Evidence of meeting #34 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was communities.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Green
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
With the permission of the chair, I was just trying to imagine a scenario within which this bill would become some kind of block to resource development. This is about after-the-fact contamination of communities that are reaching out for help.
Could you think of any scenario, Lenore, where this bill would block resource development?
As an Individual
No, that's not the purpose of the bill. I think perhaps the other witness needs to take a better look at the bill and see what it suggests, because certainly it's not trying to stop development. It's trying to address the fact that there are a number of communities already in existence that unfortunately have had pollution affect their health, especially with women with their reproductive health, with people's lungs and with cancer and other illnesses. There are many cases and we need to take a look at them. We need to redress the problems that have already occurred.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Thank you so much.
Ms. Zann, I was heartened to see compensation for individuals in communities as measures that could be included in the national strategy. Do you think they could be the start of a wider effort to provide reparations to communities impacted by long-lasting systemic racism?
As an Individual
Yes, indeed I do, and I'm sure that's partly what might make some people a bit nervous, because they never like to think about putting a financial amount on trying to help people who have been affected by pollution. In fact, in Nova Scotia, I can think of many cases where people have had much shorter lives because they lived beside corporate polluters and also dumps and waste sites with toxic leakage into their water system.
Yes, we need equality in this country, and it should not matter, the colour of your skin or where you live.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Yes. Thank you.
I had the opportunity to go to Nova Scotia this year and visit the Africville Museum. I met some of your former MLA NDP colleagues as well as—
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
—the incredible board of that museum.
Could you speak a bit about the work that has been done in Nova Scotia to really work towards addressing environmental rights racism?
As an Individual
Yes. Actually, it's been quite heartening to see people working together and communities finally being heard. This has been going on for a long time in Nova Scotia and, of course, we have a very rich culture in our Black community, as well as the indigenous nations.
There now is a new bill that has been introduced in the province and will include addressing environmental racism. Although I introduced my bill several times from 2014 to 2019, none of those bills passed, but we started the conversation and got people talking about it. That's part of the issue.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Thank you so much for your work.
I see that Ms. Gabriel has joined us.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Yes, as a matter of fact, I was going to mention that.
Welcome, Ms. Gabriel.
Ms. Gabriel has succeeded in connecting. She is an Onkwehón:we rights activist. I hope I pronounced that correctly.
As soon as we're done with Ms. Collins' questioning, we'll go to you, Ms. Gabriel, and ask you to speak to us for about three minutes. Then you will be included in the second round of questioning.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Mr. Chair, just on a point of clarification, would it be okay for me to ask Ms. Gabriel a question in this round?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
You have about 30 seconds. I think it would be better to let Ms. Gabriel give her opening remarks, and then you'll get another chance.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Mr. Chair, I've been putting on a timer. I thought I had a little more time than that. Could you stop the clock?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
You have about 40 seconds. I've stopped the clock and everything, but I mean, we're wasting time now.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Can we go to Ms. Gabriel? I promise that I'll be flexible on the second round, Ms. Collins.
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Absolutely, and more than that.
Ms. Gabriel, the floor is yours for about three minutes, if you could give your opening remarks.
Ellen Gabriel Onkwehón:we Rights Activist, As an Individual
[Witness spoke in Mohawk and provided the following text]:
Wa’tkwanoweron Katsi’tsakwas ne iontiáts tánon Wakeniáhton, Kanehsatà:ke akenàkere.
[Witness provided the following translation]:
Warm greetings. My name is Katsi’tsakwas. I am turtle clan, and I am from Kanesatake.
[English]
Thank you for inviting me to testify on the subject of environmental racism. It's important to stress that the issue of environmental racism is rooted in the past, tethered to systemic racism, the Indian Act and the genocidal acts of the Indian residential school.
It is incumbent upon me to address the past, my community of Kanesatake's past, which was shaped by racist genocidal acts under colonial powers and created over a century among all Crown actors—federal, provincial and municipal governments—and the colonial creation that became the indigenous band council system.
