Martha Kostuch

Who was Martha Kostuch?

Martha Kostuch was a Canadian veterinarian and an award-winning environmentalist. In her veterinary work, she identified reproductive and immunological problems among cattle to air pollutants, like sulphur dioxide, from the sour gas industry in the region. Her successful campaign to reduce that air pollution marked the beginning of her work as an environmentalist.

Kostuch and her husband, Tom M. Kostuch, moved to Alberta from Minnesota in 1975. They had two children by birth, and adopted two sons. In 2001, one of her sons was accused of plotting to murder her to acquire an inheritance. He pled guilty "to counselling to commit an offence" for offering a hit man $40,000.

In subsequent years she contributed her efforts to various environmental campaigns. These included blocking a hotel and golf course resort. In 1998 she charged a sand and gravel trucking business for violating the federal Fisheries Act.