Soot blanketing Hamilton neighbourhoods, prompts 'unusually high' number of complaints, councillor says

Soot blanketing Hamilton neighbourhoods, prompts 'unusually high' number of complaints, councillor says

Soot falling near Hamilton's industrial area is a perennial concern

Residents in and around Hamilton's Crown Point neighbourhood are reporting their homes, properties, children and pets are being coated in soot this week.

It's a perennial concern for communities near the city's industrial area, but the office of Ward 4 councillor Tammy Hwang said this time is different. About two dozen people have reached out to complain about the soot, including some in the southern end of the lower city who are experiencing the issue for the first time.

In a statement to CBC Hamilton on Wednesday, Hwang said that's an "unusually high" amount.

"Residents are telling us that it's been like this for about two months but that it's gotten worse in the last week," she said. "We're hearing from residents all across Ward 4; from those living near the industrial north to those who live near the escarpment."

One concerned Hamiltonian, Chelsie Wylie, told CBC she's seeing more soot near her home on Cannon Street E. near Kenilworth Avenue N., than she has in the past seven years she's lived in the city.

"It's really bad," Wylie said Wednesday. "You can smell it in the air."

On Tuesday, she said, her son came to her two minutes after going outside to play soccer.

"He's like, 'Mom, look.' Black all the way up to his knees," Wylie recounted. She said unlike normal dust, the soot clings to skin and requires soap to clean off.

Despite cleaning regularly, she said, grime has been building up along her windows and lawn furniture.

"I'm just over it," Wylie said. "Imagine what's sitting in our lungs."

Hwang said residents have reported similar concerns.

"When you run your finger across your patio furniture, the residue looks like the residue from charcoal crayons," she said. "A resident who walked on their deck barefoot came back inside their house and left footprints on the floor. We received so many pictures of kids with hands and feet filthy from the black residue. They're telling us they're tired of scrubbing and washing everything everyday."

Residents also want to know what the soot is, where it's coming from and how it affects their health, Hwang said.

She said she wants to know too, noting in March 2025, she passed a motion to study the soot. Her office held a townhall about the material in the winter.

To stop black soot from falling on homes, Hamilton looks to do its own testing and not rely on Ontario

It's unclear where specifically this week's soot originated.

Gary Wheeler, a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of the Environment said the province's Spills Action Centre received reports of "black particulate fallout" in Hamilton "and are attending the areas of complaints to conduct field observations, collect samples where feasible and follow up on the reports received."

Around 2 p.m. Thursday, he said the source for the fallout remained "undetermined" and the material "unidentified."

The ministry says residents with concerns can:

Stelco says it's in 'full compliance'

Evan Ubene, Environment Hamilton's clean steel campaign coordinator, said he witnessed and documented what he said was a larger-than-normal emissions plume he thinks came from a Stelco smokestack on July 4 and 5 and reported it to the province.

CBC Hamilton asked Stelco if recent soot complaints may be linked to their operations, but did not receive a direct answer.

Patricia Persisco, a spokesperson for the steel company's corporate parent Cleveland-Cliffs, said only that Stelco "remains in full compliance with all regulations regarding the subject."

She added that "Hamilton is an industrial area with several industrial sites, other than Stelco."

CBC also asked Stelco's neighbour ArcelorMittal Dofasco if its steelmaking operations could be connected to the recent bout of soot, but did not receive a response before publication.

Ubene, who said Environment Hamilton is also receiving more complaints about soot than usual, said he had not heard back from Ontario's Ministry of the Environment about his report.

He noted Environment Hamilton is working with McMaster University researchers to sample dust fall in the lower city and learn more about it.

Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann and Hamilton Centre MPP Robin Lennox, both told CBC Hamilton their offices have been receiving complaints too and that they're directing people to report the pollution to the Ministry.

Nann added residents who contact her office can also take part in future Hamilton public health community consultations on their soot experiences.

"This has been a longstanding issue," Lennox said Thursday. "We really need more transparency from the [Ministry] about what is going on."

Community meeting to discuss ArcelorMittal Dofasco's request to emit above Ontario regulations

In addition to being messy, Ubene said, soot comes with health concerns.

"Soot only gets there because of emissions in the air and breathing that is not healthy, especially over a long period of time," he said, adding that touching it might not be good for people either.

Manufacturing is an important local industry, Ubene said, but technologies exist to mitigate emissions, so it's not jobs versus the environment.

"We don’t have to make that choice," he said, but are forced to because there currently isn't enough support for workers to transition out of fossil fuel industries.

Justin Chandler is a CBC News reporter in Hamilton. He covers stories of all kinds from places including picket lines, court rooms, council meetings and research labs. Justin has a special interest in how public policy affects people, and loves a quirky human-interest story. Before CBC Hamilton, he worked for TVO and on a variety of CBC teams and programs. He co-hosted Radio Free Krypton on Met Radio.