Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you so much, Ms. Zann, for bringing forward your bill. Congratulations.
Thank you, Dr. Waldron, for your presentation. I know five minutes doesn't come close to being enough time to get into all of the impacts and the meaning behind the bill in front of us.
Ms. Zann, The definition of “environmental racism” that you present is such a succinct one. I think any Canadian would understand it intuitively as being an egregious problem.
When I think about environmental racism in the region I represent in northwest British Columbia, I think about the disproportionate impact of global climate change on indigenous people who rely on resources like wild salmon, especially those in indigenous nations like the Wet'suwet'en, the Gitxsan, the Tsimshian, the Heiltsuk, and the Nisga'a, which are all up and down the north and central coast of British Columbia. I talk to people every single week who are heartbroken at the changes they're seeing in the environment around them. They want justice for their kids and want to see action so that these resources come back in more abundance.
I wonder if you could unpack this a bit for me, because with the definition you presented, it seems like a toxic waste site near a racialized community is very different as a problem from something like global climate change and its impact on indigenous people. Perhaps you could share with us your thinking about how climate change is dealt with by your bill and how it might be strengthened to better consider the disproportionate impacts of climate change on indigenous people.