• Search
    • Sign up for our newsletter
    October 27, 2021
    SHARE
    COMMONS
    MINING #2 – Life and Death in Asbestos, QC
    For a century, Canada was one of the world’s leading exporters of asbestos, most of it mined from the small town of Asbestos, Quebec. But during that time, governments and corporations in Canada did everything they could to hide the fact that asbestos is deadly.
    Arshy Mann
    Host & Producer
    Jordan Cornish
    Producer
    Damilola Onime
    Producer, Wag the Doug
    Kieran Oudshoorn
    Managing Editor, Podcasts
    Tristan Capacchione
    Audio Editor & Technical Producer

    Support us at commonspodcast.com

    For a century, Canada was one of the world’s leading exporters of asbestos, most of it mined from the small town of Asbestos, Quebec. But during that time, governments and corporations in Canada did everything they could to hide the fact that asbestos is deadly.

    They went to extraordinary lengths — secret organ smuggling, corporate-supervised police torture — to keep the ugly truth from the world.

    Today, there’s no longer a town called Asbestos, QC. But more people than ever are dying from what was mined out of the ground there. 

    Featured in this episode: Heidi von Palleske, Jessica van Horssen, Tavia Grant (The Globe and Mail)

     

    To learn more:

    A Town Called Asbestos: Environmental Contamination, Health, and Resilience in a Resource Community by Jessica van Horssen

    “No Safe Use: The Canadian Asbestos Epidemic” by Tavia Grant in The Globe and Mail

    “Asbestos: Canada’s Dirty Secret” by CBC’s Fifth Estate

     

    Additional music from Audio Network

    More from this series
    The Last COMMONS Ever / Introducing: The Hatchet
    November 28, 2024
    WORK #16 – Boss Fight
    This is the story of Canada’s first-ever video game union. And the lengths that the industry went to try to stop it in its tracks
    July 3, 2024
    WORK #15 – Canada’s New Underclass
    The huge rise in international students in Canada — most of them from Punjab, India — has become one of the biggest stories in the country.
    June 26, 2024
    WORK #14 – The Colossus of Roads
    She expected to face opposition from tech companies and governments that are hostile to workers. But what she didn’t anticipate was that one of the biggest obstacles in her path would be a labour union. 
    June 19, 2024
    WORK #13 – Flying Under the Radar
    Mandalena Lewis is one of far too many flight attendants who have been harassed or assaulted on the job. And her story is just one example of a culture of sexism and abuse that she alleges pervades the airline industry.
    June 12, 2024
    WORK #12 – The Crucible of Confinement
    In 2006, Zakaria Amara was arrested and imprisoned for planning what could have been one of the deadliest terror attacks in Canadian history. A ringleader of the so-called “Toronto 18,” he’s one of the most infamous Canadian convicts of the last few decades. 
    June 5, 2024
    WORK #11 – The Way the Music Died
    ♩♪ But Spotify, it’s nearly killed us Ticketmaster’s ground us to dust The companies got too large Now monopolies are in charge ♩♪
    May 29, 2024
    WORK #10 – Prison Labour Industrial Complex
    Not only do Canadian prisoners work for for-profit businesses, but they’re sometimes doing the most dangerous and nauseating work around
    May 22, 2024
    all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
    COMMONS