Back to the drawing board on CEPA implementation
By Jane McArthur, Toxics Program Director
The failure to implement environmental laws is “one of the greatest challenges to mitigating climate change, reducing pollution and preventing widespread species and habitat loss” according to a 2019 UN Report. For the health of people and the planet, and for environmental justice, failure is not an option!
Our hard fought wins for the modernization of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) through Bill S-5 which reached Royal Assent in June 2023 cannot be wasted. Robust implementation is needed to uphold the changes, including the historic new right to a healthy environment and the suite of actions to address toxic chemicals! That’s why CAPE and our partners in the Coalition for Action on Toxics (CAT) and other environmental, health and justice groups are putting significant energy into implementation of the updated CEPA.
On October 2nd, Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault held a news conference in Ottawa to announce a series of environmental protection measures under CEPA. Guilbeault was joined by his parliamentary secretaries Julie Dabrusin and Adam van Koeverden, as well as CAPE board member Dr. Ojistoh Horn. We thank Dr. Horn for seizing this opportunity and delivering an excellent statement elevating environmental rights, the need for prevention of exposure to environmental harms and the upholding of environmental justice!
On the following Friday afternoon, the federal government published the draft policies related to the announcement to guide federal action on toxic chemicals and pollution under the 2023 CEPA amendments. The publication of these policies launched a consultation period for all three pieces — the Draft Implementation Framework for the Right to a Healthy Environment, the Priorities Plan and the Watch List — all of which end on December 4th, 2024.
We will work with our colleagues in the Coalition for Action on Toxics (CAT) to analyze what’s been published and make recommendations during this consultation period. In the meantime, we have done a cursory analysis and have issued a public statement which has been shared with media and key players in government and posted to our respective websites.
Our message? The Federal government needs to go back to the drawing board on the proposed framework for environmental rights, and ramp up action on toxics under the strengthened CEPA. You can read the full statement here: https://cape.ca/press_release/reaction-feds-cepa-implementation-framework-falls-short/
We know that “the effective engagement of an informed civil society results in better decision making by government, more responsible environmental actions by companies, and more effective environmental law.” So rest assured, CAPE and our allies have our sights set on these critical pieces of CEPA, and will be holding the government to account to ensure strong implementation of the law for human and environmental health and environmental justice!