“Chemical Valley” is a major industrial hub, which comprises 40% of Canada’s petrochemical industry and is home to over 60 facilities, including refineries and chemical plants. Recently, a selection of staff scientists, leadership and researchers from the AC travelled to visit Chemical Valley, located in Sarnia, Ontario. The tour was organized by the Environmental Data Justice lab (EDJ) and the Indigenous Science and Ethical Substance lab (ISES) in the Technoscience Research Unit (TRU) at U of T, as part of ISES’s ongoing work with the AC. Led by Aamjiwnaang community members and EDJ lab leads, Vanessa and Beze Gray, this tour was an opportunity for AC members to learn firsthand about the connections between materials discovery and the harms that chemical production can have on Indigenous territories and to learn from community members who are on the frontlines of this environmental harm.  

The AC is committed to considering the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of discovery, learning from Indigenous and community-based experts to guide our materials and technologies toward the benefit of society and the planet. The tour was a direct and visceral way for AC scientists to understand their own role in the development and deployment of materials, including the long-term benefits and harms of the research they undertake on local communities. We asked a selection of participants to share their reflections on what they saw and how it made them feel:

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Xiaoman Guo, Staff Research Scientist, Acceleration Consortium

I used to think about materials mainly in terms of how they improve our daily lives by making products more useful, affordable, and stronger. After visiting Sarnia, I realized that I had overlooked the impact of the materials production process. We should realize that safety in science, especially in chemistry and materials science, isn’t just about protecting people inside a lab or plant. It must include protecting surrounding communities from long-term exposure to harmful emissions.
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Fareeda Lakhani, EDI and Programs Officer, Acceleration Consortium

Learning that people are being exposed to toxins daily, that cancer clusters and reproductive health issues are widespread, and that there is insufficient corporate accountability is disturbing. But it’s also clarifying. To ensure our work in materials discovery is ethical or sustainable, we must contend with these lived realities. Understanding the full cycle from extraction to disposal means confronting who pays the price, and reimagining science in a way that refuses to treat any community as collateral damage. When we witness the human costs by walking through impacted communities it personalizes the consequences of abstract decisions. It can shift research from being a pursuit of curiosity to also being a matter of justice.
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Ilya Yakavets, Staff Scientist, Acceleration Consortium

To better protect communities and the environment, we need to shift science toward more thorough validation of materials and by-products and improve detection methods for specific chemicals. It’s also crucial to conduct long-term toxicity testing—even at low doses—on plants, animals, and humans. This shift should be guided by values like responsibility, transparency, and care for both human health and the environment. Involving community leaders, municipalities, environmental scientists, and public health experts can also help ensure that materials are developed with real-world impacts in mind.
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Sean Caffrey, Executive Director, Acceleration Consortium

It has become clear how the location of chemical production can significantly impact local communities and the lack of power these communities have over how and where manufacturing takes place. At the AC, we strive to ensure that our values are embedded from the outset: in decision-making processes, how projects are selected, and which partners we align ourselves with. These values can guide us to safeguard against the harms that chemicals can have and help us deliver projects that improve environmental sustainability and human health. We want our scientists to consider the downstream impact that research, even early-stage, can have and keep this in mind when research is selected and designed.
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The reflections above are excerpts that have been condensed from longer interviews.