Tell Canada’s leaders to redress environmental racism
A National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism (Bill C-230) was introduced in the House of Commons on February 26, 2020, by Lenore Zann, the MP for Cumberland-Colchester, and moved forward to second reading on December 8, 2020. The debate at second reading continues on March 23, 2021, after which the bill will be voted on.
Sign this petition to tell Canada’s leaders that we need to redress environmental racism across Canada.
Other ways to address environmental racism include:
- Modernizing the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to recognize everybody’s right to a healthy environment and defend people in vulnerable situations;
- Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
What is environmental racism?
Environmental racism is the term for policies, practices, institutions, decisions, and laws that discriminate against communities where the majority of residents are Black, Indigenous, and people of colour by harming the air, land, water, biodiversity — or people’s ability to connect with and have access to these. In other words, Indigenous and racialized communities are more likely to have exposure to contamination and pollution from industry and are not in positions of power to resist the placement of these polluting industries in their communities.
In 2020, a report from the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights implications of hazardous substances and wastes confirmed what many advocates have known all along – that Indigenous, Black, racialized and other marginalized communities in Canada are exposed to disproportionate adverse health impacts from pollution.
