A Life After Asbestos
How a town had to change its name to get away from its past
Asbestos was pretty much like any other small town in southern Quebec. I know it first-hand because it was a thirty-minute drive away from my hometown, and I often visited it. My grandmother lived there, just like approximately 7,000 other people. I have fond memories of climbing up the steep, icy stairs to her apartment, eating sweets and learning to knit. However, I could never figure out the streets of this town because all the buildings looked alike to me. It often felt like home, but not quite. Like it was home for something larger than myself.
Asbestos had always been a regular town. It had schools, grocery stores, banks, restaurants, drugstores, an ice rink, a public library, a church… It had gotten its own Tim Hortons! In Canada, it’s as close as you can get to consecration — if you happen to be a small town.
If you were born in a monolingual, French-speaking family like so many of us here in Quebec, there is a chance you went through a great part of your life without seeing a single issue with Asbestos. Why would you? But then, someone tells you, or you come to the realization by yourself as your English gets better. Asbestos means amiante. And amiante, well, is basically considered poison at this point.
So we named a town after that?
Well, yeah, I guess, if you put it that way…
But it’s all part of the past now.
In November 2019, Asbestos’s municipal council started a reflection process on the city’s economic future. Their plan included getting rid of the town’s name and its negative connotation, which hinders its ability to attract foreign investment. In December 2020, a final decision was made. Asbestos Mayor Hugo Grimard could not emphasize it enough: this change was all about the future.
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a collective term that refers to different minerals that have long been exploited for their physical and chemical properties. Their fibres are strong, resistant to high temperatures and can be used as insulation, which is why it was used in the construction industry. However, studies have shown that asbestos fibres released into the air can lead to serious health problems for people who happen to be exposed to them. It was linked to different types of cancer. Nowadays, the use of asbestos in construction or manufacturing is either highly restricted or banned. It was banned in Canada in 2018, with some exceptions. Asbestos is also banned in the United Kingdom and the European Union, but not in the United States.
From asbestos to Asbestos
It comes as no surprise that the town of Asbestos got its name from the mineral — though the opposite would have made for a very peculiar story. Not to worry, there is an obvious reason for taking this name. In short, Asbestos was once the home of the world’s largest asbestos mine.
In 1879, Welsh miner Evan Williams discovered a mineral in the region which he identified as asbestos, and he recognized its commercial value. Soon after that, W. H. Jeffrey started a mine on the site. A community built around the mine grew to become a village, then became the town we knew. This mine would come to be known as the Jeffrey Mine.
For decades, the mining industry was at the core of the livelihoods of thousands of people in the region. However, tides turned in the late 1970s when complaints and lawsuits regarding health problems came to the mining companies, and evidence started to show the lethality of asbestos. While these discoveries were fatal to the companies, they have also been damaging to Asbestos’s reputation. Sooner or later, the town would have to diversify its economy to survive.
The Jeffrey Mine once provided half of the world’s asbestos, which helped making Canada the number one asbestos exporter in the world by the 1970s. This may explain why asbestos was only banned in 2018 in Canada, years after other countries got rid of it: the industry was just that lucrative. The Jeffrey mine finally closed down in 2012. In the 2011 census, an unemployment rate of 12.4% was reported in Asbestos. Fortunately, this rate dropped to 7.6% in the following census.
A larger part of history
The town of Asbestos has been the location of the most violent and possibly significant labour strike in Québec’s history. In 1949, miners walked off the job in the Asbestos region and Thetford Mines. Miners worked in poor conditions, were underpaid and suffered from health problems due to their exposure to asbestos dust. Their union had demands that were quite radical at the time, such as “double time” payment for work on Sundays and holidays, that were rejected by the owners. While the provincial government declared the strike illegal and sided with the owners, the media, the population, and the very influential Catholic Church mostly supported the miners. The conflict ended after four months, and the workers gained very little from the negotiations with the owners.
However, the Asbestos strike is often believed to have led to a shift in Quebec’s society, some even mentioning that it marked the beginning of a new era. It shed a light on the growing inequality between the francophone miners and the American or English-Canadian companies that owned the mines, which also perfectly represented the complicated relationship between both linguistic groups at the time. The ideas behind the claims helped to lay the groundwork for the Quiet Revolution, a time of many significant sociopolitical changes in the province.
