David Empey

There was a story in the May 19 Globe and Mail (reprinted here) about Dr. John O'Connor, who has been driven out of an Alberta community as a result of bringing attention to health concerns there. O'Connor's concerns have been about the cancer rates among native patients living in Fort Chipewyan. The community is downriver from the northern Alberta Oil Sands project, and some of the cancers found are linked to the kind of chemical contamination caused by the Oil Sands.

While I think it is important for physicians (and everyone, for that matter) to be protected from whistle-blowing, there are two other points I think need to be made. Or, rather, let's make them questions worth pondering.

1. If this community was somewhere other than Alberta, or if the industry wasn't oil, would the government reaction be any different?
2. If O'Connor was concerned about the health of Bay Street stock traders rather than natives, would the government reaction be any different?

I think I know the answers to both questions, and I don't like the answers. Sadly, I'm not surprised at my guesses for the answers.