WCEL Submission on Bill C-230: An Act Respecting the Development of a National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism

In 2020, Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann introduced Bill C-230 – a Private Member's Bill that seeks to develop a national strategy to examine the link between race, socio-economic status and environmental risk, as well as the disproportionate impacts of hazardous sites on the health of Indigenous and racialized communities. 

This submission to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development expresses West Coast Environmental Law Association's strong support for Bill C-230. The submission affirms the need for a national strategy to redress the harm caused by environmental racism, and describes some examples highlighting the impacts of environemental racism from our experience working with communities across British Columbia.