Contaminants
Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) has provided financial assistance to assess and clean up environmentally contaminated sites on reserve lands and other lands under its responsibility since 1992. Many contaminated sites are linked to private sector mining, oil, gas and military activities dating back to a time when environmental impacts were not well understood. These sites are managed under the department's Contaminated Sites Management Program (CSMP). This program determines the location and severity of the contamination. When the sites pose a risk to human and environmental health and safety, they are cleaned up on a priority basis.
What about contaminants in the North?
The department also manages two other federally-funded programs working specifically in the North. The Northern Contaminated Sites Program (NCSP) is geared toward cleaning up contaminants left over from mining and military operations. The Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) responds to concerns about human exposure to elevated levels of contaminants in wildlife species that are part of a traditional diet for Northern people.