Advocates call for Environmental Racism Bill to move forward

We are joining a group of environmental justice advocates to urge the Senate to refer Bill C-226, the National Strategy on Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act, to committee before summer recess.

Canada has a long history of ignoring Indigenous and other racialized communities in making environmental decisions. This mean people suffer from the impacts of toxic contaminants and a range of environmental disasters. People and communities to this day continue to lose homes, lives and livelihoods.

Canada is lagging in recognizing and addressing these injustices. This legislation will be a first step that requires the government to examine the links between racialization, socio-economic status, and environmental risks, and develop Canada’s first national strategy on environmental racism and environmental justice.

Let’s make sure they move this forward.

• Share the press release from the Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice. (2023)

• Read more about Bill C-226 National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act1

• Check out our Environmental Racism toolkit (2021)