Presented by Rachel Anne Kosatsky

Good afternoon. I would like to extend my appreciation to the City of Winnipeg and the Ad-hoc Committee for listening to the public and for this opportunity to speak to the topic of pesticide use in Winnipeg. Though I would prefer if this critical topic was taken seriously and properly recognized and more of our politicians were present today, including the mayor.

My name is Rachel Anne Kosatsky. I am a Winnipeger, born and raised. I grew up in the Fort Rouge area in Riverview, then Lord Roberts. Then I moved on my own to the Wolseley/West Broadway area and am excited now to be a new resident of St Boniface.

To give you some background, I am a professional independent artist. I am so proud to be a part of the Contemporary Dancers Legacy of Winnipeg, being a recent 2006 graduate of the Professional Program of the School of Contemporary Dancers. I am also an active community member. I have a wide range of community involvement from volunteering for non profit arts organizations, to soup kitchens, to doing child care, to environmental education, and teaching other skills to much more, not to mention keeping up with community issues and politics such as these hearings.

I have spent a lot of my time thinking about the issues of pesticides in my community. I have researched countless hours, had discussions with various citizens, people who have dedicated their lives to this issue and our community, and to all levels of government, as well as Health Canada. I have looked into it from all sorts of angles.

This afternoon I am not going to give you references to case studies, or talk to the innumerable health risks for humans and our environment. Instead, I’m going to give you some credit. Hopefully you have learned more about how harmful and unnecessary pesticides are in these delegations presented so graciously by citizens, giving so generously of their time. And, as Robyn Faye said earlier today, thirty-five years later is long enough. Enough said.

You’ve already heard about how unnecessary lawn chemicals are toxic for children, how healthy and vibrant individuals develop and suffer the health repercussions, such as Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and cancer, and that from the Organic Lawn Care presentation given this morning, that chemicals only deplete the ecosystem, not getting to the root of the concern, are not a solution. It is like putting a bandaid on a broken arm and then bashing the arm over and over and over again.

No, I am going to speak from my voice as a young Winnipeger about my personal and current struggle that others, like me also face.

Let’s get into what is really relevant to our lives. An individual is an extension of its community. So accordingly, healthy and happy people are dependent upon a healthy and happy community. Let’s talk about this word for a moment. The word community is comprised of three elements: together, exchanges that link and small, intimate or local.

Naturally, a healthy environment is crucial for a healthy community because all species, including humans need some vital factors to strive in their habitat. This includes: clean water, air, land, nutrients, warmth, sheter, safety and the right opportunities to flourish as a species.

We must take into account that a community is not only a collection of people, but an assemblage of populations of different species, interacting with one another. Therefore, the health and richness of the Earth, the whole community, of the minds of my neighbours, is all relevant.

I do not want to leave my community. This is beloved home, where my family, friends, and my land reside… But I will not wait until I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, or worse, cancer. I will not continue to deplete my health by exposing myself unwillingly to toxic chemicals. I want to have a family, one day soon. I feel though, I may have to leave because of how far behind Winnipeg remains on this critical issue.

As an artist, and community member, I feel it is important to diversify to learn from each other and even abroad and bring back these gifts to the community. This has long been a mandate of mine. This past year I lived in Montreal, where there is a pesticide bylaw, as you know in all of the province of Quebec! However, I went there also to explore the possibility of creating a new community because I do not want to raise my future children amongst toxic chemicals, struggling with the thought of raising my family in a city that is behind the times on ecological issues! But, I’m back, for now because this is home and I missed the support of this community that is so special.

I have been actively involved in the issue of toxic chemicals in Winnipeg since I was 15 years old when I became aware that an organophosphate is fogged nightly in my community summer after summer. Ya, I’m talking about Malathion. Thankfully my mother brought to my attention when I was a child that those little signs on the yards that say things like “Nutra Lawn” are dangerous and I shouldn’t step on them.

The thought of feeding my future babies my contaminated breast milk after I have been exposed to 2,4-D and the chemical soup, them breathing in the fumes. Not feeling comfortable taking my children out for walk. Being scared that they will wonder to the neighbour’s yard, which had just been treated with pesticides. This is intolerable!

I would like to know as a society how our values have become so misconstrued. Why do we continually foster the imbedded power structure fear and ignorance, supporting multi-national corporations that are destroying our land and community when there is another way. Instead we must support each other, local businesses, the ecosystem, our current and future children. Then Robyn Faye could stay and support her family and community, Julie Fine could feel a lot safer to raise her family here, and myself and other vibrant young people, I might add, would not struggle with idea of leaving their own home because of something that is common sense.

The information is all there. Although new information about the inherent and very real dangers of pesticides is always coming out, not much has changed since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. I urge you to take these hearings to heart once and for all. There is a legacy of this Winnipeg struggle about the over-use of toxic chemicals, that has been going on far too long. There is study after report getting dusty on a shelf, while this government continues to allow the jeopardy of my community’s health!

I’m healthy, I’m vibrant. But I am tired of this discussion. I want action. Let’s wake up Winnipeg and for once follow the trend that is spreading across our nation. Over 130 municipal pesticide bylaws are in existence in Canada to date. Let’s join them. And for the record, all pesticides are “non-essential”.

Thank you for listening.