Meanwhile, in Canada, an intersection with alarming environmental risk and a growing health-care crisis is taking shape. The experiences of healthcare professionals like Julia Sawatzky, a 30-year-old specializing in emergency medicine, highlight the pressing health impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Healthcare practitioners are grappling with urgent environmental concerns that have an impact on their practice. At the same time, many of these communities are growing more unwelcoming to them, with health risks linked to polluting industries driving them away.
Dr. John Ashwell, who recently relocated to Victoria. From the early 2000s on, he began raising the alarm over the above-average cancer rates and other health problems that were plaguing the residents of Fort McMurray and neighboring Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. She and other medical professionals back up his observations. They’ve seen the dramatic rise of respiratory diseases and other health issues in areas severely impacted by industrial operations. This situation poses a dilemma for many doctors: how to serve communities severely affected by environmental degradation while facing their own professional challenges.
Health Impacts of Environmental Degradation
Dr. Melissa Lem has reported that at least seven doctors have left Dawson Creek, British Columbia, primarily due to concerns regarding the health impacts linked to the liquefied natural gas industry. “The very industry that’s leading to some of these health harms is exacerbating a crisis in access to health care,” she stated.
“Across the different regions where we work, you know, we’re finding some doctors avoiding placements,” – Uche Ralph-Opara
Research further substantiates these concerns. In an Alberta peer-reviewed Canadian study, researchers recorded greater respiratory illness risks for Albertans who resided alongside oil and gas operations. In Sarnia, Tor Oiamo had done a similar study that found something that grabs your attention. Residents living in areas with high levels of air pollution had more difficulty accessing primary care than people in less polluted areas. The Bluewater Health hospital in Sarnia has run into dire operational hurdles. As recently as December 2024, it has closed urgent and emergency general surgery services down three times due to a lack of surgeons.
The Dilemma Faced by Healthcare Professionals
Julia Sawatzky expresses the moral dilemma so many health care workers are experiencing today. “If I choose to live in these communities, what am I sacrificing?” she reflects. Sawatzky’s dedication to tackling health impacts that are a consequence of environmental injustice is admirable as she pursues her professional path.
Dr. Ulrike Meyer expresses similar sentiments. Despite her fondness for her home region, she acknowledges the challenges of working in an area with known health hazards. “It’s hard because you know logically you should not live here, probably, or you might take a toll for your health,” she remarked.
Sawatzky has shifted how she thinks about climate change and the effects of its violence. As a new physician, she’s pursuing opportunities to help develop solutions for communities hit first and worst. “I was starting to have this reckoning as I learned more about the impacts of climate change in Alberta and in Canada,” she said.
“Nothing will change unless more physicians speak up about what they’re seeing,” – Melissa Lem
This new call for action highlights the importance, now more than ever, for medical professionals to lead the way in addressing these critical issues. More and more healthcare providers are starting to understand their role as not only caregivers, but environmental stewards, and advocates for sustainable healthcare and healthy communities.
The Future of Healthcare Amidst Environmental Challenges
The Quebec government’s Ministry of Health and Social Services is moving the same direction. By 2027, they want to be proactive in adapting their public health response as the climate changes. Most doctors doubt these measures will work. They think that without addressing the root causes of environmental degradation, like overconsumption and inequitable distribution of resources, real progress won’t happen.
As healthcare professionals grapple with the new reality of their work settings, they are faced with a set of challenges that go far beyond personal preference. Having relocated to Victoria, Dr. Ashwell advocates for those seeking practice environments that are safer and more collegial. From an environmental perspective, I think it’s more secure. I just don’t think that I would be exposed to as many environmental toxins here as in Dawson Creek,” he said.
Julia Sawatzky believes that the health concerns associated with environmental destruction disproportionately affect vulnerable populations who may not have the luxury of relocating or choosing where they live. “A lot of community members and patients don’t have the option to decide not to live near places where the environment is being destroyed,” she stated.
This dangerous intersection of Health Care access and Environmental Risk continues to reimagine Canada’s medical landscape. Physicians, too, are looking for more tractable, safer places to work. This desire plays a huge role in their preference to be stationed in communities most severely impacted by industrial operations.
