Absolutely.
I recognize that those who live in poor communities, immigrant communities, disadvantaged neighbourhoods and racialized communities are hit very hard by environmental impacts.
The Notre‑Dame neighbourhood in Rouyn‑Noranda is a striking example. You only have to go there once to see just how close residents are to the copper smelting plant. It's practically on top of them. Research shows that both children and adults living there have concentrations of arsenic four times higher than those in a control group of residents of Amos, in Abitibi, the same region. The ethnocultural makeup of the neighbourhood is fairly uniform; the people there have worked at the Horne smelter for generations. Think about it. The presence of arsenic in those people's systems is four times higher than the arsenic levels found in a comparable group of Amos residents.
That is unacceptable. Something has to be done. That is what is referred to as environmental justice. I have no doubt that achieving greater environmental justice hinges on providing a broad range of services in a number of areas, including education.
For instance, in Quebec—