“She [social worker] went and toured the house, and what stood out to me was in the children’s room there were few toys, but worse than that there were little sheets, pillows and blankets on the floor,” Charboneau said of the makeshift beds. “They were literally on the ground, and that stayed with me because it was something that never occurred to me that somebody would be without a bed.” Charboneau said she realized that very situation was likely occurring within her community, which became all too real when she recently listed a queen-size foam mattress on Facebook’s Marketplace.
Smoke from wood stoves is contributing to air pollution and poses widespread health risks both in and out of homes. If the stereotype associated with country living holds fast, folks in Canada’s small towns and rural communities should be relishing the benefits of fresh, clean air. But rather the opposite is true, said Michael Mehta, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. Many rural residents’ health is at significant risk due to high levels of airborne pollutants from wood-burning stoves, both indoors and out, said Mehta, who specializes in environmental and health risk issues.
As far as climate change and human health are concerned, no wood stove is the best wood stove, according to some experts.
The negative impacts to human health associated with particulate matter emitted from residential wood stoves aren t disputed, said Michael Mehta, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C.
Yet, the myth persists that wood-burning as a residential heat source, particularly in rural areas or smaller communities, is natural and green, said Mehta, a specialist in environmental and health risk issues.
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ACC provides pandemic-related job training By: Kyle Darbyson
Assiniboine Community College’s North Hill campus in Brandon. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)
Assiniboine Community College’s new job training program will officially kick off on Wednesday, with around 17 First Nations youth, aged 15 to 30, getting the chance to pick up some employment skills that are relevant to the ongoing pandemic.
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Assiniboine Community College’s new job training program will officially kick off on Wednesday, with around 17 First Nations youth, aged 15 to 30, getting the chance to pick up some employment skills that are relevant to the ongoing pandemic.
Brad Hack, ACC’s program co-ordinator for job skills, told the Sun on Monday that this COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative was made possible thanks to a partnership with Algonquin College.