Environment committee  Yes. Thank you for the question. These proposals, as amendments to CEPA, would complement the requirement under Bill C-226, once passed, for a national strategy on environmental racism and environmental justice. One of these key principles, the principle of environmental justic

Environment committee  Again, thank you for the invitation to appear to appear before you today. We have submitted to you our.... In fact, the NGOs on both panels today have submitted a joint brief to you to make maximum efficiency of your reading time. We are available to you to continue this conver

Environment committee  Well, of course I would be very concerned by any delay tactics—parliamentary tricks—to delay passage of this important legislation that has been so long in the making. We do, however, call on this committee to thoroughly consider the bill in front of you and make the necessary am

Environment committee  Thank you. In brief, another huge gap in Bill S-5 is the failure to strengthen citizen enforcement provisions in CEPA. We would urge the committee to look at that at the earliest opportunity.

Environment committee  Yes, that is an interesting suggestion. Details are obviously important. We could define certain key terms to make them clear to all. However, if the definition of a term is too restrictive, that can limit enforcement of the act. The devil is in the details. I would also say tha

Environment committee  Thank you for the questions. In the section related to the implementation framework for the right to a healthy environment, Bill S-5 requires that the framework elaborate on “the reasonable limits to which that right is subject, resulting from the consideration of relevant facto

Environment committee  Thank you very much for the question. I would refer the committee members to the recommendation of the Green Budget Coalition to fund a high-level office of environmental justice, modelled after that which exists in the U.S. and has existed for several decades. In fact, it was l

Environment committee  Yes, that is indeed a big weakness in the current bill. All the measures proposed in the bill, such as the obligation to uphold the right to a healthy environment, are actually contingent on the decision to declare a substance as being toxic and to set up a risk management progra

Environment committee  I will answer very quickly. The bill is presenting the requirements in a different way. We see what is being proposed here as a good thing, because priority is being given to banning certain toxic substances, including carcinogenic and mutagenic substances, as well as toxic subs

Environment committee  Is there a second left for me to add to that, Mr. Chair?

Environment committee  Very quickly, I think it's clear that the future global economy is a clean, green economy. Strong, effective and up-to-date environmental protection laws will be crucial for levelling the playing field and, as the previous speaker mentioned, ensuring clarity across the board and

Environment committee  Just as a quick update to that, I think you're referring to the resolution passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council last October. The Human Rights Council actually brought the resolution forward to the United Nations General Assembly. The resolution at the General Assemb

Environment committee  The CEPA registry is a very important, already established tool. There's always room for improvement, for sure. Unfortunately, I haven't had an opportunity to explore this new search function. Those are documents that are available already on the CEPA registry. While you raise t

Environment committee  Thanks for the question. It's a very big and eternal question, I guess, in environmental governance in Canada, and possibly the subject for another committee study. Bill S-5 is a package of amendments to CEPA. The federal jurisdiction under the Canadian Environmental Protection

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's truly an honour to appear on this first panel on Bill S-5. This bill has been a long time coming. I was on maternity leave when this committee initiated the review of CEPA, and we just celebrated my son’s seventh birthday. ENVI made 87 recommendation