Advocates say Canada's first environmental justice law will help determine the magnitude of the problem and address the negative health impact.
Environmental and social justice advocates in Canada have welcomed a new bill that promises to develop a national strategy to prevent and address the effects of environmental racism.
In a statement on Friday, the Canadian Coalition for Climate and Environmental Justice (CCECJ) said the passage of Bill C-226 this week would help communities better understand the magnitude of the problem and devise strategies to address it.
The bill passed third reading in the Senate on Thursday and is now expected to achieve “royal assent”, the final step in the legislative process.
“We know the stories about where and how environmental racism exists in Canada. Formal data on these realities is incomplete and therefore there is a lack of understanding about how real this problem is,” said Ingrid Waldron, co-founder and co-director of the CCECJ.
“Data collection and analysis will be a critical starting point in the strategy required by the Environmental Justice Strategy Act. “The consequences of inaction on environmental racism would be ongoing negative impacts on people’s health and well-being.”
Environmental racism refers to the disproportionate placement of dangerous projects and polluting industries among populations of color and indigenous communities.
In recent decades, examples in Canada have included mercury poisoning in the Grassy Narrows First Nation in northern Ontario, the construction of major oil and gas pipelines on unceded Indigenous lands, and the placement of landfills near historic African Canadian communities in the east coast. .
I am pleased to report that the federal Environmental Racism and Private Member Justice Bill (Bill C-226) passed the Senate yesterday. It becomes the first environmental justice law in Canada. Statement from my organizations ENRICH and the CCECJ
— Dr. Ingrid Waldron (@ingrid_waldron) June 14, 2024
Advocates have been urging the Canadian government for years to take action on this issue, the effects of which continue to be felt in communities across the country.
Janelle Nahmabin, from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Ontario, told Al Jazeera in 2021 how growing up in one of the most industrialized areas of Canada, known as “Chemical Valley,” has affected her and her community.
The pollution that residents are exposed to every day has damaged their relationship with the land, he said, which in turn “disconnects indigenous people from their culture, because the land is part of our identity.”
In 2020, a United Nations special rapporteur also found that “the prevalence of discrimination in Canada's laws and policies regarding hazardous substances and wastes is clear.”
“There is a pattern in Canada in which marginalized groups, and Indigenous peoples in particular, find themselves on the wrong side of a toxic divide, subject to conditions that would not be acceptable anywhere else in Canada,” said the expert. a report (PDF) to the UN Human Rights Council.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals had promised in their 2021 party platform to pass legislation requiring the environment minister to “examine the link between race, socioeconomic status and exposure to environmental risk.”
The Trudeau government supported Bill C-226 on environmental racism, and Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said in February that “environmental protection should not change depending on who you are or where you live.” .
“Decision-making must ensure equal opportunities for all and avoid discriminating against underrepresented groups. “This national commitment will help us reflect meaningfully and collectively on environmental justice and racism,” Guilbeault said in a statement.
Bill C-226, introduced by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, calls for the minister to “develop a national strategy to promote efforts across Canada to promote environmental justice and assess, prevent and address environmental racism.”
It also says the minister should work with stakeholders, including Indigenous communities, and then submit a report to the Parliament of Canada within two years of the bill's final passage, setting out the national strategy.
“The passage of Bill C-226 represents a commitment to addressing the long-standing and deeply rooted problem of environmental racism in Canada,” the Green Party's May said in a statement Thursday.
“This legislation is a testament to the power of collective action and the importance of ensuring that all voices, especially those of marginalized communities, are heard and respected in our environmental policies.”
