By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer A thick smoke from a burning garbage dump used to hang over Lil’wat Nation, putting the community’s health at risk. “I’d go up there to clean up, and people would be lighting the dump on fire,” said Calvin Jameson, a public works superintendent for the community about 150 kilometres north of Vancouver. “There was everything you could name — paint, batteries, oil, tires. And when you came up the hill, there’d be a layer of smoke right above the nation.” Smoke drifted into homes, schools and the health centre, forcing families to keep their windows closed as they feared for the health of elders and children. For years, complaints about the dump went unheeded — until Jameson took matters into…
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