CBC Archives

Have students brainstorm what they know about asbestos. Their information might include properties, uses, dangers, methods of mining, regions mined and any story or information they know about asbestos and the industry.

Have students browse the topic Asbestos: Magic Mineral or Deadly Dust? on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site, and the Additional Clips, to locate information about the mining, health, and economic aspects of the asbestos industry. As students browse, they should make notes about significant events about the industry.

Using their notes, students will create a timeline of detailing one aspect of the asbestos industry — either mining, health, or economics. Students will place various relevant events along the timeline, then include relevant facts, visuals, and narrative information for each event.

Students display and describe their timelines. As a class, compare the timelines and how the information might differ if the main theme of the timeline was different. As a class, come to a general consensus about the effect of the asbestos industry on Canada’s economy and health system.

Students can examine the reaction of industry, government, and society to the health effects of asbestos and compare it to society’s reaction to other health-care scares, such as the SARS crisis. As a class, discuss whether society seems to be learning anything from each new health crisis it faces.