A Whitehorse father finds it “unfathomable” that the Yukon government knew about unacceptable radon levels at Jack Hulland Elementary School in 2008 – and ]did nothing about it for eight years.

“That’s not acceptable,” said Russ Hobbis, a parent of five children who attended Jack Hulland between 2008 and 2016. Two of his kids are still enrolled at the school.

“We’re talking about kids who have their entire lives ahead of them, and for the possibility that they may end up with lung cancer because of a failing of our elected officials and the bureaucrats, that’s not OK.”

An auditor general’s report released Monday revealed that unacceptable levels of radon were found in Jack Hulland, Holy Family Elementary School, the Teen Parent Centre and Nelnah Bessie John School in Beaver Creek in 2008.

Yet, until 2016, only Nelnah Bessie John had remediation done.

Jack Hulland was given remediation in 2016, but it likely requires further remediation, so that’s been ordered, Education department spokesperson Chris Madden confirmed Wednesday.

Hobbis said neither he nor his partner were informed of the elevated radon levels at Jack Hulland in 2008, or at any point after that.

He first learned of the issue this week, through media reports, he said.

Hobbis sought the Yukon Liberal Party nomination in Porter Creek South last year, but lost to now-deputy premier Ranj Pillai. He previously made an unsuccessful bid for the Yukon Party nomination against Mike Nixon in 2011.

“Parents should have been informed and remediation should have started immediately, it shouldn’t have been something that was put off,” Hobbis told the Star his morning.

Madden said parents were notified in a letter of the radon levels at Jack Hulland in May 2008.

But since then, it appears parents have been out of the loop with regard to radon levels at the school.

A long-term radon testing program was implemented at all Yukon schools between December 2016 and February 2017, said Madden.

Results from the first round of long-term readings will be gathered this spring, though early indications are showing elevated levels at Jack Hulland.

Madden said Education was waiting until the spring, when long-term test results will be in, to notify parents about radon readings at Jack Hulland.

“We don’t want to be spreading misinformation,” he said.

According to a Yukon government fact sheet on radon, "health risks related to radon are from long-term exposure, i.e. decades."

Hobbis doesn’t fault Jack Hulland staff for not informing parents of the recent radon situation. Rather, he places blame squarely with government.

“There’s no possible way that the former ministers of Education didn’t know about the radon levels in that school, and they did nothing about it,” Hobbis said today.

In his view, it’s not the first time Education has dropped the ball.

In 2014, Hobbis spoke out against the department for cutting support staff after his then-nine-year-old daughter, who has autism, lost access to a full-time education assistant.

The previous minister of education said today he had no knowledge of elevated radon levels in four Yukon schools.

“As far as I remember, I was completely unaware,” said Doug Graham, who was the minister of education from 2014 until November 2016, in the previous Yukon Party government.

Graham also said he didn’t know that radon testing had been done in schools in 2008 and 2009, before he took office.

Madden said Graham was updated about remediation at Jack Hulland on Aug. 1, 2016.

Radon testing was done at Jack Hulland in March 2016, and results from that test prompted Education to install a sub-slab depressurization fan in the foundation of the school.

However, Graham, who was Education minister then, said he can’t remember ever hearing about it.

“You would think I would have heard of it, I must have heard about it, I’ve just probably forgotten,” he said.

In an email today, Madden said Education made radon in schools a priority before the Liberals came into power.

Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.

Exposure to the gas can increase a non-smoking adult’s risk of developing the disease from 1 in 100 to 1 in 50, Dr. Catherine Elliott, the Yukon’s acting chief medical officer of health, told a news conference Tuesday.

For children exposed to radon, the risk of developing lung cancer later in life can be nearly twice as high as adults, she said.

The risk of developing lung cancer from radon gas increases with the length of exposure.

On Tuesday, the Yukon government admitted it didn’t know how long students and staff were exposed to unacceptable radon levels at the four affected schools.

“Our records are not complete,” said Miles Hume, the co-ordinator of health and safety management at the Department of Education.

Health Canada caps acceptable radon levels indoors at 200 becquerels per cubic metre.

Buildings showing radon levels between 200 and 600 Bq/m3 should be remediated within two years, says the federal health agency.

Recent, short-term readings from both Jack Hulland and Nelhan Bessie John however, suggest that further remediation is needed, and orders have already been put in, said Madden.

Remediation was also recently ordered for Holy Family and the Teen Parent Centre, said Madden, and work is expected to be done at those schools by Sept. 1.

Radon is a radioactive gas that occurs naturally with the breakdown of uranium in soil and rock.

The gas can seep into buildings and accumulate in confined and poorly ventilated spaces.

Levels of radon in the air vary over time, which is why Health Canada recommends testing be done over a minimum of three months, and during the winter, when doors and windows are typically shut.

In 2009, the four affected schools were retested for radon and Jack Hulland was found to have acceptable levels.

However, the auditor general found that the test at Jack Hulland, and some other schools, lasted for only two weeks.

“We can’t do anything about the past,” said Hobbis.

“We need to do something now and get this fixed.”