Canada’s environmental racism law needs to be stronger – CCPA

January 29, 2025

Bill C-226 needs to be about more than data collection—it needs to be about affirming Indigenous sovereignty

For decades, the residents of Grassy Narrows First Nation have struggled with severe health problems that experts attribute to mercury poisoning—a legacy of unchecked industrial pollution in their community’s waterways.

The poisoning did not happen by accident. It resulted from years of policy neglect, where environmental protections and health safeguards failed to protect Indigenous lands from industrial contamination. Today, Grassy Narrows is a tragic example of how Indigenous and racialized communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards.

These hazards are embedded in policy decisions which are often influenced by economic interests that overlook long-term environmental and social costs, and the mistreatment is done in pursuit of industrial and economic development. There’s a term for this—environmental racism.

Read More: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/canadas-environmental-racism-law-needs-to-be-stronger/