Support Environmental Justice Bills

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Goal: 800

The climate crisis and environmental degradation are taking their toll on communities worldwide. But some communities are impacted more than others.

For decades, polluting industries and landfill sites have ended up in Indigenous, Black, Brown and other racialized communities in Canada, burdening these communities with higher-than-normal rates of cancer, respiratory illnesses, and other chronic health problems. These sacrifice zones extend to communities in the Global South - usually poor and often Indigenous - where Canadian mining companies operate, contaminating fresh water sources, and contributing to well-documented human rights violations

Three private member bills have been tabled at the House of Comons that would finally tackle environmental racism in Canada and improve corporate accountability of Canadian extractive companies operating abroad.

Bill C-226 to end environmental racism and advance environmental justice

Bill C-262 for the adoption of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation (mHREDD)
Bill C-263 to empower the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE)

Bill C-226 was debated in third reading in the House of Commons on March 23. The final vote is scheduled for Wednesday March 29. Please urge your MP to vote in favour of this bill today, and support passage of the two corporate accountability bills.

Based on your address, the correct Member of Parliament will be automatically added to your letter. Relevant Ministers and MPs are copied.

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Dear [recipient position will go here] [recipient name will go here],

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Please support Bill C-226 when it comes up for final vote in the House of Commons tomorrow, March 29.

With the passage of this bill, Canada will develop a national strategy to assess, prevent and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice.

For decades, polluting industries and landfill sites have ended up in racialized communities in Canada, resulting in higher-than-normal rates of cancer, respiratory illnesses, and other chronic health problems. Current mechanisms and channels fail to effectively address this systemic problem of environmental racism.

On March 29, please vote in support of Bill C-226 to put an end to these sacrifice zones once and for all.

Sacrifice zones are not limited to our border. In the Global South, Canadian mining companies are responsible for the contamination of fresh water sources and contributing to well-documented human rights violations (1).

Please also call for the rapid passage of two corporate accountability bills: Bill C-262, the adoption of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation (mHREDD), and Bill C-263, to empower the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE).

If Canada wants to live up to its reputation as a human rights defender, it must end environmental racism at home and abroad once and for all.

Thank you in advance for supporting Bill C-226 with your vote and continuing to call for the passage of the two corporate accountability bills.

Sincerely,
[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here] [your location will go here]

cc.:
Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
Minister of Natural Resources
Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development
Minister of Labour
Minister of International Development
Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change, and Natural Resources
Arif Virani, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development
Terry Sheehan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister to the Minister of Labour
Anita Vandenbeld, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development
Elizabeth May, Parliamentary Leader of the Green Party of Canada. Sponsor of Bill C-226
Peter Julian, House leader of the New Democratic Party. Sponsor of Bill C-262

1) Examples of documented human right violations due to Canadian mining operations:

The 'Canada Brand': Violence and Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America, Osgood Legal Studies Research Paper - https://justice-project.org/the-canada-brand-violence-and-canadian-minin...

Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala, Between the Lines - https://www.testimoniothebook.org/

Righting wrongs? Barrick Gold's remedy mechanism for sexual violence in Papua New Guinea, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic & Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic - http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FINALBARRICK.pdf

Canadian Firm Can Be Sued for Alleged Eritrea Abuses, Human Rights Watch - https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/05/canadian-firm-can-be-sued-alleged-er...

Map reveals Canadian mining company’s environmental, social conflicts, Mongabay - https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/maps-reveal-canadian-mining-companys-e...

Feel free to customize the letter. Here are few additional points to assist you:

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change stated in the House of Commons that the government supports Bill C-226. The bill is based on another private member's bill (C-230) that was studied in the last Parliament before it died on the order paper when the election was called.
In 2021, An Act Respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples became a law in Canada. UNDRIP establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world. This framework includes the Free, Prior and Informed Consent as a specific right that pertains to Indigenous peoples. FPIC allows Indigenous peoples to give or withhold consent to a project that may affect them or their territories.
In June 2021, enacting human rights and due diligence (mHREDD) law and an empowered Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) were recommended by Canada’s Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
Watchdog organizations repeatedly document troubling incidents of violence associated with mining companies. And mining companies repeatedly threaten and sue other countries for environmental and human rights statutes that affect their profitability.
Indigenous and Afro-descendant women, gender diverse people, and children living near extractive projects experience social, health, environmental, economic, and political impacts most acutely. Women environmental human rights defenders—who are on the forefront of land and water protection—are routinely harassed, targeted, attacked, and even murdered for their efforts.
For nearly two decades civil society, labour unions, and religious groups—including KAIROS and its member churches and network members— have called on the government to take action on reports of systemic human rights abuses and environmental damages linked to Canadian oil, gas and mining projects around the globe. KAIROS' global partners have repeatedly reported on harms caused by extractive companies linked to Canada.
Bill C-263 would grant CORE the investigatory powers that were revoked from the office’s initial mandate. Without the power to compel documents, CORE offers nothing more than mediation services to Canada-based companies and communities.

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Support Environmental Justice Bills

Support Environmental Justice Bills

Learn more. Visit: Support bills to end environmental racism and make corporations accountable