there for decades. Two of my brothers have multiple sclerosis.

mysoca11edlife
I lived in Northport from about 82’ to present. I have had cancer but it was not related, however I was recently diagnosed with eosinophilc colitis. I was also in the hospital for almost two years before I was diagnosed with cancer, for stomach problems that they couldn’t figure out. I swam in that river, played in the black sand beach. Ate the fish and breathed the air.
They say they have stopped dumping, but when you drive from Trail to Rosland over the bridge, you can see stuff still being dumped.. so what is that?

Cjeri Hermans
I came across this article just today. Although I have never lived in Northport I did live in trail BC just in the valley immediately below the cominco smelter for about a year in the 1980s. Before living there my health was excellent and I did not have any issues. We moved from that area back to northern Canada and I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and thyroid disease approximately 2 years after our move away.
My doctors always wondered what the trigger was that started all the health issues. Maybe living amongst all the pollution from cominco was the trigger.

Cindy
I was born in Trail BC in 1960 and lived within 1km of the smelter until The early 1970s. I have been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, hashimoto’s thyroiditus, interstitial lung disease, complex migraine , ascending aortic heart aneurism and two brain aneurisms. I have four children. Two boys two girls. My oldest daughter just passed away two weeks ago at age of 25 years old after a lifetime of suffering from autoimmune disorders, mitochondrial disease, GI system that stopped functioning, complex regional pain syndrome among many other diagnoses. My youngest daughter (17yrs) is suffering from probable mitochondrial disease, autonomic dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, intractable nausea/vomitting, severe hashimoto’s thyroiditis. My father who worked at the plant suffers from MS and has significant lung problems. If we can help with this case in any way, please reach out to me. I would be happy to provide any information that would be helpful. This is truly a tragedy and something needs to be done to stop the carnage.

Ethel frank
Was it in the late 1980s when the Smelter Folks sent their P.R. man down to the Northport School to answer questions? I seem to recall the kids had this Professional P.R. guy all shook up and in tears after their honest comments and questions!

Paulani Frank
I believe we have clusters of other diseases. One of my family members was diagnosed with a menignoma brain tumor this year. Another has mental health issues that showed up in 1999 (neighbor kid did too) I also noticed several cases where babies were born with some or all of their organs outside of their body. I don’t know what this is called. But sure would like to know if anyone is tracking clusters of other health problems

Janet Cwalinski
This is all so interesting. I did not know the full extent of the illnesses. I grew up in Northport…my folks had the New Zealand Hotel. We lived by the river, I swam in the river all summer and played along the shores. I have colitis. Have been treated for it and doing well. Good luck to anything you can do.

Shawn Crandall
My husband Shawn Crandall grew up in Northport and was diagnosed at age 19 with ulcerative colitis.

Gerald Ames
Thank you for this information. I have often wondered if any of this pollution had anything to do with my mom,sisters and daughters’ illnesses.Mom and Dad were both born and raised in Northport . My family spent many holidays and summers there. please keep up your good work!!

William Neves
“Teck” reportedly spilled ten thousand + gallons of sodium hydroxide into the Columbia in 2007.
My family lived on the banks of the Columbia and swam regularly off a dock located on the river. I find no coincidence at the same time we all experienced throat,eye, and skin irritation. The children had the worst symptoms. A physician said the children had “pink eye”(I questioned this diagnosis at the time. I listened to Canadian radio due to my close proximity to the border ,otherwise I wouldn’t have known of the spill.

Larry Norwood
Ten years ago at the age of fifty I was diagonised with Ulcertive Colitis. I know live in Yakima, WA. At the time I was diagonised, it was concidered the worst case ever seen by the doctors in this area. I lived with my family in Northport, and we built a log house on Sheep Creek in my late teens, earley twenties,which we stilI own.
I’m currently taking 3-400 mg of Asacol per day. Also I have a Remacade infusion every 8 week at the local hospital at the cost of $ 28,000 per infustion. (7 per year)

Josie Ahearn
HI Jamie
I had mentioned before that my grandfather was a pioneer with his family in Northport from 1885-1907. Mitchell Mountain, Mitchell Road, and Mitchell Flat are named after them. I believe Mitchell point is as well. As he was growing up there, he suffered from extreme migraine headaches. He used to wrap a bandana around his head to help ease the pain. Those headaches followed him to Canada when his father moved the family to Mitchellton Saskatchewan. I don’t know that those headaches had anything to do with Cominco Teck but I do know they started in his teens and lasted until he moved in later years to a trap line in Northern Sask. Just a memory from his stories I thought you might be interested in. He also mentioned Mitchell Mountain had beautiful old growth forest throughout. When he went back for a visit several years later the land had been poisoned by Cominco and the old growth forest had perished. It broke his heart to see the change in his beautiful childhood home. I might also comment on the fact that Cominco Teck has poisoned the river near my home here in Nelson BC. We can not go to the area where they dumped mine tailing because of the high content of lead, arsenic and other dangerous deposits in the sand and clay. There are many spots here in this area that have been ruined due to the same practice. And we have a very high rate of cancer in this area as well. I do wish you all the best of luck