David Suzuki: It’s time for Canada to address environmental racism

In Canada, we’re quick to favourably compare ourselves to our southern neighbours. COVID-19 caseloads may be at an all-time high here, but the U.S. situation is even more dire. Canada hasn’t managed to curb carbon emissions, but the U.S. abandoned emission reduction targets when it pulled out of the Paris Agreement. We may take comfort in things being “less bad” here, but that’s a low bar.

And when it comes to acknowledging and addressing environmental racism, Canada comes up short. In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton issued an executive order—which remains in effect—requiring federal agencies to develop strategies to address disproportionately high and adverse health or environmental effects of their actions on minority and low-income populations. It also established a high-level interagency working group on environmental justice to facilitate government-wide response.