[ RadSafe ] RE: A Review of the Video "Village of Widows"

[Syd H. Levine]

Quite an effort!  Our Mr. Salsman would be proud of this double talk.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Slotemaker, C J (Cal)" <C_J_Cal_Slotemaker at RL.gov>
To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] RE: A Review of the Video "Village of Widows"


I forwarded the article from CNS bulletin, Vol 26, No. 4 p. 45 regarding the 
"Village of Widows" video to Western Washington University, expressing my 
concern that my alma mater was misrepresenting history.  I received the 
response below.

Cal Slotemaker

-++-++-++-++-++-++-++

Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 15:55:15 -0800
From: The Wilsons <pnwnatives at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] A Review of the Video "Village of Widows"
To: "Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj at aecl.ca>
Cc: "Multiple \(E-mail\)" <cdn-nucl-l at mailman1.cis.mcmaster.ca>,  "ANS
      listserv \(E-mail\)" <mbrexchange at list.ans.org>,      "Radsafe 
\(E-mail\)"      <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Message-ID: <43C2F7E3.7080503 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Franta, Jaroslav wrote:

>Here's how we do antinuke propaganda in Canada (and export it to the US
>too...)
>
>(article reproduced here with the permission of the author)
>
> Jaro
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>
>A Review of the Video "Village of Widows"
>A lesson of how much more powerful emotions can be than facts by Walter
>Keyes CNS Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 4 p.45
> http://www.cns-snc.ca/Bulletin/bulletin.html
>
***clip***
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Dear Mr. Slotemaker:

Ms. Schoenfeld passed your letter of January 12 to me.  My delay in 
responding is due to our efforts to fully research the claim that "Western 
is misrepresenting history in the lesson plans for the K-12 Study Canada 
Series."  I am attaching a letter from Nadine Fabbi, the person who 
developed the lesson plan in question.  I believe her response should 
clarify the concerns that you raised.  You will also note that our site will 
henceforth contain additional information that adds context, recent findings 
and greater perspective on this very important issue.

I thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Best regards,

Don Alper
---------------------------------

Professor Donald Alper, Director
Center for Canadian-American Studies
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA

21 February 2006

Dear Dr. Alper,
Thank you for bringing Mr. Cal Slotemaker's email about our K-12 STUDY 
CANADA program to my attention. According to your forwarded email, Mr. 
Slotemaker is concerned that our joint Western Washington and University of 
Washington program is both misrepresenting history and promoting 
anti-nuclear propaganda because a particular video, Village of Widows, is 
part of our collection. If I read the email correctly, Mr. Slotemaker read a 
commentary on Village of Widows by Mr. Walter Keyes (member of the 
Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Nuclear Society) that appeared in the 
December 2005 issue of Canadian Nuclear Society Bulletin. I first want to 
thank Mr. Slotemaker for bringing this commentary to our attention and hope 
that I might address some of his concerns.

As you know, Village of Widows, directed by Peter Blow, tells the story of 
the making of the first atomic bomb - a joint Canada-U.S. effort. My module 
(and the film) describes how Canada and the U.S. worked closely together on 
this effort (Canada provided the needed uranium, processed the ore into fuel 
bundles at Port Hope, Ontario and the U.S. processed the fuel bundles into 
plutonium at Hanford "B"). These are fairly straightforward facts available 
on the Canadian Nuclear Society webpage as well as a host of other sites - 
no where I have found these basic facts of history to be challenged or to 
promote anti-nuclear propaganda. This is part of our shared history that few 
know about and thus the effort to make this history known via our 
educational materials. The module I produced is not biased - it simply 
relays the facts and provides further information from organizations that 
are both pro and con nuclear energy.

Since my module was written in 2003 and the film produced (1999), the final 
report on the impact of the uranium mine at Port Radium on the Dene and 
surrounding environment was completed. The Canada-Déline Uranium Table Final 
Report, "Concerning Health and Environmental Issues Related to the Port 
Radium Mine" was released this last August 2005. Indeed, aspects of the 
report will need to be added to the educational essay as the 25 studies 
conducted over a 5-year period have added much to our understanding of the 
impact of the mine on the community. Unfortunately, Mr. Keyes has taken 
sections out of the report and either presented them incorrectly or out of 
context causing his readers, and concerned citizens such as Mr. Slotemaker, 
to question the credibility of our educational materials.

First, Mr. Keyes says that the Report finds that the largest health threat 
to the community was created by "scary news reports and fictional events 
like those contained in Blow's video." The Report says no such thing. It 
wasn't news reports and the video that created intense anxiety in the 
community (in fact, the Dene were the primary contributors to these reports 
and the video), it was the high incidence of cancer and new knowledge of the 
link between exposure to radioactive materials and illness that concerned 
the community. As the report notes, these were very real and valid concerns. 
Since the 1962 report by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the 
Effects of Atomic Radiation, there has been increased understanding of the 
potential health risks associated with exposure to radioactive material and 
therefore, increased concerns and efforts at site remediation on the parts 
of our governments and involved citizens. Anxiety about the human health and 
environmental impacts of Port Radium have had a significant impact on the 
community of Déline affecting the "people's sense of harmony with nature, 
which is a crucial component of their cultural identity" (Report, pg. v). 
"For many years, the people of Déline did not receive appropriate 
information about the potential risks of their exposure ... which compounded 
the anxiety experienced by the community members" (pg. vii). The Report 
acknowledges the very real impact that a lack of information - not fiction - 
caused the community.