All of the above situations and actors' apathy have led to Kanesatake's current situation. G&R Recycling facility, on the Kanesatake land reserve, has 160 Olympic swimming pools' worth of toxic waste lying in the small community of Kanesatake's lands, along with the multiple side dumps it has spawned and their effects on our community's health and well-being.
Details of this site's impacts are fully documented in the brief I submitted. A network of over 100 allied organizations, including some of our country's largest unions and civil society institutions, have already expressed their concern on this issue. The dump is a mere system, and we need to get to the root of this problem.
The fact that indigenous communities have become convenient places to dump toxic construction waste, raw sewage and other waste products that would never be accepted in a white community speaks volumes in itself. The fact that this is the norm is a mere symptom of the problem of environmental racism. In order to find solutions, we must address the root causes, and we must dig deep into those causes, among which is colonial genocide.
Environmental racism is a wicked problem. These are problems that became enormous, knotted up in all levels of governments' culture of bureaucracy, placing the burden to act, to stop the continuation and protect the environment, onto vulnerable community members, who are ignored and so must live with the consequences of corruption mingled with apathy, enhanced by fear and coercion.
The federal government, which has known about this problem in our community since at least 2019, has not yet found a way to resolve it. We have a provincial government in Quebec that has also not helped and refuses to acknowledge any form of systemic racism, environmental or not. This issue is complicated, because, like all such issues facing my community, it is rooted in past wrongs that need systemic, ongoing reparations. It requires reparations and restitution for the failure of governments to act and to do the right thing.
The issue of toxic dumping in my community cannot be resolved simply by cleaning up one site. It is the interplay between the past and the present and all of the dysfunctions it has created that need to be addressed. I assure you that, without that, there will be many more toxic dumps popping up in my community for every one that is ordered shut and cleaned.
If I might quickly quote the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, article 4(c) states, “Shall not permit public authorities or public institutions, national or local, to promote or incite racial discrimination.”
Bill C-226 must...and its approach to environmental racism is that it addresses the systemic nature of these issues and goes to the root causes.
[Witness spoke in Mohawk]
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Thank you, Ms. Gabriel.
I will stop you there so that we have more time for questions.
We go to Mr. McLean, for four minutes, please.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses, and welcome to the new witness as well.
I'm going to focus my comments on Mr. Ellis Ross.
Mr. Ross, it's nice to meet you. Congratulations on all of the economic advancements you brought forward to your community, and also the social and political benefits that you illustrated are an advantage and that we continue to work on here. I much appreciated everything you brought to the table.
The issue around this bill, which I'm glad you touched upon, is the amount of paper that it's going to create and, if you will, the process in holding things up as far as getting things done. I know that a large number of the people around this table are urbanites who don't understand the rural economy that well. You represent the rural economy very well.
Do you see this bill facilitating your advancement, or do you already see it holding you back?
Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Skeena, As an Individual
No, it will hold it back.
It talks in generalities. Some of the clauses, especially 3(1) around a national strategy where Canada is expected “to advance environmental justice and to assess, prevent and address environmental racism” leave the door wide open for third party groups and NGO groups to go to court. That's basically it. This makes the courts, the lawyers, the consultants and the NGOs very wealthy, but the first nations in question stay in poverty.
This is what we got rid of in Haisla territory and what contributed largely to our success. In fact, for some of the other stuff you're talking about in terms of the past, in terms of the present, I already told you that we're talking about redundancy here. I mean, we already addressed some of the issues you're talking about through specific claims. That was a federal program, as well as the courts.
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Thank you.
Mr. Ross, I only have a little bit of time here.
In the previous panel—you weren't here at the time—a woman named Jane McArthur, who is the director of the toxics program with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment talked about a definition of what environmental racism is. We did have some concerns around the whole concept of the definition of environmental racism. Racism is bad; justice is good.
As I mentioned in the last panel, the issue she brought up was a definition that's brought forth by a group called the ENRICH Project. Have you seen that definition?
Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Skeena, As an Individual
No, I haven't.