OTTAWA –
The federal government is now moving to protect the right to a healthy and sustainable environment, more than five years after it was told to do so.
It will take two more years to determine what this means in practice.
The amendment to Canada’s Environmental Protection Act was one of 87 recommendations made to the government by the House of Commons environment committee in 2017. This was after a mandatory review of that act.
Catherine McKenna, the then-environment minister at the time, stated that the government would not bring forward legislation until after the 2019 election and would instead spend the months consulting on how to proceed.
The government had to wait until April 2021 in order to make the change, but it died without being debated when the August 2021 election took place. In February, a similar bill was reintroduced by the Senate.
CEPA (pronounced SEEPA) is the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. It is the legislation that outlines what chemicals can be used in Canada and how toxic substances must be disposed of.
It is the act that protects people from things like asbestos and mercury. It was what allowed Canada to ban bisphenol A from baby bottles in 2010 and helped reduce mercury emissions by more than 60% since 2007.
Recently, the government has added plastic garbage to its list of toxic substances. They claim it poses a threat to human and animal safety. This allows Ottawa to ban single-use plastics such as straws, cutlery, and takeout containers.
It is also meant to guide companies producing chemicals to determine how they will receive approvals and be assessed.
The new bill updates how toxic substances are evaluated. It includes a requirement for safer alternatives and data on cumulative effects if they are combined with other substances.
The new bill also includes a sentence that guarantees that every Canadian has the right to a healthy environment. This makes it a duty to the government to protect that right.
Steven Guilbeault, Environment Minister of Canada, said Thursday at the Senate environment committee that “this is the first time this right has ever been included in a Federal Statute in Canada.”
However, the legislation states that the government has up to two years to decide how to implement this right when it comes to enforcing it.
Guilbeault stated that this will help to guide how the right of a healthy environment is considered when enforcing CEPA. This includes the principle of environmental justice which addresses unfair exposures to harmful substances often by marginalized groups.
Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson believes it is absurd to pass a law if government doesn’t know what the law will do.
“Shouldn’t we understand the rights that this would confer upon Canadians and how to implement it?” He asked. “Alternatively, I believe that we are needlessly injecting uncertainty into any process that relies CEPA for clarity.
Guilbeault said that any lawmaker would know that you can’t make a regulation without defining a legal element.
David Boyd (Canadian environmental lawyer) is the United Nations special raporteur on human right and the environment. He stated that more than 100 countries already have the legal right to a healthy and safe environment. This is not hard to define.
It means that people have the right to breathe clean air. They also have the right to safe drinking water.
He stated that people should also be able to access information about their environment and participate in making decisions about it. They should also have legal recourse if they feel their rights are being violated or threatened.
Boyd said that the law would be more powerful if it explained what recourse they have in the event that they feel the government isn’t upholding their duty to protect the right to a healthy atmosphere.
He also wishes Canada would do the same as other countries and make it an inherent right of the Constitution, although he acknowledges that this is a dangerous trap.
Guilbeault stated that the government does not intend to open up the can for this.
This report by The Canadian Press first appeared April 28, 2022.