Everyone should have the right to a healthy, clean, and sustainable environment.
Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, held a roundtable in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, with a Black community that has been impacted by environmental pollution since the 1940s. Shelburne's former landfill burned trash for 75 years, sending noxious fumes into the community, and although closed in 2016, the community experiences ongoing issues with water contamination.
Also present at the roundtable were representatives from the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health (ENRICH) Project, a collaborative, community-based organization addressing the social, political, and health effects of environmental racism and climate change in Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities in Canada.
During the roundtable, the Minister heard the Black community's experiences with environmental racism and discussed progress on Bill C-226, which would require the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to develop a national strategy to assess, prevent, and address environmental racism and advance environmental justice. Under the proposed legislation, the national strategy would be required within two years of the Bill coming into force, developed in consultation with interested stakeholders and communities.
The Government is engaging Canadians on environmental justice and racism to highlight the fact that certain communities have been disproportionately affected by environmental hazards like pollution, toxic waste, landfills, and dumps. It is providing affected communities with the opportunity to meaningfully participate in, among other things, finding solutions to address harm caused by environmental racism and advance environmental justice.
