Town called Asbestos votes for a less toxic name change

RESIDENTS of the town of Asbestos in the Canadian province of Quebec have voted to rename their community to distance it from the dangerous mineral.

The town, formerly home to one of the world’s largest asbestos mines, voted 51.5 per cent in favour of changing its name to Val-des-sources over five other options, according to results announced from a referendum.

“It’s a name that represents our area, and, especially, it’s inspiring for the future,” Hugues Grimard, the town’s mayor, said. The name, which means Valley of the Springs in English, refers to its location at the confluence of three lakes and represents “the fusion of our history and our roots”, according to the town’s description.

Asbestos, 93 miles east of Montreal and home to about 7,000 people, concluded the balloting on Sunday, with anyone over the age of 14 allowed to vote. The town council approved the name on Monday, although the move has several bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Mr Grimard said he hoped the change would be made official before December.

The town was built in the late 1870s after the discovery of asbestos nearby led to the creation of the mine. Asbestos was for years used in fireproof insulation and in construction. It even figured in popular culture, with 1935 song I Won’t Dance featuring the lyric: “For heaven rest us, I’m not asbestos.”

But by the early 1970s asbestos was widely recognised as the cause of mesothelioma among workers involved in producing it and in industries that used it in their products. The mine in Asbestos ceased operations in 2011.

“Once upon a time we were very proud of that name, but now it’s very difficult because asbestos means a fibre that people are afraid of,” Louise Moisan-coulombe, mayor of the town from 1997 to 2002, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “Every time you say, especially in the United States, that you are coming from Asbestos, or they read Asbestos on a package, they are always afraid that it will be poison.”