Metals in the Environment Research Network
(MITE-RN) receives $3.5 million from NSERC

New multi-million-dollar funding for a research network investigating the impact of metals on ecosystems in Canada was announced on June 7, 1999 at the University of Guelph.

Dr. Tom Brzustowski, President of NSERC, announcing the NSERC five year MITE-RN grant. Dr. Brzustowski (extreme left) is joined in making the announcement by (second from left), Mrs. Brenda Chamberlain, Guelph M.P.; Dr. Len Ritter, Executive Director, CNTC & MITE Research Network Co-ordinator; Dr. Peter Campbell, INRS-EAU Université du Québec & Research Director, MITE Research Network; Mr. Gordon Peeling, President, Mining Association of Canada; Mr. Robert Lyng, Ontario Power Generation Inc.; and Dr. M. Rozanski, President, University of Guelph.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) is the national instrument for making strategic investments in Canada's capability in science and technology. NSERC will contribute $3.5 million over the next five years to the Metals in the Environment Research Network (MITE-RN). NSERC's support for the MITE-RN will be enhanced by $1.95 million from the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and Ontario Power Generation Inc. (formerly Ontario Hydro). Funding for research into metals in the environment will now total $6.97 million with in-kind contributions from our government partners, Environment Canada, Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, and Natural Resources Canada, which includes $500,000 over five years from MAC to support related research in government laboratories.

Brenda Chamberlain (MP, Guelph-Wellington) announced the federal government's investment on behalf of Dr. Ron Duhamel, Secretary of State (Science, Research and Development and Western Economic Diversification). “This is a bold interdisciplinary research initiative that will study metals in our environment on a scale never seen in Canada,” said Mrs. Chamberlain. “The information produced by this network will be very useful in the formulation of environmentally-responsible policies for the federal government and its partners.” “This is research critical to our understanding of metals and to improving the environmental quality of our ecosystems,” said University of Guelph president Mordechai Rozanski. “Government, industry and university researchers are to be applauded for this multidisciplinary initiative. ” Research within the MITE-RN is structured in three interacting domains:

• sources of metals in the environment;
• processes by which metals move and transform within the environment;
• and impacts of metals on ecosystems.

These research domains are essential for assessing the risk metals may pose and determining how to reduce that risk,” said Prof. Peter Campbell, research director and principal investigator for the MITE-RN.

Professor Campbell, from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Université du Québec, is also leader of the research domain looking at the environmental impacts of metals. Other domain leaders looking at processes and sources of metals respectively are Prof. Beverley Hale, Department of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph and Prof. Grant Edwards, School of Engineering, University of Guelph.

“This research effort is an impressive undertaking that will allow researchers from industry, government and twelve Canadian universities to focus their energies to better understand how metals behave in the environment,” said Dr. Tom Brzustowski, president of NSERC. “I'm convinced that students, too, will benefit greatly from working with the network and industry partners.”

The MITE-RN will include more than 20 scientists from 12 universities, and eventually, approximately 30 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.

In order to capitalize on research currently being conducted in Canada, within all sectors of the scientific community, and to foster a co-operative, integrated approach to problem solving, each of the three research domains in MITE-RN has two leaders – one each from the academic and public sectors. This collaboration will ensure integration among a broad spectrum of researchers at the level of research planning and data collection, interpretation and report preparation.

The NSERC award will help answer critical research questions being asked by scientists and policy makers. This research network brings together scientists from universities, industry, and government to establish a framework for managing metals in the environment. Established in 1998, the Network is managed by the Canadian Network of Toxicology Centres (CNTC), which is headquartered at the University of Guelph.

A science steering committee and a board of directors composed of senior government representatives and industry leaders will oversee the MITE-RN. An expert advisory panel will conduct an annual peer review. “This external peer review panel will ensure that the most relevant research issues are being addressed, and a system for risk management of metals is established in Canada,” said Prof. Len Ritter, executive director of the CNTC and MITE-RN Co-ordinator.

“We need to ensure that the research issues being addressed are relevant and that results are communicated as quickly as possible to decision makers,” said Ritter.

Current MITE-RN projects include studies of the distribution of metals in the atmosphere, their deposition and cycling in the terrestrial environment, and their effects on a variety of aquatic organisms.

The funding will allow the Network to establish research teams across Canada to strengthen its scientific investigations and ensure that a range of issues are represented. The funds will be allocated to support metals research in Canada at: Institut national de la recherche scientifique (UQ-INRS), Carleton, Waterloo, Toronto, McMaster, Université du Québec à Montréal, Université de Montréal, Western, Dalhousie, St. Mary's, McGill and Guelph. Support for graduate students is a key component of the project. The Network has also made provisions to attract further participation from scientists and institutions not initially involved in MITE-RN.