Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
"For the first time coming to the island since I was a little child, I saw corn growing," Diabo, council chief responsible for the environment portfolio at the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, said at a news conference Wednesday announcing the completion of the nearly decade-long project to restore water flow in the bay and naturalize its surroundings.
Canada’s first environmental racism bill was back before the House of Commons this week after the committee studying the bill approved it without amendment. The bill was first tabled by former Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann in February 2020. “Environmental racism is something that has been ignored for far too many years,” Zann, the Liberal MP for Cumberland-Colchester, said in bringing forth the private member’s bill for second reading in the House of Commons on Dec. 8, 2020.
Marshall lives in west Jackson, in the US state of Mississippi - a predominantly black and poor part of the city. He has no choice but to drink the tap water that Jackson residents have been told to avoid. When he turns the tap on - the water runs brown. He says it's been like this for about eight months and he has no choice but to drink it. "Yes ma'am. I been drinking it." He smiles when we ask whether it worries him. "I turn 70 later this month," he says.
A first-generation landfill that operated from 1946 to 1996 in the Town of Shelburne’s south end – that has also been the subject of environmental racism claims – may finally be officially decommissioned. The Town of Shelburne has announced it has submitted a funding application to the Government of Canada’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) to support efforts to ensure the first-generation landfill conforms to Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC) requirements.
Environmentalists and activists claimed victory recently after a company cancelled plans to build an oil pipeline through southwest Tennessee and north Mississippi, and over an aquifer that provides drinking water to one million people. Byhalia Connection said it will no longer pursue plans to build a 79-kilometre underground artery that would have linked two major U.S. oil pipelines while running through wetlands and under poor, predominantly Black neighbourhoods in south Memphis.
Canada will collect data on the impact of siting a disproportionate number of polluting industries and landfills in areas inhabited by racial minority communities, federal lawmakers voted Wednesday. The bill aims to tackle "environmental racism," where Indigenous, Black and other racial minority communities are exposed to higher levels of dirty air, contaminated water or other toxins and pollutants. One of the most famous cases is in the Indigenous Grassy Narrows First Nation community in Ontario, where residents have since the 1960s suffered health impacts from mercury contamination produced by a former pulp and paper mill.
Activists say Aamjiwnaang is one of many examples in Canada of environmental racism, which is defined as the disproportionate exposure that Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities have to environmental hazards. "I didn't actually hear the term environmental racism until about 15 years ago — it wasn't until I was able to connect with other First Nations people across Canada to see what they were experiencing," said Nahmabin. "Now I realize that absolutely, this applies to here."
Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann wants environmental racism — when injustices related to the environment disproportionately impact people of colour and Indigenous groups — addressed in a new bill she’s put forth for debate in the House of Commons. Zann’s Bill C-320 looks to establish a strategy in Canada that would explore the correlation between race, socioeconomic status, and environmental risks, as well as the link between dangerous conditions and bad health in communities where Indigenous groups and people of colour live, CBC reported.
In her new documentary “There’s Something in the Water”, co-directed by Ian Daniel, the actress and activist focuses on the effects of environmental racism on black and indigenous communities in Nova Scotia. “In Canada, your postal code determines your health,” sociologist Ingrid Waldron says in the trailer for the film. “So we know that where you live has bearing on your well-being. Indigenous and black communities are the ones that tend to be located near hazardous sites.”
Ellen Page made the town council of Shelburne, N.S., an offer they couldn't refuse. The Nova Scotia-born actor, filmmaker and activist had been pledging financial support to help a non-profit group in the South Shore town build a community well. But at a recent council meeting, elected officials turned down Page's offer amid concerns it wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of the project at a time when the town is facing a crippling financial position that could see the end of its status as a municipality. hat decision did not deter Page. "She just stepped up and she just said, 'Well, I'll pay whatever they want,'" said Louise Delisle, whose community group, South End Environmental Injustice Society, has pushed for the well.
“Far too often, governments in Canada have demonstrated that they place little value on the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples and the revitalization of their cultures and traditions,” Tara Scurr, business and human rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada, said in a statement Thursday.
