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ENVI Committee Report

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Bill C-230, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to redress environmental racism
In accordance with its Order of Reference of Wednesday, March 24, 2021, your committee has considered Bill C-230, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to redress environmental racism, and agreed on Monday, June 21, 2021, to report it with the following amendments:

Title

That Bill C-230 be amended by replacing the long title on page 1 with the following:

“An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice”

Clause 1 (Short Title)

That Bill C-230, in Clause 1, be amended by replacing lines 1 and 2 on page 2 with the following:

"1 This Act may be cited as the National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act."

Preamble

That Bill C-230, in the preamble, be amended by

(a) adding before line 1 on page 1 the following:

"Whereas the Government of Canada recognizes the need to advance environmental justice across Canada and the importance of continuing to work towards eliminating racism and racial discrimination in all their forms and manifestations;"

(b) replacing line 3 on page 1 with the following:

"bers of an Indigenous, racialized or other marginalized community;"

(c) replacing lines 9 to 14 on page 1 with the following:

"Whereas the Government of Canada recognizes that it is important to meaningfully involve all Canadians — and, in particular, marginalized communities — in the development of environmental policy and that racial discrimination in the development of environmental policy would constitute environmental racism;"

(d) replacing line 16 on page 1 with the following:

"assessing and preventing environmental racism and to providing af-"

(e) replacing line 18 on page 1 with the following:

"pate in, among other things, finding solutions to address harm caused"

Heading

That Bill C-230 be amended by replacing the heading before line 5 on page 2 with the following:

"National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice"

Clause 3

That Bill C-230, in Clause 3, be amended by

(a) replacing lines 6 and 7 on page 2 with the following:

"promote efforts across Canada to advance environmental justice and to assess, prevent and address environmental racism."

(b) replacing line 9 on page 2 to line 6 on page 3 with the following:

"or cooperate with any persons, bodies, organizations or communities — including other Ministers, representatives of governments in Canada, and Indigenous communities — who are interested and ensures that it is consistent with the framework for the Government of Canada’s implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

(3) The strategy must include

(a) a study that must include

(i) an examination of the link between race, socio-economic status and environmental risk, and

(ii) information and statistics relating to the location of environmental hazards; and

(b) measures that can be taken to advance environmental justice and assess, prevent and address environmental racism and that may include

(i) possible amendments to federal laws, policies and programs,

(ii) the involvement of community groups in environmental policy-making,

(iii) compensation for individuals or communities, and

(iv) the collection of information and statistics relating to health outcomes in communities located in proximity to environmental hazards."

Your committee has ordered a reprint of Bill C-230, as amended, as a working copy for the use of the House of Commons at the report stage.
A copy of the relevant Minutes of Proceedings (Meetings Nos. 25, 40 and 41) is tabled.