EXCLUSIVE: Building Issues at Ontario Military School Include Black Mould, Asbestos, Mice Infestation: Leaked Document

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces march at a parade in Calgary on July 8, 2016. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

Canadian military members stationed at the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics (CFSCE) in Kingston, Ont., have listed a number of health and safety issues with the school’s buildings, including exposed black mould and asbestos, along with mice infestations, in a document obtained by The Epoch Times.

The document, titled “Work Orders CFSCE,” gives detailed descriptions of the school’s repair needs, which included removing black mould found growing in a number of areas, and some exposed asbestos dust.

Tasks in the document were marked as either “completed” or “in progress.” Some black mould found in student showers, change rooms, and ceilings had been marked “completed” at the time of writing, but others remained unaddressed.

One task marked “in-progress” said there was a roof leak in one of the building’s main hallways, which had caused “black mold on ceiling tiles” to form. It was marked as a safety concern. “Unsafe for daily occupation within the building,” the task description said.

Another uncompleted task reported there were “missing ceiling tiles due to mold,” with yet another drawing attention to water “leaking from ceiling through light fixture.”

Other unfinished tasks said there was paint peeling from the walls that were “exposing asbestos and creating asbestos dust.” One completed task raised the possible concern of poor air quality due to exposed mold or asbestos around the school.

“Ceiling tiles are falling from water leakage and could possibly [be] creating an air quality issue,” it read. “Personnel within this office are starting to feel ill.”

Mice Infestations

One uncompleted task was titled, “Mice infestation” and requested pest control measures to be taken as soon as possible.

“There has recently been a mice infestation and [members] have already killed x3 in the past two days,” it said.

Another uncompleted task said, “mice have been in the offices and are being caught several times a week.”

One task marked complete said large amounts of mice urine and feces had been discovered in a classroom, which was marked as a safety concern.

“We moved some desks around and found a large amount of mouse urine and feces. The amount of urine was so much that it shorted out a phone cable. It was cleaned up to the best of our ability but we would like to verify if there are still mice in the office,” it said.

Yet another completed task said there had been nine mice caught in a single room over a two-week span.

“Could we get an exterminator to get rid of mice,” one member wrote.

Response

The Epoch Times previously reported on a leaked CFSCE memo in which military officers spoke about the school’s poor living conditions for students and asked for specific changes to be made.

The memo said the poor living conditions were negatively impacting students’ mental health and the school’s retention rate.

“In CFSCE’s reality, quarters currently comprise of four-person rooms with poor HVAC, insufficient personal storage, frequently broken shared facilities, and no privacy. There are no kitchenettes, cable connections, private bathrooms or access to bulk storage,” read the memo from Oct. 11. 

Canadian Forces Base Kingston Deputy Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Durant told The Epoch Times that the school has a number of plans in place to address the issues.

“Several multi-million-dollar projects have been undertaken recently,” he said in an email on Nov. 3, citing planned upgrades for the school’s heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation systems, among others.

Durant also said the school had trouble providing spacious student living accommodations because of mandatory COVID-19 isolation spaces.

“There are several factors that are exacerbating the accommodation challenges at CFB Kingston,” he wrote. “These factors include a requirement to set aside dedicated COVID-19 isolation facilities.”

Durant said in another email on Nov. 25 that the school does not have data on how many students admitted to the isolation facility have tested positive for COVID.

“The majority of admissions are most likely for other communicable diseases that have COVID-like symptoms (e.g., cold and flu) and members are isolating out of an abundance of caution,” he wrote, adding later that the school plans on removing the isolation rooms they are “no longer required.”

“Given the increased level of communicable diseases in the surrounding community, we do not currently have an estimate as to when that will occur.”