Second, Mr. Keyes states that no Dene ever worked at the mine site, "not one 
in 28 years." He uses this statement to convince his audience that the film 
and my module misrepresent history. What he does not say is that while the 
Dene were not employed directly by the mine, 35 Dene were hired as ore 
transporters for the Northern Transportation Route (the 2,200 kilometer 
water route that transported the uranium from Great Bear Lake to rail 
delivery in northern Alberta). These men spent anywhere from 1-27 years in 
close and unprotected contact with the radioactive uranium. Thus, the 
community had valid reason for concern when half of those transporters 
suffered or died from cancer by the 1980s and 90s.
Third, Mr. Keyes incompletely sums up the Report findings stating that the 
environment and individual health were "hardly affected" by the mine. The 
Report does say that the high incidence of cancer are not outside the "norm" 
(Report quotes) given the exposure and rates in the Northwest Territories, 
"however, researchers acknowledged that these statistics should be 
interpreted cautiously [my italics] because of gaps in the cancer registry 
prior to 1990 and the small numbers of people in both Déline and the NWT" 
(pg. 42). So while no direct correlation can be drawn between the close 
contact with the uranium ore and the high incidence of cancer, neither can 
the impact be disproved. "It is not possible to know for certain if the 
death or illness of any individual ore carrier was directly caused by 
radiation exposure. However, studies predicted that some ore transport 
workers had a higher cancer risk due to their exposure to radioactive ore" 
(pg. 89).
In addition, the 107-page report does not simply conclude that there was no 
impact on human or environmental health, as Keyes suggests. Findings 
indicate that "the site has had, and continues to have impacts on the water 
quality on the mine site and in Great Bear Lake adjacent to the site ... the 
closer the sample was taken to the shore, the higher the metal 
concentrations" (pg. 80) including that "arsenic was identified as a 
potential issue for three of the terrestrial biota (fox, scaup, duck and 
hare)" (pg. 81). Recommendations include, " ... environmental restoration of 
the Port Radium mine site and the sites along the Northern Transportation 
Route ... undertaken as soon as possible" (pg. 50) and that "the Port Radium 
site ... be remediated as soon as possible" (pg. 82). Clearly the report 
establishes connections between human and environmental health and Port 
Radium.
Finally, Mr. Keyes charges director Peter Blow of employing emotion and 
using staged scenes in Village of Widows. Perhaps, but this is not outside 
the realm of filmmaking. For example, many videos depicting World War I and 
II use bathtubs and plastic boats but this does not make them any less valid 
or misleading in conveying history. We have over 400 videos in our 
collection including a "lively" reproduction of the War of 1812 (with much 
staged footage), a "proud" film on the story behind the construction of the 
Avro Aircraft, a film "depicting the bravery" of the 50,000 Canadian airmen 
involved in the campaign to bomb Germany and a film entitled, Canadians and 
the Second World War that "capture the emotion of this tumultuous time" - to 
mention just a few. Each (as is apparent by the descriptors used) employs 
emotion and has a particular perspective on an historic event. Yet, these 
videos are hardly inappropriate for educational use. The responsibility of 
the educator is to point out that any film has a point of view and that 
students must be trained to view film/print/website content critically.

Mr. Keyes must remember that Peter Blow's film was made well before the 
Report was released and therefore depicts the assumptions at that time. 
This, in itself, is educational as it very accurately illustrates the 
intense anxiety of a community that is not informed about environmental 
hazards. That the Dene transported uranium, that they found out about the 
dangers later, that there are many widows left as a result of the 
transporters becoming ill with cancer, that they prepared a document of 
concern to the federal government, that they made a pilgrimage to Japan to 
apologize for their role in the creation of the atomic bomb - this is all 
true. The film was never meant to portray all sides of the issue - it was 
made at the request of the Dene and to tell the story of their concerns, 
anxieties and the injustice they experienced as a result. The film is 
accurate given the limited information at the time and lack of a full study 
of the issues. As with many of the videos in our collection, history 
changes, new information is made available, and more dated films depict 
earlier histories.

Certainly, I will make this clear in the module outlining this history - 
that the video depicts the concerns and assumptions of the Dene prior to the 
2005 Report. However, it should also be noted that the video is secondary 
material for the module - the module is not based on the video as Mr. Keyes' 
incorrectly assumes. The video is not used as the basis for history in the 
module but is referred to as one of many additional courses as it the Atomic 
Energy of Canada website included specifically "to provide students with a 
view of positive aspects of nuclear energy."

I want to thank Mr. Slotemaker for bringing Mr. Keyes' commentary to our 
attention. Please assure him that the module will be updated to include the 
findings and recommendations of the Canada-Déline Uranium Table Report 
including a direct link to the complete report which will hopefully 
alleviate future assumptions about the findings/recommendations. I hope this 
effort leads to more clarity surrounding the issue and that we might 
continue to provide educators and students with the many fascinating stories 
and histories that link our two nations. Some of these histories, such as 
the role of the Dene in the creation of the first atomic bomb, may be more 
controversial and inspire more dialogue, but these events too have shaped 
our nations and communities and should remain a part of our curriculum.


Sincerely,


Nadine Fabbi, Associate Director
Canadian Studies Center
Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195

cc: Daniel Hart, Chair, Canadian Studies Center
Anand Yang, Director, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies

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