An activist named Pierre Trudeau fought alongside the miners and went on to have a successful career in politics. He was the Prime Minister of Canada for approximately 15 years in the 1970s and early 1980s.
A name for the past and the future
The name “Asbestos” had always been a source of division. On one hand, the historical and economic significance of the mining industry for the local population would be hard to ignore, and could obviously not be erased. On the other hand, all signs were pointing to economic stagnation if nothing was done. The reality was that “asbestos” was just that powerful of a word. Even local transportation companies had to hide the word from their trucks to avoid troubles once they crossed the border to the US.
In 2006, Asbestos’s municipal council decided not to change the town’s name. At the time, Asbestos struggled financially since activities in the Jeffrey Mine were coming to a halt. The local chamber of commerce advocated for a name change, but there was no real movement to push this debate further. All in all, there was no incentive to set up a costly referendum in such trying times to change the town’s name after over 110 years. The local population was mostly satisfied with this decision.
But, as the delightful French-Canadian saying goes, only fools don’t change their minds.
Over a decade later, the debate was back on the table, and there was no going back to the status quo. The lengthy process began at the end of November 2019 and included numerous consultations, information sessions and a call for suggestions. The process was also hindered by the pandemic and gathering restrictions.
In September 2020, after looking through over a thousand suggestions, Asbestos narrowed down the list to four new names :
- Jeffrey : the first owner of the infamous asbestos mine.
- Apalone : name of a endangered species of turtle once observed in the region.
- Phénix : “phoenix”, mythical bird that arises from the ashes of its predecessor.
- Trois-Lacs : “three lakes”, name of a neighbourhood near Asbestos.
The first two names received some strongly negative criticism. The name “Jeffrey” was deemed too close to the town’s mining past and thus incoherent with the whole process, while “Apalone” did not really make sense to some people, who did not want their town to be represented by a turtle.
The council took a two-week break to reflect on the suggestions and come up with ideas that would be more satisfying. The two first names were eliminated from the list, and three others were added.
- L’Azur-des-Cantons: refers to the color of the lake that now fills the former mine, and the region in which the town is located — les Cantons de l’Est [Eastern Townships].
- Larochelle : first name used for the Trois-Lacs neighbourhood.
- Val-des-Sources : “valley of springs”, refers to “the merging of landscape and roots” and the “rolling horizon that draws its charm from different sources”.
After three voting rounds and 2,796 ballots counted in total, Mayor Hugues Grimard announced on October 19, 2020, that the town’s new name would be Val-des-Sources. It obtained 51.5% of the votes. Almost half of the town’s voting population, in this instance people of at least 14 years of age, participated in the referendum. There was some opposition in the form of a petition, which questioned the validity of the decision given the participation rate and the lack of an option to vote to keep the original name. This petition was not received by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The provincial Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing formalized the new name on December 17, 2020.
Going forward
So, there it is. There was once a town named Asbestos, and now it is Val-des-Sources. It will take months to complete the address changes for everyone living there and to replace all the road signs. But someday, there won’t be a need to mention any of this.
Nowadays, the company Alliance Magnesium is extracting magnesium from the tailings of the former mine. Other industries, namely food processing and transportation, have been flourishing in the region for years. They have one less obstacle to their growth in various markets.
And while it is probably for the best when it comes to the town’s future, it will add but a parenthesis to the history books. The town still stands as it did for years, its roots solidly grounded where they have always been. I do think that this new identity will bring a brighter future, but like for many people whose family history is linked directly or indirectly to the town, the change will never quite be complete in my mind and memories.
My grandmother passed away in December 2019. She never saw the town in which she lived for decades finally change its name, and I never got to know what was her opinion on the matter.
But to me, my grandmother will always live in a town named Asbestos.
To learn more
“Canada town of Asbestos, Quebec, looks for new name”, BBC News
“The town fighting its killer reputation”, BBC Worklife
“Quebec town of Asbestos turning page on rocky past”, Toronto Star
“Asbestos”, on The Canadian Encyclopedia
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