Steinbach MLA, Kelvin Goertzen, says the release last week of a report indicating 450 schools in Manitoba contain asbestos, including several in the Hanover School Division, shouldn’t be cause for panic among parents or students but does point to the need for a long-term strategy to deal with asbestos in schools.
“The release of the information on asbestos in schools is important and was needed because parents and students simply have a right to know which schools have asbestos in them, but there isn’t reason for alarm as long as there are regular inspections to ensure it is encapsulated and stable,” said Goertzen. “However, it does point to the need for a long-term strategy by the provincial government to get asbestos out of schools because as schools age there is more of a concern about asbestos and exposure to it.”
Asbestos poses health risks only when fibers are present in the air that people breathe and was widely used in construction from the 1940s to the 1970s.
The report last week showed that half the schools in the province have some asbestos in them. In the Hanover School Division, this included Blumenort, Green Valley, Niverville Collegiate, Southwood Elementary, SRSS, Elmdale Elementary, Landmark Collegiate, Niverville Elementary, Steinbach Junior High and Woodlawn Elementary.
Goertzen said perhaps the most troubling part of the report was that it took the NDP government so long to produce it.
“The Minister of Education wasn’t himself aware of how many schools have asbestos and it took several weeks for him to find out. That itself is concerning. But now that he knows, he needs to produce a long-term strategy and reporting system for dealing with the issue. That would go a long way toward dealing with the concerns some parents have expressed,” said Goertzen.
