Environment Committee on April 14th, 2021

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you for that.

I have very little time. Time always goes so quickly.

I have been fortunate to have met Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit writer and activist. In her book The Right to Be Cold, she talks about the persistent organic pollutants that she has been advocating against for a number of years where Inuit's food supply is contaminated from southern pollutants.

With the work you're looking at, Ms. Zann, have you looked into Inuit communities apart from the urban discussions that we have just been having?

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

I happen to be on the indigenous and northern affairs committee where many witnesses have talked about many different things. I wouldn't have time to go into all of them here, but I'm very aware of what's going on in Canada's north.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

As we do our study maybe we can compare notes in terms of witnesses who might be helpful who have contributed to some of that study work.

I want to finish off with the role of the federal government in terms of setting directions. Health care is provincial. Delivery of services quite often falls within the municipality through public health. The federal government sets overall directions. It's similar with climate change initiatives. There are parallels where we work with Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta and other provinces to set directions. Is this also part of the mapping?

Ms. Waldron, have you looked at the political connections that need to be established in order for the federal government to play its role? You have already looked at the provincial government in Nova Scotia in a lot of detail. Could we include that in our study?

[Dr. Ingrid Waldron]

Yes. That's a difficult question for me to answer. I think I'm stumped.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Okay.

Ms. Zann, then, if you wouldn't mind, because of my limited time.... I don't want to be rude.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Let's make it clear. Dr. Waldron, as she has said, is a professor. She's not a politician and it's not her job to politicize or anything like that.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Right.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

That's our job. Our job is to try to talk to the provinces and the municipalities and to do the consultations with the first nations, the Black communities and the communities that have been affected. When you start talking to the communities in your ridings, you'll be surprised at how much environmental racism actually has been taking place for so long.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Yes, and boil water advisories—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Go ahead for one more comment, Mr. Longfield, and then we'll have to move on.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

An elder in Sioux Lookout who we were working with on boil water advisories said, “Just stop polluting the water and we won't need to worry about boil water advisories.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

It's true, that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay, this takes us to the end of this panel.

I don't know if the other witnesses are already on the call or if we have to take a brief pause to have them log in.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Angela Crandall]

They are ready to be logged in, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Okay, let's log them in.

Thank you so much, Dr. Waldron, for your testimony and, Ms. Zann, for yours as well.

Of course, you are free to stay on the line if you wish. It's entirely up to you.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Could we stay and listen?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Of course, yes.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Oh, great. I promise not to say anything.

Thank you, Dr. Waldron.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you very much.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thanks, everybody.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

In terms of the second panel, it's very subjective here. I have in front of me the speakers all the way to a sixth round, but I will start, if you don't mind, committee, with a six-minute round again. I'm going to try to make sure that we continue down the list, but I'll sort of adapt it to the six-minute round followed by the five-minute round if that's okay with the committee. That way the Bloc and the NDP get more time, in principle.

If I mess up, let me know. I'm not too proud to admit that I may have gotten it wrong.

Are Mr. Morin, Ms. Farquharson, Ms. Neve and Mr. Roberge on the call now?

[The Clerk]

Yes, they are. Would you mind suspending for a minute, sir?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Yes, let's suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

To get these two rounds in, we'll probably end up going to 6:40 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. I'm sure no one really objects.

We'll start with Ms. Farquharson for five minutes.

You don't have to take the whole five minutes, of course, and you will be followed by Mr. Morin. Again, you don't have to take the full five minutes, but it's available to you.

Ms. Farquharson.