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

[Jaro]

Thank you for forwarding the response from WWU.

Please see below comments from the author of the CNS article.

Also, although the Canada-Déline Uranium Table Final Report, "Concerning
Health and Environmental Issues Related to the Port Radium Mine" was
released this last August 2005 as Ms Fabbi says, it is NOT posted on the
internet (to my knowledge).
I have obtained an official pdf copy from the responsible organization
however, and can forward it (the file is several MB).

Regards,

 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


From: Walter Keyes
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 12:18 PM
To: Jaro
Subject: Re: RE: RE: A Review of the Video "Village of Widows"


Jaro,

This email traffic just caught up with me.
<SNIP>
When I return to Canada I will deal more substantively with Ms Fabbi´s
remarks.
However the general nature of either her misundeerstanding or
misrepresentation of facts can be found in the quote ´ 35 Dene men were
hired as ore transporters.....these men spent anywhere from 1~27 years in
close and unprotected contact with radioactive uranium.´´

The report actually describes that Dene were hired on a seasonal basis, for
a few weeks each summer, over a period of 27 years, to help, at 3 of 8
portage sites, to load and unload cargos, including radioactive bags of ore.
I don´t recall the number of men employed each season but I think it was
something like an average of 6~8 people per summer season.  Ms Fabbi, as an
educator is prepared to have people believe, that some of these people spent
up to 27 years doing this, when in fact, if she read the report she would
know that was not the case, yet for an educator to argue that it is, can
only be attributed to a)ignorance, b) misrepresentation, c) an agenda to
present an untruthful version of history.

I will forward a more complete rebuttal, with quotes from the reports, once
I am back in Canada.  In the meantime please feel free to pass the above
along to your colleagues as an indication of the strength of her rebuttal.

Cheers, Walter Keyes

=========================================




-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl]On
Behalf Of Slotemaker, C J (Cal)
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 5:46 PM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
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***
-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-
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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