Does Bill C-28, the proposed Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, address the need for changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to Protect Canadians and Communities from the Threats posed by Toxic Chemicals?[1]
Summary: In this article, David McRobert and Angela Dittrich examine various regulatory reforms to strength the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) that Canadian environmental groups, public health advocates, occupational health experts and Indigenous organizations have advocated since the mid 2000s. This article focuses on reforms to protect vulnerable individuals and communities from toxic substances. Parts of this analysis were undertaken in early 2021 prior to the tabling of Bill C-28, Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act on April 13, 2021 (First Reading). Links to Bill C-28 and background materials are provided in the endnotes below.[2] In the concluding section of this article the authors examine the extent to which Bill C-28, as proposed, could address some of the challenges set out in the analysis below.
By David McRobert[3] and Angela Dittrich[4]
Introduction
The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) serves as a foundational piece of federal legislation for pollution prevention, toxic substance management, and the protection of both human health and the environment.[5] While CEPA provides for a review of the Act every five years, the then-governing Canadian Conservative Party decided not to undertake reviews of the law in 2010 or 2015.[6] Consequently CEPA has not been significantly amended since 1999, despite growing scientific evidence that amendments to this foundational law are long overdue, posing a generational challenge for Canadians who are burdened with the health and environmental impacts of a lagging regulatory framework and a lack of federal leadership on toxic chemicals.
In March 2016, the new federal Liberal government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to modernize CEPA and tasked the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development with undertaking a 15-month comprehensive review of CEPA.
Following the 2016-2017 CEPA review, the Trudeau government renewed its commitment to modernize CEPA in mandate letters for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Health released after the October 2019 election. This was reaffirmed in the Trudeau government’s September 2020 Speech from the Throne[7] and the Prime Minister’s revised mandate letters issued in January 2021 as part of the federal government’s COVID-19 recovery plan.
The federal government’s repeated commitments to revise and modernize CEPA raise numerous questions. What amendments must be made to CEPA to align this legislation with 21st century knowledge about toxic chemicals and priorities and the special health problems faced by Indigenous communities in Canada? How can CEPA protect the health of vulnerable populations and ensure environmental justice for all Canadians? These topics were explored in the Canadian Environmental Law Association’s four-part webinar series, entitled “Changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to Protect Vulnerable Populations from Hazardous Chemicals”[8] held in late 2020 and early 2021. In this blog, we review the discussions and key points raised in three of these webinars and offer some concluding observations.[9]
The speakers at this webinar series made many recommendations that we believe should be considered when amending CEPA in the (hopefully) near future. We commend Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and the various presenters for the work they undertook on this series, as well as CELA’s longstanding history of advocating for generational and fundamental changes to CEPA.[10]
Presentations made as part of the CELA series made clear that vulnerable populations of Canadians are not adequately protected by CEPA. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted these gaps, and in some cases, increased risks of occupational exposures, as discussed in the case of nail salon workers through the increased and frequent use of potentially toxic disinfectants (such as quaternary ammonium compounds) to address surface contaminants (i.e. ‘virions’) that cause COVID-19. However, workers are only one of the vulnerable groups disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. Recent studies have linked PFAS exposure to reduced vaccine response,[11] and PBFA (a PFAS that replaced CFCs used for refrigeration) is being linked to more severe COVID infection outcomes.[12]
Proactive approaches such as prioritizing need and safety should be used whenever possible rather than the current retroactive, exposure-based approaches, and the burden of proof must be shifted from individuals to industry. The scientific evidence on the health impacts of many chemicals and other regulated substances, including chronic diseases and impacts on child development, is growing and cannot be ignored.
By way of conclusion, we argue that the federal government must be held accountable to its 2019 commitment to reform CEPA in 2021 or 2022. Moreover, it is vital that the CEPA amendments consider a systematic (or “classes”) approach to substances to prevent regrettable substitutes and ensure that only the least-toxic options are on the market. The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the need for change. It is time that CEPA is brought into the 21st century to create a just, healthy environment for all Canadians.
Please log in to read the full article.