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Abstract
Understanding of risk views in multiethnic Canadian society may be enhanced by including perceptions of a closed, ethno-religious Old Order Mennonite (OOM) community, farming along the most contaminated tributary of the Grand River, Ontario, Canada. This study represents the first time that these Old Order women have participated in any research. For this exploratory study, qualitative methods were the preferred approach. To understand environmental concerns of mothers living in the contaminated area, 34 semi-structured interviews were conducted with mothers from mainstream society and from the OOM community. Emergent themes revealed concerns about exposure to toxicants, children's exposure reflected in their behaviour, and exposure differences determined by lifestyle. When links between perceptions of relationships between children's health and their polluted physical environments by mainstream society are contrasted with the perceptions of the OOMs, it becomes clear that each group defines risk to children's health differently. The inclusion of the OOMs in this study is important because it reveals essential information regarding ethnic vulnerability and a number of ethical dilemmas for the researchers assessing risk in marginalized communities.
Acknowledgements
We wish to express our gratitude to Health, Risk and Society reviewers for their very helpful suggestions for revisions to the article. We are especially appreciative of the women of the Old Order Mennonite community and the women from the mainstream society in Township of Woolwich, Ontario, who participated in this research.
Notes
1. For this research, ‘mainstream society’ refers to people from multiethnic Canadian society who are not members of Conservative Mennonite/Amish communities in the Elmira area.