Canada appears poised to pass its first-ever legislation concerning environmental racism. Bill C-226, a private member’s bill introduced by former Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, passed its second reading in the House of Commons last week. Following the reading, Bill C-226 has been referred to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. This legislation is a successor to a Bill C-230 introduced in 2019 by then-Liberal MP Lenore Zann. Bill C-230 also made it through two readings but was lost when parliament dissolved with the 2021 election call.
If passed, Bill C-226 would be the first bill of its kind to address environmental racism in Canada. Image courtesy: West Coast Environmental Law
Bill C-226 would facilitate the study of environmental racism and call for Parliament to develop a national strategy to collect information on environmental hazards affecting BIPOC communities. The development of a national strategy to address environmental racism is the first step to potentially changing existing laws and policies, one that has been long called for.
It is fitting that the potentially-definitive movement on Bill C-226 occurs during Indigenous History Month, as Indigenous communities are among those most frequently subjected to the effects of environmental racism. This should come as no surprise as the boil water advisories still burdening Indigenous communities come to the forefront of national discourse whenever the current administration's track record on Indigenous issues is under scrutiny. However, environmental racism is more than just the boil-water advisories.
Environmental racism occurs when racialized communities are disproportionately exposed to health hazards as a result of policies and long-standing systemic practices that force them to live near environmental-health threats. These health threats include toxic waste, chemical plants, oil refineries, and yes, a lack of access to clean drinking water.
Chemical facilities surround the Aamjiwnaang First Nations, exposing the population to various health risks. Image courtesy ecojustice.
Canada’s shortcomings on environmental racism-fueled inequity have come under scrutiny before. A peer-reviewed study by a journal called Cancer found a link between negative environmental exposure and an uptick in forms of Leukaemia, notably in Sarnia, Ontario’s so-called “chemical valley” (bordering the Aamjiwnaang First Nations reserve) where cases of Leukaemia are three times more likely to occur than the national average.
In a 2019 housing report, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, blasted Canada for Indigenous living conditions. She cited in particular substandard water or sewage systems on 25 percent of Canadian reserves, 10,000 on-reserve homes without indoor plumbing, and frequent overcrowding and substandard safety conditions.
“Housing conditions for Indigenous peoples around the world are overwhelmingly abhorrent and too often violate the right to adequate housing,” said Farha in her report.
Boat Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Image Courtesy: A’se’k Waqma’tasik | Boat Harbour Remediation Project
Former MP Lenore Zann, who sponsored Bill C-230 which preceded the current proposed legislation, saw the impacts of environmental racism firsthand and also oversaw the closure of the Boat Harbour treatment plant in Nova Scotia. In 1967, the Province of Nova Scotia constructed the Boat Harbour Effluent Treatment Facility to treat effluent, or liquid waste, from the Abercrombie Point Pulp Mill. Its construction turned the natural tidal estuary into a treatment basin for over 50 years, much to the dismay of nearby Pictou Landing First Nations. Prior to its construction, it was a gathering place where food, knowledge, and skills were exchanged between generations and among family groups. Mi’kmaq used the land for refuge, recreation, fishing, hunting and gathering of medicines, foods and herbs, as well as for physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional purposes. Read more about the current Boat Harbour Remediation Project.
Seeing the stark difference environmental accountability can make in one community brings hope about what a national strategy addressing environmental racism may be capable of with the potential implementation of Bill C-226. Lenore Zann told the CBC she believed she may have been able to get the first bill passed with the removal of the word “racism.”
“White people always want you to take the word racism out. It’s like it makes them nervous, right? They don’t want to admit it exists... and I’m like, no, that’s the whole point of this bill.”
Indigenous communities have been concerned for years about environmental threats to their well-being such as those affecting Pictou Landing First Nation, the mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario, Sarnia’s “chemical valley”, and boil water advisories across the country. Environmental racism is a nationwide issue and Bill C-226 may be taking the important first steps of admitting we have a problem and developing a national strategy to fix it.