Take Action – Keep up the pressure on Bill C-226 to end Environmental Racism
Canada has no strategy to include environmental justice or racism in its environmental assessment or planning – not yet. The federal private member’s Bill C-226, which is before the House of Commons, addresses this shortcoming. Officially called “An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice,” the bill, if enacted, would task the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to develop a strategy that must include measures to examine the links between race, socio-economic status and environmental risk.
KAIROS has been conducting a letter-writing campaign to help get this bill, along with two corporate accountability bills, passed.
Let’s keep up the pressure!
The Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development cleared the bill without amendment on November 14. The bill completed the post-committee report stage on February 8. The next step is third reading and final vote in the House of Commons, which will likely take place during the last two weeks in April. Let’s keep up the pressure!
If the House votes in favour of the Bill, it will be sent to the Senate for readings, study and (hopefully) final vote before it is finally signed into law.
Please urge your MP today to vote in favour of Bill C-226! Join the effort using KAIROS’ letter-writing tools. For more information about the Bill and environmental racism, visit: Support bills to end environmental racism and make corporations accountable.
Bill C-226 is the third environmental racism bill to be tabled in the House of Commons. The last one died on the Order Paper, just after passing committee review, when the election was called in 2021.
Bill C-226 is tabled by Elizabeth May (MP -Saanich–Gulf Islands) and includes many examples of environmental racism on her web page.
Civil society organizations have mobilized to get Bill C-226 passed. They include KAIROS, Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, David Suzuki Foundation, Environmental Defence and others. The campaign is mentioned in Canadian Lawyer Magazine and by the Canadian Environnemental Law Association and other respected organizations.
We need to keep up the pressure! Please write to your members of Parliament and relevant Ministers today!
