Early w
ork for the Toxic Legacies project originated with the Abandoned Mines in Northern Canada Project. Based at Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Abandoned Mines Project was created to study the historical impacts of abandoned mines on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities in northern Canada. Our goal was to highlight the social and environmental changes that large mining projects brought to northern communities and the ongoing impact of these mines after they were abandoned. We see abandoned mines as living historical landscapes, places where human activities from decades ago continue to have environmental impacts in the present day. The project was co-ordinated by historian John Sandlos and geographer Arn Keeling at Memorial, and included many students, community members and partners between 2007-13. Major results from this project were published in: Mining and Communities in Northern Canada: History, Politics, and Memory (2015), available as an e-book through the University of Calgary Press.
Read reviews of Mining and Communities and see other publications and videos related to the Abandoned Mines project.