NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: contaminants, health, arsenic, monitoring, remediation, Giant Mine

Objective(s): To assess the exposure and health impact of arsenic and other contaminants on the human population of Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah in the Northwest Territories, as part of the Giant Mine Remediation Project.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5010. The Health Effects Monitoring Program is a human biomonitoring study aimed to assess the exposure and health impact of arsenic and other contaminants on the human population of Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah in the Northwest Territories, as part of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. The overall objective of the program is to establish current or baseline levels of arsenic exposure among residents in Ndilo, Dettah and Yellowknife before remediation work begins. Then, during remediation, new monitoring results will be compared to the baseline to ensure participant’s arsenic levels are not increasing because of work being dine at Giant Mine. Participants will range from 6 to 79 years of age for the Yellowknife general population as well as include Elders older than 79 years of age from the Yellowknives Dene First Nations and Métis communities. Data collection will be conducted over two years with the first 750 participants starting in September 2017, and continue with a second wave of participants the following year, in April 2018. Then, in 5 years (2022/2023), participants ages 6 to 17 will be invited to participate in a follow-up study, and in 10 years (2027/2028) a follow-up study for all participants, including adults will be planned. The study will use three different sampling strategies to recruit the following three population groups: the general Yellowknife (YK) population, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) and the North Slave Métis Alliance (NSMA). General YK population: A total sample size of approximately 1000 Yellowknife residents will be recruited through random selection using City of Yellowknife address list where participants are selected proportionally from 10 different districts. The sampling strategy was developed with the assistance from Statistics Canada to ensure a representative sample size. One adult (18+) and one child (6-17) from each selected address will be randomly selected based on whose birth date is next. The first 500 participants will be sampled in the fall 2017, and another 500 participants will be sampled in spring 2018. If a Yellowknife resident approaches the research team asking to participate in the study, that individual will be allowed to participate. However, results of these volunteer participants will not be included in the sample population of the Yellowknife residents as they are not randomly sampled and therefore can introduce sampling bias. Letters of recruitment will be sent to selected participants either by mail or dropped off in person. Participants will then be contacted by research assistants to get consent, and to arrange an appointment for an on-site home interview and biological sample collection. YKDFN: A mixed approach sampling will be adopted as suggested by the YKDFN leadership. Participation will be extended to all YKDFN members from ages 6 and above including elders. Volunteer member participants will be checked off from a list of households within the YKDFN. If a certain demographic s lacking, in order to reflect a representative sample, that demographic will be contacted and invited to participate. It is expected to recruit a total of 300-400 YKDFN members over two years. Community meetings will be held to reach out to YKDFN members asking them whether they would like to participate. Appointments will then be set up with a nurse at the participant’s home or at a designated location, whichever will be most convenient. NSMA: Samples will be collected from a group of volunteer member participants ages 6 and above including Elders, as recommended by the North Slave Métis Alliance leadership. It is expected to recruit a total of 50-100 Métis over two years. Community meetings will be held to reach out to NSMA members, and then appointments set up with a research assistant at the participant’s home or at a designated location, whichever will be most convenient. Participants from the Yellowknife general population who self-identify as either a YKDFN or NSMA member will be separated from the general population pool and included in the YKDFN and NSMA pool accordingly. If a participant self-identifies as a First Nation from a band other than Ndilo or Dettah, that participant will be included with the general Yellowknife population. All participants, who provide consent, will be asked to complete a Lifestyle Questionnaire. The lifestyle questionnaire contains two components: general information and exposure history (e.g. lifestyle, diet, water source, occupational history). Participants will also be asked to complete a 10-minute Food Frequency questionnaire on the types and amounts of wild fish consumed. Information of serving sizes will be collected using food models. Urine, toenail and saliva samples: Research assistants will provide participants with a kit to collect toenail clippings, urine (taken first thing in the morning), and saliva samples (taken with a buccal swab inside a person’s cheek). Instructions will be provided to arrange for pick up at the participant’s home. Samples will be kept in a refrigerator at 4ºC at Taiga lab in Yellowknife until ready for shipping to University of Ottawa or Génome Quebec labs, for analysis. Saliva samples taken with buccal swabs will be sent to Génome Québec in Montreal for sequencing of selected polymorphisms and genes related to arsenic. The buccal swab will be used to test whether an individual has or does not have 20 specific genes that can help them to get rid of arsenic in their body more efficiently. Review of medical records: A part-time Medicare researcher will access medical records for the past 5 years of those individuals who gave consent. Medical record data will only be used to investigate possible associations between contaminant exposure and specific health outcomes at the population level. No medical files will be removed from the office. The researcher will go over the files and compile information into a database. Brief medical examination of (YKDFN only): Based on the recommendation from YKDFN leadership YKDFN members who give consent will also complete a medical examination by a nurse. This short medical examination will include weighing (using a scale), measuring height (using a measuring tape), and taking blood pressure (with a cuff), as well as completing a medical history questionnaire. In person community meetings planned for May 2020 have been suspended due to COVID-19 public health restrictions and will resume only when safe to do so. In lieu of that, the program has focused on publishing results in peer-reviewed journals, and creating communication materials to share with the local populations in the form of a results brochure and an updated progress report. All communication materials are reviewed by the Health Effects Monitoring Program Advisory Committee before they are shared with the public. Other communications include radio and Facebook ads to share up to date results with the affected communities. Academic papers have been written using results at the population level only, and feedback was sought from the Health Effects Monitoring Program Advisory Committee stakeholders, before any papers were published and shared with the wider community. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from September 24, 2021 to December 31, 2021.