Exposing Toxic Legacies: The Archaeology of Military Contamination in Labrador
Author(s): Julia Brenan
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Hazardous contamination from human activity in the last century has burdened, and continues to recklessly burden Canada’s North and its inhabitants, particularly Indigenous peoples. The Federal Government of Canada recognizes approximately 22,000 contaminated or suspected-to-be contaminated sites within Canada; 1,600 of them are in Labrador. This project addresses the legacy of toxic contamination from military installations in Labrador, critically evaluating the impact of toxic substances on heritage practices. Many of the military installations built for WWII and the Cold War period are still in existence today. The majority of these sites are contaminated with petroleum products and metals impacting human health, the environment, and preventing heritage practice. Drawing on themes of contemporary archeology and difficult heritage, this paper will discuss the implications of contamination and its legacy alongside archaeology.
Cite this Record
Exposing Toxic Legacies: The Archaeology of Military Contamination in Labrador. Julia Brenan. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457437)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Contamination
•
dark heritage
•
Recent Past
Geographic Keywords
Canada
Temporal Keywords
Recent Past
Spatial Coverage
min long: -141.003; min lat: 41.684 ; max long: -52.617; max lat: 83.113 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 773